Life, Legacy, and a Dangerous Mission in the Soviet Union | Sunday Fireside Chat

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Hey there, this is Marissa Streit. I am the CEO of PragerU, and you are about to listen to a special edition of Fireside Chat with Dennis Prager. Those of us here at PragerU are continuing to do the very important work that we've been doing with him for over 10 years. We are educating millions of young people online. We have state partnerships to bring our content into schools and so much more. You can head over to prageru.com to see the progress that we've been making. Also, I'd love to invite you to support our mission by donating to our 501. It is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible donation will go to an institution of higher learning that actually shares your values. So enjoy your podcast, and thank you so much for all your support.

Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here for fireside chat number 197. 197. Every week I philosophize on the number. I won't philosophize on the number this week, but it's a big number. So each week for 197 weeks, I have spontaneously offered you some thoughts. There is nothing written out. There's no teleprompter. And that's Otto.

Otto.

It's very hard just to say Otto. I always say Otto. I got that from one of my sons. Uh-oh, this is rare. An Otto walk.

He—

Is it probably because he didn't eat yet?

He didn't eat yet? Oh, you're probably right. He was hungry. So what are people going to do tuning in? And well, at least, all right, you saw Otto at the beginning. Maybe he'll come back. My wife is in charge of the dogs, and by the way, they love my wife so much. This is this really needs to be videoed. My wife and I will walk into the house, and they they simply she's she's now trying to talk him into coming in. This should be on video. My wife talking to him. And so you think you talked him into coming back? You hear him huffing and puffing. This is true. The dog is hilarious. Yeah, that was a tough walk into the kitchen. All right, there he is. So we will come into the house. Every single time he runs right past me to her. It is as if I am a pillar, a wooden pillar, a marble pillar. It is just funny to see. Anyway, they, they really love her. So, okay, you could rest now, Mr. Rowe. It's not working. My wife is shaking her head. All right, look, we can't spend that much time on the shenanigans— not shenanigans— on the hilarious ventures of Otto. All right, anyway, hopefully he'll come back, but if not, I'm gonna try to carry it on my own. This is a challenge. So here's the story. So August 2nd is my birthday, and that's coming up right after this, a couple of days after this fireside chat. So we have about 15,000 young people all over the world in Prager Force, as it's called. And they were told that it's my birthday coming up, if they'd like to make a little video. And apparently a fair number did. And I have not seen any of them. This is— I'm literally watching it as you are. And We're going to cut it down because can't take up much of the video with these, with these videos. But we'll see what some have to say.

Happy birthday, Mr. Prager.

Happy birthday, Dennis Prager.

Happy birthday, Dennis. Happy birthday, Dennis. You are amazing.

So thankful that I found you.

Hope you enjoy your birthday. This is Steffi from Guatemala. Thank you for teaching us how to be a good person and to enjoy the simple things of life.

Just wishing Dennis Prager a happy birthday.

Happy birthday, Mr. Prager. My name is Kokun Tran from San Jose. I wish you happy in every day of your life.

You're an inspiration to everyone. Thank you for working hard to protect our freedom and our country and making people like me feel like we can make a change and be proud to be conservatives. And starting PragerU, which has provided me such an amazing community. And I appreciate the bold and awesome community that you have created over the past several years and further encouraging my love of reading.

PragerU has made a big impact in my life.

Thanks for serving the next generation and making our brains stronger.

I'm wishing you a lot more years doing fireside chats and all your good work.

I love watching your fireside chats.

I do 3 things every Sunday: 1, go to church; 2, have a stogie; and 3, listen to your fireside.

You're one of my favorite conservative Jews. Yom Huledet Sameach.

My name is Ákos from Hungary. I want to say that I'm so thankful for PragerU and you specifically because I learned so much wisdom from you. And as we say it in Hungary, "Istánieltásan." It means "May God give you a long life." Hi, Dennis.

This is Shira Gura from Israel. Happy birthday! Yom Huledet Sameach. I'm Martina from Argentina, and I wanted to tell you how thankful I am for teaching me almost everything I know and what makes me a conservative. This is Linda from the Czech Republic, and thank you for teaching us that freedom matters the most.

