Love and Marriage

Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 hours of my radio show commercial-free every single day, become a member of Prager Utopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives as well as the daily show prep. Subscribe at pragertopia.com. Hello, my friends. Dennis Prager for the Friday show.

Happiness Hour follows this. As you know, quite a, quite a number of articles to bring to your attention, subjects to bring to your attention.

Marriage outdated? 2 in 5 young adults think the tradition no longer matters. Reading Christopher Rufo's book on the American Cultural Revolution, the term Cultural Revolution taken from Mao.

Which is the complete reordering of society. And this is a perfect example. 2 in 5 young adults think that tradition no longer matters.

You know what would be worth asking those 2 in 5? What does matter? And I believe What do you think they would answer? I believe, I'm asking you, my listener and my producer, I think they would answer some macro answer. What matters is fighting racism, equity. There is no micro answer. There is no answer that applies to the individual. All the answers apply to the restructuring of society. That's what I believe. I, I don't have a, a poll to show on that, asking— I would ask in a poll, if you believe marriage doesn't matter in life and having children doesn't matter, what does matter? I believe you'd get a macro answer, fighting racism and white privilege, etc. But what matters to you in your life, since marriage was central to Americans' and all others' lives until the very recent past, what has substituted in terms of meaning for you? Wouldn't that be a great question to ask? Only to those 2 and 5, that which is 40%. What does matter to you? Are you thinking of an answer that they might give?

I think they would just focus on, on the relationship.

All that matters, all that matters is love between two Love. Okay, I know I'm, I'm not critiquing it. I'm asking what matters is love.

Okay.

Are there wedding bells in your future? If you're young and in love, the answer is probably not. A new survey finds that 2 in 5 young adults think marriage is an out outdated tradition. You know what else is outdated? Honoring parents is outdated, certainly. I'll tell you what else is outdated. Hard work. There's a big attack by the left on the value of hard work. It's often cited as a white privilege value. You realize if you say that hard work is a white value, what you are saying is it is not a black value. And those who have not been brainwashed, and I mean that literally, at universities, high schools, etc., Understand that that is a tremendous condemnation of Black people. You don't believe in hard work. Isn't that the classic— one of the classic racist notions? Blacks are lazy.

I—

when I say to you that the left and the Ku Klux Klan view the— view Blacks similarly, I mean that literally. I don't mean it to attack I have not been broadcasting for 40 years using hyperbole. The view of black people among the left is profoundly racist, profoundly a view of people of inferior status, of inferior values more and more.

Of course, they would say inferior status. A staggering 85% don't think you need to get married to have a fulfilling and committed relationship.

Interestingly, the poll commissioned by the Thriving Center of Psychology found that more women, 52%, than men, 41%, have this view of marriage.

Wow. I'm not surprised. The susceptibility of women to brainwash seems to be greater than that of men.

If women could be brainwashed into believing they have the same sexual nature as men do, it shows you that some of the most powerful aspects of your nature can be brainwashed out of existence. Women are not as happy with the hookup culture as men are. The hookup culture comports with men's nature. It does not comport with women's nature, and yet women participate in it because they have been brainwashed. The survey comes as a recent Pew Research study finds that 1 in 4 40-year-olds in the United States has never walked down the aisle.

A quarter of people 40 years old and older. That is, that is mind-boggling. I brought you that statistic previously.

The U.S. Census Bureau adds that 34% of people 15 years and older have never been married as of 2022.

34. Okay, 1950, that number was 23. Why aren't young people putting a ring on their serious relationships anymore? The new survey study finds that one of the biggest reasons is still the sheer cost of getting married.

Oh God, oh my God, that's why my parents got married during the Depression. So what does it mean?

This—

I hadn't read this far because it just, just came out.

Did you read this far?

It's such a left-wing reason. That's, that's the reason People aren't getting married because weddings are expensive. Oh, that is as breathtaking as the statistic itself. I know that this is— this comes from massive study and a very fertile mind.

But I believe I have a solution to the problem of expensive weddings.

Are we ready?

Think you're guessing? An inexpensive wedding in some friend's backyard and not many people. Oh my God.

Nearly 3 in 4 millennials and Gen Zers, 73%, say it's just too expensive to tie the knot.

It's breathtaking.

Another 72% say they just aren't interested. Yeah, that's correct.

1 in 6 say they have no plans to get married in the future. 83% hope they will eventually marry someone someday. And that ends the, uh, the piece. You ever hear of this website Study Finds? I'm sure you have. Not many websites you have not heard of. So I have a, a little interesting story, partially because I'm a public figure So, but I don't think you need to be a public figure to have a reaction to this similar to my own. It is with regard to the—

is he the most famous quarterback right now?

Yeah, Patrick Mahomes. So here's a story.

Moment super awkward.

Moment father snaps at double Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes when he refuses to sign an autograph for his son at a golf course.

But I will tell you what he said to the boy and, and then what the father snapped This is a true paradigm of part of America today.

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Why am I reading you this story? So here is the story. The most successful quarterback in foot— American football. Well, the term means American football. The most successful is Patrick Mahomes, who has won 2 Super Bowls as a quarterback. So he was in a golf tournament. He's like so many athletes, he loves golf. And the following happened: a kid comes over and says, Mr.

Mahomes, will you sign my jersey when you're done?

