Or

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 dear friends. Dennis Prager. I'm not flying today. That is how I now basically look at my life. A day not at an airport. Awesome. I'm back in LA next week. Tennessee and Mississippi. Just came from Minnesota. And this is gonna— I don't know how you will react to this. And I— it's, it's not a dilemma that most people have, and I, I can even see people not reacting well to this question, but I, I'm okay with it. I, I don't think, gee, how will they react? I just think, is it an interesting little observation about life? So I have on many occasions noted I literally, literally have one envy in my life. I am blessed with a non-envious nature. It is, it's a blessing. If you have one, you're cursed, and my heart goes out to you and anybody in your life because it has repercussions. Anyway, I do have one envy, and that is people who have private jets. The thought that I could fly anywhere I want, when I want, and then come back home. The time saving is just incredible. Okay. So I was talking to some donors to PragerU in Minnesota who are well-to-do, and a couple of them had their own planes. and I mentioned this to them, and they were, you know, cracking up that my one envy and they have it and so on. And they don't feel awkward and I don't feel awkward. It doesn't mean anything. It's just a human observation. And then I told them the truth is I have it relatively easy at airports because I not only have TSA PreCheck, But I have something called CLEAR, which is faster than TSA PreCheck. Of course, these are all things you pay for appropriately. And so I get through fast. I don't have to take my shoes off. That's the part I most appreciate. Don't have to take my computer out, etc. Okay, not— and then I fly first class, which is incomparably better than coach for the room. I don't, I don't care about the food. The service is sweet, but it doesn't mean anything. It's the room. I'm 6'4" and sitting in coach for an extended period is actually— causes back problems for me. So I said to them, what do you think is a greater difference between first class and coach? Or between private plane and first class? How's that? And I said the difference between first class and coach is greater than the difference between private jet and first class. And a man with a private jet said he didn't agree. He thought that the difference between first class on a regular plane and a private jet is greater than between first class and economy. So then I asked him the following: would you— well, how did I put it? Would you fly— oh man, I posed the question of if he had to fly half the time coach and half the time private plane versus full-time in first class, what would he take? And I won the argument. There you go. And I bet that not one of you has ever posed this dilemma. You have no idea how much The 'or' questions have clarified life for me. Would you save the dog or a stranger? 'Or' is a clarifying question. And now, ladies and gentlemen, often people say, why don't you ever report good news? Not often, periodically, and I want to be very precise. Periodically, that question is posed to me. So here goes. Well, let me just answer the question. I don't report to you to make you feel good or make you feel bad. I report to you what I believe is worthy of reporting to you. But I have good news here from Portugal. It's, it's actually quite remarkable. The pathetic kids all young people blocking traffic on a major highway in Portugal. I don't know if it's Lisbon, doesn't say. And they're blocking it on behalf of climate change, or, or to fight climate change. By the way, it's very hard to know exactly what do they think they will achieve. Nothing will change in terms of policies because they have blocked traffic on a highway, and they will probably alienate a fair number of people who might otherwise be predisposed to having a sympathetic view of a fanatical movement. There is no fanatical movement in our time in the Western world that is analogous to the Greens. They are the fanatics of our day. And one of the many proofs, if you needed one, is that they are opposed to nuclear power, which would solve the problem very quickly. Completely carbon-free and safe. And we have videos on nuclear power at PragerU. You should watch them in case you wonder, gee, what will we do with waste? That was the one thing that my talk with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at my home, my fireside chat that I do every week, Dennis Prager, that I was disappointed in him because he's a big believer in the threat of climate change, which is, as I've said often, if I could only respect people with whom I agreed on everything, the number of people I respect would be reduced to close to zero. It just— that is the way the world works. So I have to pick and choose. He's an admirable man and a courageous man, but he kept talking about nuclear waste as if, as if this is enough to just rely on wind and sun. It's just beyond belief. All right, anyway, they blocked the traffic on the highway in Portugal, and I have a video which we should put up at DennisPrager.com just in case You feel a little depressed about the world, this will cheer you up. People got out of their cars and dragged these fanatics away. They didn't wait for the police. Bravo to these drivers in Portugal. It is hard to imagine that this would happen in America because we have been weakened as a people. You block my car, I move you. You don't have the right to block my car. What if I have to get to a hospital? What if I have to get to an airplane? What if I have to get to my child's wedding, and if I don't make that plane, I will come late or miss the ceremony? What if my kid is having some depressed moment that I want to get home. Do you understand the staggering, unbelievable narcissism which permeates all leftism of the Greens? That whole movement is narcissistic.