Thank you so much for being a great inspiration and role model. There's a huge lack of a lot of people that we we can look up to. People with years of experience like you and men that people like me, guys like me, can look up to.

Thank you for all that you've taught me.

I'm the mom of 6 kids who watch your videos almost daily, so thank you. Keep doing what you're doing. We love you.

And I hope you get the Medal of Freedom someday.

You are an icon, and I wish you a very, very happy birthday.

This one's for you.

Happy birthday.

I hope you smoke a great cigar today.

I hope you have an amazing birthday and pet Otto for me.

And I hope you have a blessed birthday, and God bless you very much.

That's not fair. Sort of choke it up.

Amazing people in Prager Force.

Well, that was very touching. I didn't expect that to happen. Sorry.

Well.

That was beautiful. Girl in the Czech Republic with the American flag behind her. It's hard to say what I want to say because I'm not moved to tears, obviously, for ego reasons, which Either one believes or doesn't. But if you know me, and I think a lot of people know me, you would know that's true. It's that it's so it's so moving to see all these young people and to to believe that I have played a role in their lives. And the reason that it is. Aside from the obvious, is that's all I've ever wanted to do with my life. I have a very, very odd or different life. I believed at a very, very young age, my senior year in high school, that I sort of had a solution to evil. And I knew then, I wrote it, I wrote it in my diary. I didn't— I stopped keeping it in college, but I kept it in high school. And I knew then the issue would be, I know that I have really good ideas. Good as in the sense of valid, and good in the sense of decent and kind and, and moral, and that they're rational and that they're universal. I just knew this at such a young age, like 17 or 18. But I wrote in my diary, the big problem is how do I get it out to people? And I've had vehicles to get it out to people— radio, writing, lectures, and of course PragerU. So to, to see one's hopes materialized to a certain extent is, is very That is a very moving thing. I want you to know though that I spend almost no time in my mind thinking about what I have done. Almost all of my thinking in that arena is how much I haven't done. This is not here or there. It's not good. It's not bad. It's just a fact. Because I know that for every one of these people, there are billions who are unacquainted with any of the wonderful ideas that I advocate and that PragerU advocates. So I'm very sober on this matter. But it's always been a minority that has brought people to a better world. It's it's almost never the masses, and it's not. I'm not saying this with contempt for for quote unquote the masses, but it's just it's just a fact. So you've touched me. It's worth just saying in a moment here and then opening up to your questions. That if my, my aims in life are unbelievably simple and even corny, I want goodness to reign, and that means conquering evil. And I've, I've always known that The human nature can go in either direction. That weakness is more common than than courage. That selfishness is more common than altruism. And you just list you list ingratitude is more common than gratitude, and that's a big one because. There are no good ungrateful people. Goodness begins in many ways with gratitude. Do you know any ungrateful people who are either happy or good? You don't because they don't exist. What is it, 6, 7 billion people on Earth? Not one ungrateful one. Is either happy or good. That is why I am so worried about America. You go to school, you get a degree in ingratitude. But think about it. Speak for the United States. You actually get a degree. You get a BA in ingratitude, a master's in ingratitude, and a doctorate in ingratitude. How grateful people should be for living in the freest country ever made, which is why so many people want to come here. And it's probably true in many other countries too. Get a BA in in gratitude and anger, resentment and victimhood. What a combo, eh? You know any happy people, any good people who think of themselves as victims? People who go through their life thinking they're victims are almost inevitably going to hurt people because they think, hey, I've been hurt, now you can be hurt. They don't think, I've been hurt, I'm going to prevent you from being hurt. There are people who do think that, but they're not the ones who think they're victims. So anyway, I've been— obviously I was very touched. That is what I've devoted my life to. You know, I'm philosophical about everything, and that includes the hatred that I receive on the internet, for example. And it's really remarkable because nobody could point to anything that I do that is mean or cultivating of the worst in people. You know, I have helped so many people with happiness with my happiness book and my happiness hour, my happiness talks. So many couples with my male-female hour. I mean, it's really amazing. I could see people disagreeing with me, but sometimes the hatred that I elicit, the mockery is— and I don't feel one iota victim. I'm unbelievably moved by how good life has been to me. This is not a victim statement. It's just a fact statement. And yet, you know, it's a pretty strange target, me. What exactly do I advocate that's dark? Okay. So thank you for the birthday wishes. Okay. Time for our weekly. Video question.