The young fan could be— this is from Daily Mail— the young fan could be heard politely asking. Mahomes refused. Can't sign for everyone, can't make everybody happy, he replied. Fine, I have no comment on that. He's absolutely right, he cannot sign every request. This is the punchline. The boy's dad jumped in, standing up for his son. Yeah, son, you can just make one kid— excuse me, not your son, my apologies.

Yeah, you can.

That's you, Mahomes.

You can, you can just make one kid happy out of 100.

Okay. And then Mahomes said, then I'll make 99 sad.

It's a good response.

And then the father said, that's all right, 1 out of 99, at least it ain't 0%, the father replied. Mahomes explained that the golf tournament said that when he does all the signing, it, uh, it holds up the tournament, which is true, obviously. So first of all, the dad was wrong.

The dad was 100% wrong. He's another one of these wimpy parents whose great aim is to be loved by their child. You know what I would tell my child?

He can't sign your jersey, and let's continue watching the tournament. That's it.

God forbid the child should want something and not get it. This From this story, this is a really bad parent.

Poor thing, he didn't get his jersey signed by a quarterback. I have never refused to sign something. I'm not Patrick Mahomes. Okay, I'm fully aware of that fact. I suspect more kids ask Patrick Mahomes for autographs than me.

And by the way, I'm asked every single day, not for autographs, for selfies.

If I leave my house, I'm asked, and I always say yes, but I, I'm not deluged like the most famous quarterback in the country.

And by the way, it is very possible if I were playing in a golf tournament which would happen in an alternate universe. But if I were playing, I would have the same response.

I can't— sorry, son, I can't sign everyone.

I owe the tournament participation. Anyway, my point— let's say Mahomes was arrogant, which he was not. Let's say he was. Hey, kid, buzz off.

I would tell my kid he shouldn't have spoken to you like that, and that—

but that's the way life works. God forbid my child should be told no. Father knows. The father even says, well, 1 out of 100, better than nothing. That means he understands 100 kids are going to ask for an autograph. God, is this— this is so paradigmatic of parenting, how this father does not teach this child to live with disappointment, to understand he's not the center of the world, to understand that this famous man isn't there to give autographs, he's there to play a golf tournament. I suspect that the number of fathers who would have said this to a kid, you know, prior to 1970 is close to zero.

Basically, deal with it. Oh, but I need to show that I am on his side because I want him to love me. So the, the comments are, of course, are always interesting on the—

on Twitter.

Let's see, most of the comments are, are in line with what I am saying, by the way. For anyone who thinks people have the right to entitlement for celebrities athletes, etc. Oh God, you know how they wrote etc.?

E-X-C period, etc.

The deterioration in English is a function of the utter incompetence of most teachers in the United States of America. Yep, that's right. Well, that one got lost. One, one of the commenters said, you didn't get an autograph, deal with it.

That's, that's it.

That's basically it. How is this kid going to handle real disappointments in life if he was told so poorly how to deal with this one?

Just type in Dennis Prager ASU speech.

It's up on YouTube, the speech I gave Tuesday to the Arizona State Legislature. I want you to watch it. It's only about 20 minutes, and I would like you to please forward it to people. The Confederation of Teachers is having its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. There is no pretense any longer that it is anything but a radical, America-destroying group. There is no pretense. Listen, listen to what is written up here. It's the Washington Free Beacon. The American Federation of Teachers Together Educating America's Children conference, scheduled for July 21-23— so it's going on starting today—

will feature sessions aimed at all teachers from preschool through high school.

Titled—

ready—

Affirming LGBTQIA+ Identities in and Out of the Classroom. The almost seemingly overnight takeover of every institution by the nihilists of the left. There is nothing remaining that they haven't taken over. Elementary schools, high schools, colleges, universities— most obvious. The entire federal bureaucracy, maybe, maybe excluding the Department of Defense. Maybe. Here's another, uh, another session with the Department of Defense. Yeah, you think it's as left as— really? Okay, because, uh, I was thinking of— Rufo said that that might be an exception. It might have been when he wrote the book. Well, he just wrote it.

All right, no, no, I, I accept it.

I— so fine, the entire bureaucracy. Well, certainly I know what they're doing with the armed forces, how woke the armed forces are. Yeah.

Education for Liberation.

This is another conference seminar, hmm, or session.

Education for Liberation: The Role of the Racially Conscious Educator in Combating Oppression.

The Big Lie of the Left. America has been an oppressor in the recent past. Wow. How about America as the great liberator? How about a session on why 4 million blacks came to America in the last few decades seeking freedom Nobody has created as open a society, as tolerant a society, as opportunity-giving a society as America has. People who have the deepest contempt for this country run everything. Bad people are governing almost everything. Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of Defense, said of Randi Weingarten, who was the head of the American Federation of Teachers, she's the most dangerous woman in America. Interesting.

In the world.

Interesting. She's vile. I'm amazed that people still send their kids to schools in the United States unless they really have checked them out. And of course, strategies for integrating climate change into your teaching. Yeah, because they already know so much history, they speak English so well, they write so well, they have read so many great works of literature that there's time to integrate climate change into your teaching. See, climate change is a veneer— the whole, the issue of climate change— for restructuring society. As David Horowitz said to me in the '90s, Environmentalism is a watermelon, green on the outside and red on the inside. Boy, did he have it right. We return in a moment. 1-800-PRAGER-776. American Federation of Teachers. Is meeting this week, is meeting today. I read to you the type of sessions that they will be having. It's quite scary. These, these are very, uh, I was going to say bad people. So it's an interesting question: what constitutes a bad person? Very tough, tough issue.