It's—

that's why poor people are not in the Greens. They have real concerns. This is a made-up concern of the rich white. That's the irony. The affluent secular white is overwhelmingly the individual preoccupied with the, uh, the allegedly existential threat to humanity that I have now been hearing about. Let's see, Al Gore wrote his book in 1990, so it precedes that. So let's say from '85, '85 to now, what is that, 50 years? 15, yeah, no, no, 40 years, almost 40 years. 40 years of biblical, by the way, is a biblical number. It's fitting, 40 years, 40 days of the flood, in case you're curious, 40 days Moses was on Mount Sinai getting the Ten Commandments, 40 years the Israelites in the wilderness. 40 is an important biblical number. So we are approaching a biblical number of years of hysteria. If we don't act in 12 years, it'll be too late. Well, we didn't act enough in 12 years. Why isn't it too late? It's, it's not too late every 12 years. Anyway, they dragged them away. That's what you should do. That's what we should all do. Back in a moment. Mike Lindell has a passion to help you get the best sleep of your life. He didn't stop at the pillow. Mike also created the Giza Dream bedsheets. These sheets look and feel great, which means an even better night's sleep, which is crucial for overall health. Mike found the world's best cotton called Giza. It's ultra soft and breathable but extremely durable. Mike's latest deal is the sale of the year. For a limited time, you'll receive 50% off the Giza Dream sheets, marking prices down as as low as $29.98 depending on the size. Go to mypillow.com, click on the radio podcast square, and use the promo code PRAGER. There you'll find not only this amazing offer but also deep discounts on all MyPillow products, including the MyPillow 2.0 mattress topper, MyPillow kitchen towel sets, and so much more. Call 800-761-6302 or go to mypillow.com and use the promo code PRAGER. I want you to hear the Prime Minister. You have to understand, folks, we're fighting back. You remember my motto: despair is a sin. Despair is a sin. Say that to yourself when you wake up and when you go to bed and when you walk by the way, to quote Deuteronomy. D-E-U-T-E-R-O-N-O-M-Y. What's harder to spell, Deuteronomy or isosceles? Do you realize, ladies and gentlemen, on planet Earth, I'm the only one to have ever posed that question? Think about that. You have experienced— Yes, no, no, that's correct. That is dizzying. It dizzied me. Which is harder to spell? The absurdities that float through my mind at any given moment could fill a radio show. Holy crow, that has happened. All right, so here is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom And let me see here. Uh, Rishi Sunak is his name. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. And let's hear it. And it also shouldn't be controversial for parents to know what their children are being taught in school about relationships. Patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women. And we shouldn't get bullied— and we shouldn't get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can't. A man is a man and a woman is a woman. That's just common sense. Is that mind-blowing? The leader of a Western country? Everything about it is mind-blowing. A, that he said it. A man is a man and a woman is a woman, and you can't become the other. That is a fact, ladies and gentlemen. You are lying to yourself in a way that should scare you and everyone around you if you believe otherwise. It means that you have no interest in truth or in science. You have interest in going along with the mob. It is a mob mentality. It is a left-wing sickness that a man can become a woman. You cannot. Doesn't mean you should be hurt. It doesn't mean you should be ostracized. It doesn't mean a whole host of things. But it does mean that some conviction that truth matters should exist on the left, but it doesn't. Truth is not a left-wing value. Never has been. That's why the Communist Party in the Soviet Union named their newspaper Pravda, which means truth. The left sets truth. There is no truth. It's like Oprah Winfrey's, what is your truth? That is it. What is your truth? Interesting, isn't it? What is your truth? Like, what is your weather? Anybody ever said that? What is your weather? Well, wait a minute. There is weather. This is the humidity. This is the wind. This is the temperature. It isn't my weather. Wow, we got to keep that, Sean. That is Hall of Fame, you understand? Whenever you get down, which, you know, it happens every February 30th. No, no, no. Every December 32nd. There you go. That happens. It happens. But anyway, seriously, whenever we get down, I want to play the Prime Minister of Britain, Boris Johnson. Well, how Boris Johnson became Prime Minister from the Conservative Party is one of the questions like why God created the mosquito. That is not fully answerable to the human species. Why Boris Johnson is considered a conservative and became the head of the Tories. I, uh, anyway, this, this man who's obviously— whose ethnicity is not Anglo— is telling the truth. You know what is it? What Equally, there are two aspects that are equally amazing. One is that he said it. The other is that he needed to say it. As recently as 5 years ago, if the Prime Minister of Britain had gotten up, of the United Kingdom had gotten up and said this, uh, a man is a man and a woman is a woman and you cannot become the other people would have thought that the person had early dementia. Why, Mr. Prime Minister, did you feel the need to say that? Are we now going to announce that a human cannot become an animal? Well, so you realize I have brought to you, my dear listener, I have brought to you two wonderful pieces of news. What the, what the Portuguese drivers did to the bored, fanatical, scared kids— that I both have contempt for those young people and I pity them. Remember what the left has done here in America and in many places, but here in America, your future stinks and your past stinks. Isn't that beautiful? Don't— aren't you just a fan of the left? Your future stinks. Yeah, you know what, I gotta write a column on this. The message to young people, the messages of the left. Your future stinks. Your past stinks. You may not be a boy or a girl. Wow. If you're white, you are a racist. Think of the messages. Can you— do you know of a positive message of the left? Something that ennobles? That lifts the spirit, that lifts— or most important to me, offers you a way to improve your moral character. It is completely destructive, the left. The day you know that, you know all you need to know. When the government used emergency edicts during COVID to restrict the gathering and worship of churches 3 pastors facing the risk of imprisonment, unlimited fines, and their own churches being ripped apart took a courageous stand and reopened their doors in the face of a world that chose to comply. The Essential Church is a feature-length documentary that explores the struggle between the church and government throughout history. This fascinating story uncovers those who've sacrificed their lives throughout history for what they truly believe in. Rediscover why the church is essential and how we prove that this stand remains true from a scientific, legal, and most importantly, biblical perspective. This is not your typical movie. It'll change your life. You need to see this movie with your friends and family. The Essential Church is streaming today exclusively at SalemNow.com. That's Essential Church streaming at SalemNow.com. I'm Dennis Prager. Hillary Clinton last night on CNN, reading to you the report here, said of Trump supporters, you know, maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members. That's funny. So the people who believe that men can become women and that they that such men who say they're women can be naked in a girls' locker room and compete with them in sports, they're not in a cult. We who think they're sick, we're the cult. Everything is backwards. Everything. Look, Stalin called Trotsky a fascist. There you go. That's when it began. You call your enemies what you are. It's a basic rule on the left since the inception of the modern left. This, among other things, came in the context— this is from Matt Taibbi— in the context of a report in Newsweek to the effect that the federal government— listen to this— and the FBI in particular has, quote, quietly created a new category of extremists. That it seeks to track and counter Donald Trump's army of MAGA followers. So the FBI is now monitoring MAGA followers? Tens of millions of Americans are now to be monitored? The FBI has— why has the FBI become the opposite of what it was intended to be? Because everything the left touches, it destroys. The FBI is just another example. More from Taibbi: In addition to the obvious observation that people like Hillary seem increasingly unmoored from reality, as well as willfully deaf to the political consequences of their words, 'Maybe we need to formally deprogram you' makes the 'Basket of Deplorables' episode seem like a Valentine's Day card. Someone should point out that a month ago, on September 8th, Joe Biden renewed the original state of emergency issued 3 days after 9/11 by George W. Bush. We spent the last 22 years giving presidents the ability to surveil, isolate, and detain even American citizens, and we have, we have political prisoners. Of course, the left doesn't consider them political prisoners any more than the Soviets considered political prisoners in the Soviet Union, political prisoners.