Hey Dennis, my name's Tyler. I'm 21 years old from Los Angeles, California, and I was wondering, given your experience in the Soviet Union, what would you say to young Americans, particularly teenagers and college students, who don't truly understand totalitarianism and the importance of preserving freedom?

Well, so you will find this of interest, Tyler. I was in the Soviet Union at the age of 21. I was sent in To smuggle things in and smuggle things out because of my knowledge of Russian and other reasons. And anyway, I so I I became aware, although I was even before I went, of what totalitarianism is at a very very young age. So let me tell you something. This is not new. When I came back to the U.S. And I started lecturing immediately. I started at a very young age of 21. People would invite me. Young man just came back from the Soviet Union. You know, nobody knew the name Dennis Prager, of course. But I was sort of somewhat of a collector's item having been in the Soviet Union and what was it like. And I knew how to speak. So I got these speeches. And after about a year, maybe even less, but let's say a year, I actually would say in my lectures, ladies and gentlemen, it is clear to me that speaking to people living in freedom about totalitarianism means very little. You can't imagine what it is like there, just as they can't imagine or couldn't imagine. I learned in speaking to Soviet citizens what freedom is like. Many Soviet citizens would say to me about America, "Esta anarquía." This is anarchy, not freedom. They thought freedom is anarchy. People could say whatever they want. That's anarchy. Do whatever they want—that's anarchy. And when I would speak to American audiences and tell them that Soviet citizens would look around them before they said things to somebody anywhere in a park and anywhere, was anybody listening? Were they being recorded?

That.