My assumption is bad people are people who do bad, not people who mean to do bad but who actually do bad. After all, how do we know if somebody is good? They do good.

The notion there are no good people has always troubled me. Of course there are good people, but if there are good people, there are bad people. Doesn't mean that they're not nice, doesn't mean you wouldn't want them as a neighbor, doesn't mean they don't love their children.

But the, but the people who have done bad and have met those criteria is quite large.

So if doing bad makes you bad, it's a convention of mostly bad people, which is amazing to say about teachers, traditionally the most loved and respected group in the United States, I think, along with clergy. It is hard for me to say it Since I grew up believing that teachers and parents were virtually on a par of those I needed to respect. In my school, a Jewish yeshiva, all-day study, half the day in Hebrew, half the day in English. When the principal walked in, we stood up.

Did you have that?

You didn't have that, did you, at public school? Yeah, we did. He came in, we stood up.

That is how I was raised.

You stood up when the principal walked in. But today, I believe the damage these people are doing— principals and teachers and the awful teachers unions They are doing as much damage as any other woke group in America is doing.

Affirming LGBTQIA+ Identities in and Out of the Classroom, one session.

Education for Liberation: The Role of the Racially Conscious Educator in Combating Oppression. Oppression. And of course, Strategies for Integrating Climate Change into Your Teaching. The conference comes, the Washington Free Beacon notes, as student learning continues to lag after the American Federation of Teachers and other teachers unions worked with federal agencies and local school districts to keep kids out of classrooms. Recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress found test scores are at decade lows nationwide. Math scores for 13-year-olds fell to their lowest level since 1990, and reading scores dropped to their lowest since 2004. A report released by House Republicans last year found the CDC, quote, allowed AFT, American Federation of Teachers, to insert language into the operational guidance that made it more likely schools across the country would remain closed after February 21, 2021. That is, of course, a year after they initially closed. Is that correct? When did they initially close, February or March 2020? Uh, it was March. March. Okay, so 11 months. AFT-affiliated unions in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities kept schools closed until February 2021 and later. Weingarten, this bad human being who runs the AFT, has since claimed that AFT, quote, tried to reopen schools safely since April 2020. So let me explain why she can get away with such a lie. As we all know, they tried to keep them closed.

So how could she tell what seems to be a bald-faced lie?

Because she added the word safely.

We wanted to reopen schools, but only safely.

But since it wasn't safe, they were for closing schools.

That's how she could tell a lie and yet not be charged with lying.

She defended the collaboration in House testimony earlier this year, saying, any claim that the contact the AFT had with the CDC was unusual or inappropriate, it is simply wrong. Oh God. Here's one of my favorite lines from this article in the Washington Free Beacon. Attendees at this weekend's conference will be required to show proof of COVID vaccination and pass a rapid antigen test at the door. Any attendee who is vaccinated and boosted may still be prevented from attending these and all other sessions if they test positive for COVID upon entrance. We are now in the middle of 2023, and they are still demanding that you be vaccinated to enter a building. And then they tell you they tried to reopen schools when years later they're demanding proof of vaccination. Please take your kid out of school. Find a good school if you can, or homeschool your child. I promise you, you will be happy you did.

It's the happy, happy, happy, happy hour. Hello, everybody.

24 years of the Happiness Hour. Because the happy may the— the unhappy may get worse. That's why we have the happy, happy, happy hour.

Those are the original lyrics. I'm Dennis Prager.

Wrote a book on happiness.

Realized at about the age of 16 that for many people, not all, but for many, unhappiness is taking the easy way out.

There are a few mottos, if you will, statements, slogans, memes that parents have, and they say them enough, children remember them.

One of my father's was never take the easy way out. He, he overdid it.

I'll give you an example.

It's actually funny. I began wearing eyeglasses at, I think, the age of 11. And the optometrist or ophthalmologist, whichever one did the prescribing, said, uh, Dennis, just wear them for reading and watching television. Which, when you think of it, means all the time, right? One is close, one is not close. So my father took the doctor literally. I should wear them when I read and when I watch TV. However, I had the audacity to wear them all the time since I wanted to see everything other than a book and a television clearly. Makes sense, no? It was a fairly sensible act on my part. And my father would see me wearing glasses, not watching TV or reading. Why are you wearing your glasses?

You're taking the easy way out. Now, I was blessed, truly I was blessed with a very sober nature. I, I had—

I didn't get annoyed.

I actually thought My dad, whom I had great respect for, was speaking nonsense.

Of course I'm taking the easy way out by wearing glasses. You could say that about anything that helps your life. Anyway, I'm only giving you this as an anecdote.

My father took it a little too far, but you know what, better excess in that direction than in the other, because I grew up with the implanted, embedded theme in my brain: don't take the easy way out, it's probably the wrong way.

So I realized at 16, I said to myself, and I even remember where, on a New York subway train at night one night, New York City subway, that being unhappy is taking the easy way out.

Amazing that I thought that at 16, but I did, and it was a road to Damascus moment, if I may use that analogy. It is true.

It was a train to Damascus moment.

Subway to Damascus. And I have basically been happy ever since, or certainly sought to be happy ever since, usually successfully. So this has been a major theme in my life.

So one of the keys to Happiness in my life.

It's a really good one. I never did an hour on—

I've done, you could say, 25 years on this, but I don't think I've devoted one hour specifically to what makes me happy or what I do to be happy.

Have I?

I haven't, you know, that personal an hour.

I don't think I've done.

I mean, Everything has been mentioned in passing. None of it would be new to regular listeners, but I would say that having good friends, there's nothing above it. There are things that are tied with it.

And I include a good marriage, obviously. Well, not obviously, but I do.

I don't even think that religion—

and I am quite religious and quite God-oriented, but I'll tell you a fascinating insight with regard to God and humans. God says in Genesis, in the beginning of the first human creature's life, Adam, it is not good for man to be alone. By the way, there's so—

it's so rich, that statement.

Because hadn't God said after every day, I think except the second, and God saw what he had made and it was good? The first day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day.

On the day that humans were made, the sixth day, God saw it was very good.

God was particularly pleased with the creation of human beings. But the first time tov, which is good in Hebrew, is used with the word lo, not or no, is about being alone.

So a Protestant pastor whom I never— whose name I never heard—

made a point, and I cited it in my commentary on Genesis, The Rational Bible Genesis. I cited this anonymous pastor because I'm adamant about not taking credit for a point that I didn't come up with, and I cited him as saying God is saying it is not good for man to be alone, so he is describing Adam as being alone.

Therefore, God is saying, even I, God, am not enough.

That is— I—

that is the type of insight that moves me.

Because it's real. God is necessary but not sufficient, and God said so. On this planet, in this existence, we need people. We also need God. But God said we need people. By the way, I did not put this in my commentary, but you know what? You know what I just realized? He's saying something else. Something else is not enough. Take a guess.

Animals. Yeah.

And he was looking for a companion among animals. Again, having a dog you love is a massive asset.

It's, it's a—

according to all studies I've seen, it is a life lengthener having a pet, especially a dog or a cat, in your life. But again, you can— might you You might say necessary, but not sufficient. I don't know about necessary, but certainly terrific. It's certainly a big deal, and especially if someone doesn't have someone in the human species.

But an animal is not enough. Even God is not enough.

People need people, because people who need people are the luckiest people in the world. For me to quote Barbra Streisand is an effort, shall we say. So I have something to say about that, plus recent personal stories.

1-800-DENNIS-PRAGER, 776- A lot of people don't have people in their lives called friends.

Take your calls, continue on the Happiness Hour.

The Dennis Prager Show.

People, people who need people.

Those of you who don't know how mean, right? Technical director, he put her on just because I cited her. Okay, thank you. This is as much as one could handle in any given year. Welcome to the Happiness Hour, 1-800-PRAGER-776. I'm talking about that subject. Up with God and family is friends. That's how important I consider friends to happiness. God himself says that we need someone and He had already noted, "Man should leave his father and mother and cling unto his wife." So obviously the importance of marriage to happiness is central to the human condition. The argument that many marriages end in divorce is as unpersuasive to me With regard to marriage, as the argument many people have car crashes, therefore one shouldn't drive. I assume that that's a self-evident, uh, uh, uh, obviosity. I assume that. What would you say to somebody, I don't want to drive, there's so many accidents there, a lot of, so many people get killed on the road. Why, why do people drive? Why, for that matter, do people ride in a car given the number of fatal accidents and massive injuries?

Because they know you have to.

Although some people don't, they prefer to go on public transportation where it is available. But do you know anybody who won't ride? Maybe someone drive. You don't know anybody who won't ride because it's a necessity. Marriage is a necessity. Do people get by and seemingly happy? There are people get by without ever driving a car, or for that matter, minimizing how often they're in a car.

But this is not about marriage.

This is about what are necessary: God, marriage, and friends. All right, I mean, if I'm going to make a list, I would add passions. The more you're passionate about, whether it's fountain pens classical music, photography, audio equipment, or cigars. I knew I'd get that in at some point in the hour.

But it is true, the more you're passionate about, the happier you will be.

That is correct. So it's worth noting there are many avenues God or nature has given us many avenues to happiness, but there's nothing higher than the friends one. See, children are a blessing— that is, if they are a blessing— that cannot be overstated. But children are not your peers. They, they have a different role in your happiness, and depending on them for happiness is not a good thing for them or for you. But it is fair to say that you depend, not in a clingy, cloying, pathetic way, but my friends know I depend on them for a lot of my happiness. I hope my wife knows. These, these are the— my peers in life. Why do people lack friends? I read about it all the time. The amount of loneliness in America means that they're friendless.

It doesn't mean they're childless.

It's a very interesting point, an important point to make. There are a lot of lonely people who have children. Well, if you use your children to assuage your loneliness, it's not good. So one thing I'd like you to call in is, why do you have few or no close friends? Why do you think others don't? Perhaps someone you're married to or you know well in another way. 1-800-PRAGER-776-877-243-7776. My definition of friend is one to whom you can say anything. The key to finding friends is to look for them. I've been saying this as far back as I remember. You should date for friends like you dated for a spouse. I've always said that. I've always said couples need couples and individuals need individuals. Singles need singles. But you need friends, and you're not going to find them, generally speaking, these close friends, if you don't look for them.

Everything good needs to be pursued. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yes, happiness should be pursued. Friends should be pursued. Faith should be pursued.