There was someone in every apartment building marking every visitor so that you wouldn't get any, for example, Western visitors or anyone known to be a dissident visiting you because then you would be suspect. This this didn't mean anything to American audiences. They and I and I understood that then. It was so when you asked me, Tyler. What would I say to young people today? It's no different. And it bothers me, actually. It's a defect in the human mind that if you can't imagine what the absence of freedom is like— I mean, I don't know why. I admit that going to the Soviet Union put a realistic face to my understanding. But I knew what totalitarianism was before I went to the Soviet Union. I understood people don't have liberty, they don't have freedom. I understood what that meant. And I don't think I'm exceptionally endowed with the ability to perceive absence of freedom. I don't know why people can't. Can you imagine drowning? I'll bet you you can. Though that's far, far beyond, I think, our immediate abilities than to imagine absence of freedom. You can— can you imagine what it's like to be a prisoner? I'll bet you you can. Well, that's what people in the Soviet Union, that's what people in communist countries are— prisoners. They just aren't behind bars, but they're all prisoners. All except the ruling class. They, they, they can do whatever they want. They can read whatever they want. They could eat whatever they want. Do you know that there were special stores to this day in CUBA? Spelled it out because apparently some of the, uh, some of the internet companies don't want you to talk about CUBA. For whatever reason. But their elite, like in the Soviet Union, they had special stores where they could use foreign currencies, Western currencies, and buy anything they want, from caviar to cigarettes and cigars to whiskey, anything they wanted. The rest of the 99% of the rest of the population Had to buy crap in crappy stores with crappy currencies. So if if you're 21 and can't understand what it's like to live in an imprisoned state, it's because you don't want to. That's what I really believe. Why is it so hard? As I said, I've never drowned. I think I could imagine what it's like not to be able to fill my lungs with air. And that's harder to imagine than being a prisoner in a country. But obviously people don't because they don't appreciate freedom. If they appreciated non-freedom, they'd appreciate freedom. And we are on the verge of losing it in America. That's something I never thought I would be saying. Okay, Sergei, 36, Moscow, Russia. He begins in Russian. Добрый вечер, Денис, и привет, пёсикам. Good evening, Dennis, and hello to the dogs. Hello, dogs. Privet. You speak at length about conservatism in America, which has a deep history of promoting decent values. But what about countries where there's nothing good to conserve? In the case of Russia, traditional values left over from the USSR include xenophobia, imperialism, and socialism. And we can't look up to the Western liberal values anymore since they've been undermined by leftists. Nowadays, liberalism is associated with double standards, intersectionality, socialism. Religion isn't a good option either since the church has been co-opted by the state. What should we look up to? Sergei, I have thought about this question all of my life. I know what I'm advocating in America: be true to American values. But what do I advocate to you in Russia? Obviously, don't be true to any of the values that have dominated Russia since 1917, or from 1917 to 1991, or whatever is the exact year the Berlin Wall fell. And because that's obvious, I don't want you to conserve those values, as you write. But even pre-Soviet values under the czar, do I want you to preserve the czar's values? What does a Russian think of in preserving good values? It's a very—it's a much tougher question for a Russian. That's why I wrote Still the Best Hope. I do believe that the American value system, the American Trinity, as I have coined it, no pun intended because they came from the American coins. All of which have three statements on them: Liberty, in God we trust, e pluribus unum. That is the that is the recipe for a good society everywhere: liberty, Judeo-Christian values, and from many one that that people drop their tribal blood racial ethnic identities. And merge into the nation that they inhabit. You don't have to give up your individual religious identity or your specific culture, but if everybody grabs onto his own ethnic identity, you have what's called the Balkanization of places, and that that produces conflict. The left is Balkanizing America because they hate E Pluribus Unum, the motto for many one. So what do you do? Well, I advocate those. There is a Russian that tried to grapple with this question, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. And you should read Solzhenitsyn's, not only his Gulag Archipelago, that doesn't give his answer. That gives the crisis. But read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's just his speech at Harvard when Harvard was still inviting people who affirmed Western values. It's a very powerful speech about what to affirm and what is happening. So Sergei, you could be hopefully among those who just start a movement. For these basic Western, and and to to they're not just well Western in the sense Russia can have Western values. Russia is not excluded from the West. In fact, when I spoke in Romania a few years ago, I said to them, Western civilization, if it's saved, will be saved by Eastern Europe, not by Western Europe. Western Europe has given up on the West. Eastern Europe has not given up on the West. It's like if Christianity is saved, it will probably be by Africans. Christianity is stronger in Africa than it is in Europe by far. So you— Christianity was imported into sub-Saharan Africa. I mean, you know, up in the north it was from the beginning, but sub-Saharan Africa It's an it's an import, and look at how strong it is. You can import values into Russia whether or not they're indigenous to Russia and make a beautiful country. So that's why everything that I write and everything that I say is universal. And I would I would really ask you to read my rational Bible because that's ultimately. Where you get the most universal values and the most applicable ones, and I've worked a lifetime to make those values clear. I wish the Russian. I wish the Rational Bible were in every language, but in the meantime, it is in English. So, спасибо большое. We go from Moscow to another exotic place: Roseville, Minnesota. I've heard a lot of people complaining about Jeff Bezos going to space and that it's a waste of money and should be taxed more. When people scream and yell that millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share, what does that mean? In your opinion, do you think the richest Americans pay their fair share? It's a very good question. What is fair share? I'll talk about the— his, uh, going up in space in a moment. The richest Americans Pay a vast percentage of American taxes. So I don't know what, what fair share means. It's a very fair question. What does fair share mean? If the top 1% paid— I don't know the number, but let's say they paid half the taxes of the entire country, the top 1%. Is that fair? How do you deduce what's fair? Is it fair that one man has $1 billion and other people are struggling to make ends meet? Is that fair? Is it fair that a baseball player makes 10 times more than a nurse? How do you answer that question? Freedom produces inequality. Is inequality the same thing as—

No.

Or inequity, really, because inequality is not the same as inequity. That's why they use the word equity. It's the results. Is inequity the same thing as unfairness? Maybe in some cosmic sense, but, but not necessarily. Is it fair that, that somebody is born with better brains than another, better looks than another, better athletic ability than another? I mean, the pursuit of fair is a very, very scary pursuit because it can lead to totalitarianism. Oh, well, then everybody is equal, right? Same equity. So I don't ask, is it fair? I ask, is it just? Justice and fairness are not the same thing. And even that in this case is a subjective call. Let me say this. By and large, the billionaires in America are helping to ruin the country. I have no love for these people or these billionaire corporations, virtually all of which are in the loathe America crusade because they're cowards. They don't believe what they're saying. They're cowards. They go where the action is, and the action is left-wing. Let's put it this way. There's a hell of a lot more fear of left in America than fear of God. It's not even comparable. So that's true for Bezos. Bezos is not a leftist. If the country were right-wing, he would be saying right-wing things. He just goes where the winds blow. As regards his, with regard to his going into space, I'm actually thrilled he did. The more money he spends on himself, the less he will spend on ruining the country, like buying the Washington Post, which is essentially a detriment to the country at this time. I'm sorry to say. I wish it were not true. The whole mainstream media are awful. They lie with the ease with which you breathe, and they're they have a mission, and the mission is not to tell the truth. The mission is hurt this country. It's sick. It's a sick mission because if they hurt this country, why will they benefit? But maybe they will. There were newspapers in the Soviet Union. Why won't there be newspapers in an unfree America? So I hope he builds many, many more rockets and spends much more money on it, because at least he's not damaging the country then. How much money was given to Black Lives Matter, which is a hate organization? They've just come out in favor of the communist regime in Cuba with all of the people demonstrating for freedom in Cuba. I mean, that's really something. Well, they are. They're basically communists. And yet look at the hundreds of millions given to them by private enterprise, not because they believe in them, but because it's protection money. It's a racket. Just like people gave the mafia money not to be hurt, not to be hit. So they give the left money not to be hit. That's the story of the Bezos's of our time. So keep building rockets, Jeff. And I hope they're very expensive. It's like when I think about kids going to college, I can't stand people getting drunk. But nevertheless, there is a silver lining to kids getting drunk at college. They're not being affected by what their teachers are telling them. It's the silver lining. So I have a little phrase for that: better inebriated or better intoxicated than indoctrinated. How's that?

That was wonderful.

All right, let's see here. Shay, New York, 24 years old. Hi, I want to thank you for all you do. You're welcome for all I do. Thank you for thanking me. I feel like I gained so much from every single fireside chat as well all the PragerU videos. Great. I am a teacher. Bless you. And I'm off in the summer, therefore I find myself with more spare time. How would you suggest I use my time to grow? Are there any movies you would recommend which can enrich my mind and not just fill it with silly garbage? Thank you so much. I am not the man to ask about movies, although I will recommend one. Crimes and Misdemeanors by Woody Allen is actually the most Pro-ethical monotheism film I am aware of that was ever made, made by an atheist no less. And yet it's brilliant. Crimes and Misdemeanors. You should all watch it. It's a powerful case for the necessity of God for morality. It is really fascinating. But so you'd have to check with various websites that you trust and what movies they would say would be uplifting. However, if you have a summer to spend as you wish and want to get deeper, movies may be one vehicle. Obviously, books is a great vehicle. And you might want to consider a new project in your life, like taking a musical instrument. It's never too late to start. You're not— look, if you don't start at 6, the odds are you'll never be a virtuoso. I acknowledge that. But you don't have to be a virtuoso to play an instrument or learn a language. The rewards of learning another language are infinite. So it's so exciting. By the way, I've studied a number of languages, as many of you know, and I can tell you the great benefits that they have afforded me in my life. But I'll tell you one immediate one. I speak English and write English better having studied other languages. Because once you see the way language is formed, you know your own language better. You see how your language is formed, the grammatical bases. Oh, you know, that's the way we think. Oh, now I understand the structure of English. It's very exciting, actually. What's our time now?

We're good.

Uh, let me see. I got questions from India and Norway and Oregon. Oh my God, Oregon. Hopefully we'll get to them next week. Thank you for the birthday wishes. Thank you for watching. Is Otto back? No, he never came back. This was a first. I mean, maybe the very earliest, but since Otto has begun to be a regular, this might be the first. He was here in the beginning, for the record, which you probably know because nobody tunes in the fireside chat in the middle. See you next week. I'm Dennis Prager.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.