There are a lot of religious people who think some people are blessed with faith and that's it. That's true, by the way. Some people are. For some people, faith in God is as natural as eating or breathing. I, I'm not one of them. I have pursued faith. I pursued happiness. I have pursued marriage. I pursue— I can't believe there's anything good in my life that I haven't pursued, including my passions that I listed earlier.

Well, the general view is, I'll get married when, you know, somebody right comes along.

Pursue? Nah, not pursue. The only thing people pursue now is professional success. Not exactly the avenue for happiness. It helps, certainly, if it pays the bills. Why don't more people have friends? I'll tell you why when we come back. 1-800-PRAGER-776. Hello everybody, Happiness Hour, Dennis Prager Show, second hour Friday. Talking about the necessities of happiness and dwelling on one, and they are a good marriage, a good religion, and good friends. I added also good passions. Good is critical in all of these cases, but that's not the theme of the hour. The theme is the friendship one, and I gave the, the bases that God himself says God is not enough. God is necessary but not enough. When he says it is not good for man to be alone, but Adam was not alone.

Adam had God.

Adam had a direct relationship with God. Whether you believe it or not, that's not the point. The point is—

what is the point?

The point is God not being enough. He made a world with people. People need people. When there are no people, God may be enough for the time being. Like when you're innocently put in solitary confinement, then God can fill that vacuum in some ways. That's true, but that's not your— that's not your dilemma.

Okay, so The answer to all of them is pursue. You should pursue happiness, you should pursue marriage, you should pursue God and faith, and you should pursue friends. People don't.

They believe that it'll come along, faith will descend on them one day, or it never will. Friends, maybe, maybe they'll make a friend doing something on some normal basis. When I tell people that the greatest part of cruising with me on my listener cruises is, no matter how great the place is, no matter how much you enjoy me is the friends you are likely to make. I mean it sincerely. I'm going on a cruise, by the way, next year again. Get the information on my website.

I—

when I am told, Dennis, just want you to know, uh, we went across the country to people we met on one of your cruises, I I really, really feel good about that.

See, that's a way to pursue a friend. How do you pursue friends? You've got to go to kindred spirit events. That, that's one of the best ways.

Where am I likely to find someone with whom I share values.

By the way, sharing values doesn't mean that they'll end up being your friend, but that's another necessary but not sufficient. It is necessary to share values for a close friendship, but it's not sufficient.

You also got to like each other. But at least start with the part that's necessary. Attend kindred spirit events.

Okay, let's see.

Megan in Orland Park, Illinois. Hello.

Hi Dennis, thanks for taking my call. Um, I would say that I am, uh, I pursued a lot of things in my life and I consider myself very blessed because I had a happy marriage, a handful of very good friends that I can count on. Um, to— if I need to call them and talk, if I need them to come through for me. I had surgery recently and they all came through. I feel like I have the full package. Got an extended family, I've got some passions that I'm involved in, and very importantly, I consider myself both an extrovert but also an introvert, happy by being with myself, reading, doing my passions. So I feel very lucky.

You are.

One of the reasons you're blessed is that you know you're blessed.

To be blessed, as so many Americans are, and to think that they're not blessed is a source of their own misery and making others miserable. Coon Rapids, Minnesota, and Jennifer, we will come to you as soon as we return.

Don't you worry about a thing. Don't you worry Worry about a thing, Mama, 'cause I'll be standing on the side when you check it out. You say your style of life's a drag and that you must go other places, but just don't you feel too bad when you get fooled by smiles.

All right, I didn't choose this one for the Happiness Hour, which may reflect poorly on me or may reflect well on me. You, my dear listeners, will decide.

Happiness Hour: God, marriage, friends. Not in that order.

Things that bring people happiness, and all must be pursued. And I'm talking about the friends part.

All right, Jennifer, I promised you in Minnesota.

Hello.

Hi, Dennis. Such an honor. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Um, I was actually calling because this made me think of something I heard, oh gosh, 10 15 years ago, and I think it was on the Today Show, and I happened to be listening to somebody who had written a book on a similar topic, and he said— he posed the question, would you rather live your life without your sight, your eyesight, or without any friends? And it really struck me because I thought, gosh, there are so many people in this world that don't have their eyesight but live very happy lives. But show me a person that has no friends. That is happy, and it's just not possible. So just—

that's a great—

your take on that was excellent.

Yeah, yeah. I just thought, gosh, I would—

yeah, look, the very fact that he could ask the— the very fact that he could ask the question and people not react, what is he, out of his mind, shows you how important friends are.

Yeah, it does. In fact, I will just add this, um, My husband and I, unfortunately, we lost our 16-year-old 3 years ago unexpectedly. And, you know, I— my husband and my family, my kids and my parents and my church, my priest, all of those have been, you know, wonderful supports in helping us get through that. However, my friends are what has— like, I couldn't have done this without my friends.

Wow, what a powerful story.

Yeah. And I think the other thing too is my husband doesn't— he has friends, he has good friends, he has friends he could call today and they would do anything for him, but they don't naturally do that. And so I think that women are much better at this than men.

That's what I have always been told whenever I've raised the issue. And I feel terrible because I—

men need it.

Yeah. I don't relate to it as a man. I'm a normal guy, but I don't relate to that. I have to figure that out. Men need to explain. May I ask what happened with your 16-year-old?

Oh, he was riding his bike and hit by a car and he was killed pretty instantly actually, which is, I consider a blessing.

That's right. How many other children do you have?

So he was our number 4 of 6. Yeah.

You're a dear woman, I gotta say. I would love to meet you one day.

Thank you. I would love that too, actually. I've admired you for a long time. I've listened to you for over 20 years, so—

Well, I admire you for a short time.

Thank you so much, Dennis.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Hmm.

Can't you tell she's special? That is— that's sort of obvious.

All right, let's see what our 17-year-old in South Carolina—

Lexington, South Carolina—

and Connor. Hello.

Thank you for having me. Uh, I wanted to talk about why some people don't have friends. Um, being in high school, from being in high school, my experience is a lot of especially younger people, they're too scared of being rejected. They don't have the confidence to go and risk that failure of being rejected.

It's an excellent call. I think, I think there must be truth to that.

Do you, do you feel that, or are you speaking on behalf of others?

Um, I felt that in middle school, but you know, it's easier to fit in in high school if you just be yourself. But I still see a lot of kids who just don't. I see the, the relationship between not going out and trying to find people and being by herself a lot.

So do you have a close male friend?

Uh, I do, yes.

But you—

so how do you know about this fear of being rejected as being a big factor in not having friends?

I—

because I do have that fear, but But I, I do my best to overcome it and try anyway. And I mean, I, I have been rejected as friends sometimes, and it hurts, but it's always better to try than to not try at all.

If somebody rejects you as a friend, it could be a tremendous learning experience, because if it's a truly good and, and what, even wonderful person One would have to do self-inquiry.

Gee, what about me did not appeal to this person?

On the other hand, it could be a blessing. They saved you hurt later on. If this person doesn't want me, then they're really not for me.

I think one should say that about the opposite sex too.

All right, well, thank you.

I appreciate that.

Fear of rejection. That was what I had said earlier about all these people who say they won't marry because there's so many divorces, so they fear divorce, which I always analogize to fearing driving because there are so many accidents.

Huh. What's our timing, Mr. McConnell?

In 20 seconds.

I probably shouldn't take a call for that short a period of time. Your theories fascinate me. I learn a lot. Back in a moment.

The Kings send out a line of Wayne Gretzky along with Luke Robitaille and Dennis Prager. Gretzky wins the faceoff. He gives it to Robitaille. Robitaille gives it to Dennis Prager. Here's Prager to center ice with Gretzky. 2-on-1 break. Gretzky back to Prager.

He stumbles and falls.

I think that in the top 3 things in life that brings Sean McConnell joy That is one of them.

It's a sad life. What can I say? Hey, here's the music. Enjoy.

Let Dennis be Dennis.

Exactly.

This is the hour you set the agenda, whatever's on your mind about you, about me, about life, about death, and needless to say, about cigars, audio equipment, equipment, photography equipment, classical music, and—

damn it.

Just a bit outside.

Wait, wait, what's the fifth? Cigars, audio equipment, photography equipment, classical music, fountain pens. Who's waving something there? Who is waving? Yeah, but Zach is not waving a fountain pen, he's waving a ballpoint pen.

I know, trying in this little world, Dennis's world, trying is not sufficient.

That is correct, I'm the only one with the fountain pen in this zip code.

Hello everybody, this is the hour. I love it, I love it very, very much.

You set the agenda, whatever is on your mind.

If I don't take your call, don't be offended. Americans get too offended too easily.

Let's get offended too easily. I didn't need the too offended. Too easily. It's not personal. It just may not be a subject I'm aching to talk about.

Like, let's say you call up and say, so Dennis How does it look for the Republicans in Michigan?

I wouldn't take the call. It's not my passion, even though my passion is saving the country and Democrats are in fact ruining it.

It should be my passion.

It's an interesting thing.

It just isn't. There are any number of talk show hosts who could answer that question better than I could. I try to take questions that I can give you the— what I think is probably the best answer, but I know that I can't do that for every subject. Like, let's say you call up and you say How is Sean's heart condition? I would refer you to his cardiologist.

Sean, how is your heart condition? I'm, uh, deceptively healthy. That was a very cute answer. He said he is deceptively healthy.

Why, you feel that if somebody looks at you, they don't think this is a paragon of health?

That is what you think, but your numbers are good. That's what, that's what counts.

Okay, everybody, let's go to your calls. I really like this, as I said. Aaron in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Hello.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I was calling about the, the smoking argument where you often say smoking's pretty benign, and I, I see it a little different. I see smoking as kind of a gateway drug because there's not many drugs that you can't smoke. And once you've smoked one thing, trying another thing smoking-wise isn't too far of a reach for somebody to pressure you into, especially somebody young in their teens wants to be part of the gang, you know.

Well, let me, let me give you a response.

Okay.

So nearly, I don't know what the number would be, I would say 80% of Americans smoked, men and women, let's say in 1950. Almost none of them went to drugs. Today, having demonized smoking, you may be right because A lot of people who cross over into the demonized zone will stay there for other demonized things, but there is zero correlation between smoking tobacco and taking, uh, illicit drugs.

Maybe there's a couple other factors today. Maybe the illicit drugs are more available, and also you You can't discipline your child the way you could in the '50s or you'd end up in jail. You know, you caught your, your 10-year-old smoking back then, you'd make them smoke a pack of cigarettes, which would be child abuse today, or you'd whoop them and that'd be abuse too. You know, you'd get thrown in jail for disciplining your child anymore.

I agree with that. I've covered that on a number of occasions. I will do it again.

I, I had— it was revelatory.

That's why I've always said that this is my laboratory of humanity, my radio show.

So I had a number of hours at different times in my career. If your parents used corporal punishment, how do you look upon that now? I had no idea how people would react. And every, virtually every call, I mean every call I remember, said it was positive. It had a good effect on them. I deserved it.

I, I, it You know, it wasn't done in a humiliating way.

That to me has always been the criterion.

You can't humiliate your child. But the idea that you, you can't corporally punish your child or you'll lose your child— really?

If your kid goes over and bullies another kid, physically bullies— I don't mean verbally, which is bad also But physically, you can't give him a whack.

A 5-year-old kid threw down my older son when he was 2 or 3, 5, 6-year-old, I don't know exactly.

I wasn't there.

His mom, my— she was my wife at the time— was at the park in, in the LA area, Beverly Hills actually. Though we didn't live in Beverly Hills, but it was close. And he went and he threw my son down to the ground just like that.

And this kid's mother came out running to him and said, what's wrong, honey? What's troubling you? She should have given him a whack.

Okay, but anyway, I think, I think I answered the, uh, I think I answered the, that issue from the beginning. I wrote this in the 1980s, a gigantic essay on the war on tobacco, how misguided it was. It was a health issue that was rendered a moral issue. That was the big mistake. There was nothing morally wrong with tobacco. There's plenty morally wrong with marijuana, and of course with harder drugs.

Even conservatives on this show would answer my question, would you rather your teenager smoke a cigarette or a joint?

Nearly everyone said a joint. They had bought into the god of health, not understanding the ill effects to the mind and the soul of marijuana.

Okay, let's see here. Rye, New York.

William, hello.

Hello, Dennis, thank you for taking my call. Um, I'm sorry Julie's not there. I really only called because Julie's been there and I, I've grown kind of bored with you. I'd rather talk to her, but all right, since it's you, I get it.

I totally get it.

I'd rather talk to her than to me too.

No, she's been, she's been just terrific. Anyway, I called because I just completed a tour of Eastern Europe that I took because, uh, I, I heard about you talking about your trip to Eastern Europe. So I, I did kind of the same itinerary you did, a few different things, but I came away with many of the same feelings you did, that I felt freer in Eastern Europe than I do here in New York. And I'll just give you one example. I was in Croatia at a public saltwater swimming pool and they have a high-rise diving board. And I was having a ball jumping into the water there, and it's mostly kids around. But, uh, so I started a conversation with someone, and, uh, we got on the subject of various things. And the gentleman asked me, don't you have diving boards in the United States? And I said, well, not anymore. And he said— asked why. And I said, well, because people find them unsafe. And the answer was, that's ridiculous. And I said, yes it is. And I said that, that's why I love Eastern Europe.

That, that's a great example. That's right, that's exactly right.

But there are many, many other reasons why I felt better there than here, and I could cry telling you that. Hey, how would you like to save a serious amount of money on your phone bill? I checked it out. I actually have a phone with PureTalk, and it's exactly what they say.

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This is the hour you call in on whatever you want to call in on.

And Cleveland, Barbara, home of the Guardians, the former Indians. Yes, actually, I, I can't say—

I, I say it with Sarcasm.

There was no reason to change the name. It was an honor, not an insult.

But the left is vicious and they lie. Aside from that, they had some good arguments.

Okay, go ahead.

Agreed. I saw the movie Sound of Freedom. It was so tasteful and so modestly done, and I am completely perplexed and frustrated and just perplexed why it's not getting any sort of mainstream coverage. It is an extremely important topic, an unappreciated topic.

Yeah, I saw the film. I recommended it the day I saw it, the day after I saw it. It's about Tim Ballard and his fight against the traffickers of young children to be sex objects and abused by countless men. I want you to know they have, thank God, grossed a lot. I mean, they've done— as I understand it, was it— I think Sony had originally contracted it I think Disney owns Sony.

I think I read that, but I'm not absolutely certain.

And anyway, they dropped the film. I don't understand why. I don't understand why the left hates this film. It's one of the only things I can't explain about the left.

I can't either. I don't know if it's something to do with Epstein's Island or trying to cover people. I don't have any understanding.

Yeah, all right. Well, I'm going to— I'm going to pursue this next week. There are people who know.

Maybe I'll just have Tim Ballard on. That sort of should answer the question when I think about it. San Francisco, that happy city. Kathleen, hello.

Yes, hello, Dennis Prager. I think I can offer an answer as to why that Sound of Freedom is not being covered more. Would you like to hear?

Yeah.

Um, well, I think one reason is that the open border policy that we've been suffering since Biden took office is, um, allowing, uh, just a plethora of traffickers to be coming in, an explosion of sex trafficking. So I think it shows up the Biden administration in a bad light. That might be one reason, but the reason I'm calling is I wanted to know if you—

By the way, just for the record, that's not a— you may well be right, but I want people to know that isn't a— there's no political slant in this film at all, at all, including there's no big deal made about the open border. So I just want people to understand that. Go ahead.

I'm planning to see it this week.

Oh, okay. You didn't see it.

You'll see, you'll see.

I'm right.

Okay.

I haven't seen it yet. I've just read about it and I've seen the trailers. So thank you for saying that. But I wanted to ask you if you could speak to the subject of ghosting, the phenomenon. This is sort of a carryover from the friendship subject, but the tendency and the phenomenon of people who ghost people.

Yeah. Yeah. I know what it is. I don't, I don't know. What percentage of the listeners do. I think it's more associated with the young people dating world through apps so that all of a sudden the person you have been talking to on the phone or texting with or even meeting for early coffees or lunches They disappear like a ghost. They become a ghost.

That's where the term is, right?

So, yeah, if I may say, I am a woman of a certain age. I'm not in that age group at all. I don't even participate in social apps by choice, and ghosting has happened to me even at this.

So give one quick example of a ghosting experience.

Okay, I've had 3 so far. Men, men, men, men do it. But for me, it was 3 women I thought were close friends of mine, and suddenly they are out of your life. You contact them, email them, text them, whatever, no response.

Well, that's a— that I did expect you to say it happened in your dating life with men. That it happened with 3 female friends. How long were they friends with you?

Oh my goodness. Well, the first one, we were colleagues in a work situation. We became very, very close. I was—

Are you a conservative?

I am.

Is she?

No.

The first one was not. However, the third time it happened, the woman and I were both conservatives, both interested in the same things, practically in agreement.

And how long were you two friends?

Uh, I would say we were friends for a couple of years.

We became—

yeah, I have to admit I'm puzzled.

I, I have no answer.

It's a real puzzlement. I did look up a little bit on ghosting and did some reading on it because I wanted to understand it. And I don't know, there was some article that gave like the top 10 reasons for ghosting. I think the reasons that men ghost women or women ghost men are different than when a woman ghosts a woman.

Right. I agree with you.

They're very different.

They may—

well, and they may be similar, but yeah, I don't understand why you just don't gradually, so to speak, you know, oh, I'm sorry, you know, I can't see you for lunch next Wednesday. You know, I'll be in Albania.

Yeah, you would think. Yeah, exactly. You would think it would be a gradual phase.

Yes, that's right.

Yeah.

God, the painful things that go on out there. That was a new one for me—

same-sex middle-aged ghosting. Sean, I won't ghost you.

Yeah, no, I know you were concerned. If I leave your life, it will be gradual. I'll just, uh, I'll say, oh, I'm having lunch in Albania that day.

The problem is you'll believe me because there's a good chance I'm telling the truth.

Okay, we return.

I'm Dennis Prager, and it is the hour you call in on what is on your mind.

Okay, Houston, Texas, and Eddie.

Hello.

Hello. Hello.

Yep. Yep.

Oh, sorry, give me one second.

I'm with the customer.

Sorry, with a customer. That's adorable.

Yeah, no, no, I like that.

That means you're listening on the job, right?

So my question was, um, first of all, it's an honor to finally speak to you.

Thank you.

But, um, recently, well, the week before, you had the, the question about why bad stuff happens to good people. Yeah, why God allows it to happen.

Yep.

And recently, my— we're talking— I was talking with my wife, and she would tell me that she doesn't understand how she— the talk she went through as a child, like, how could that have happened? How could God have let that happen to her?

What happened to her? You, you, uh, it skipped the transmission. What happened to her when she was a child?

She, she went through some, some trauma, some abuse.

Okay.

Uh, you know, right.

Right. Okay.

The only thing I could think of at the moment was to say that ultimately God gives us free will, right, to do good, but also people can use it to do bad. And, um, sorry, I'm a little nervous.

That's okay. That's fine. You're perfectly articulate. So did the— why didn't that answer satisfy your wife?

She's kind of in the mindset that she, she wants concrete proof that, you know, she wants to believe, but she finds it hard that she needs concrete proof that God exists. And I know that it's kind of— it doesn't really happen like that, but—

well, the God that she— the God that she believes in or wants to believe in doesn't exist.

That's the issue. And that's the issue for vast numbers of people who lose faith or never have it.

The God they believed in doesn't exist, so of course they drop belief. I never believed in a God who, who stops all evil. Not for one second of my life did I believe it. Maybe because I was a Jew—

still am— and because I learned so early of the Holocaust, and I had to reconcile at about the age of 10, 11, a God who allowed such a thing to happen.

And then of course, when I got older, Gulag and Chinese, the Chinese famine, Ukrainian famine, I mean, all of these were human-induced. Staggering numbers of human beings slaughtered, and for every one of those, the ripple effect of pain is remarkably high. Obviously, all the friends, the family of the starved, beaten, tortured, gassed individuals.

There wasn't a minute of my life that I believed in a God who will stop all evil.

A lot of people don't believe in God. They believe in a celestial butler. I'm in trouble, help me out. This even annoys a lot of believers who believe deeply and are wonderful Christians or wonderful Jews. This, this transcends any given Bible-based religion.

So if she wants proof that a God who stops evil exists, I can prove that we have a God who doesn't stop all evil. What I do believe is that there is a God who knows all the evil that exists, and that in the afterlife this will be worked out. It's clearly not worked out in this life. Okey-doke, that is a riot.

I'm telling you, the variety of calls I take is a big compliment. There is a call asking me, after God and suffering, would I— what electric shaver would I recommend? I'm taking it. I'm absolutely taking it. But it'll have to be when we come back.

Oh, that's the best.

So what did he talk about, Dennis Prager, on his show?

God and suffering, people leaving friends, electric shavers.

Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 hours of my radio show commercial-free every single day, become a member of Prager Utopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives as well as the daily show prep. Subscribe at pragertopia.com.