Hmm.

Well, you know my regular observation on the uselessness of the conscience by and large in human history, because every leftist sleeps well, at least with regard to their leftism. They may not sleep well for other reasons. You know what I wonder about? There's no way. I don't think there's a way. They're there. No, that's not true. I think there might be a way. I wonder, and I don't know the answer, I wonder if leftists— not talking liberals— if leftists have more the same or fewer close friends whom they love as conservatives, or for that matter, as liberals. I do wonder. I wonder how much the pathology of the left affects their personal lives. I know they're far more likely, I mean infinitely, almost infinitely more likely not to speak to a parent with whom they differ than a conservative. Can you imagine somebody not speaking to their parent because the parent voted for Joe Biden? I would think the person is despicable. But it doesn't happen. Or if it happens, it is like as rare as Siamese twins. But the number of adults who don't speak to a parent because the parent voted for Donald Trump may be in the hundreds of thousands, maybe a million. I don't know. I, I come, I come across these people so often, the parents. Yeah, my kid won't talk to me because of my, uh, I'm conservative. Which of course raises my proverbial question: do bad people gravitate to the left, or does the left make you bad? And the answer is both. It is inconceivable to me that there is one person who became a leftist and became kinder when he or she did. It is inconceivable to me. We'll be back in a moment. Too bad, a guy just hung up. It happens— when does it happen? I'd say every other week. I'm about to take a call, somebody was— and the reason it was about the first class versus private jet, and the reason I would take it is because The— it's a lesson in clear thinking that I wanted to review. It's a, it's a real, real gift, but there is so much that works against clear thinking. Wishful thinking works against clear thinking. Emotions, anger, jealousy. Ideology, the amount that works against clear thinking. Mark Twain is not alive, but his statement that common sense is not common, that, that continues to be true. Planned Parenthood is helping teenagers transition after a 30-minute consult. This is from Washington Free Beacon. The abortion provider is wading into transgender care, doling out prescriptions for estrogen and testosterone, including to special needs kids. Hmm. See, that's a good example of the people doing this. Think they're wonderful. A lot of evil has been done by people who think they're wonderful. That's why the conscience is largely useless in most cases. In some cases, it is not. Look, either Planned Parenthood's view on these matters is beautiful, or mine is beautiful, right? Can't both— can't be. We're opposites. We are opposites. So either I'm mean and cruel, or they're mean and cruel. Or you don't like mean and cruel. Either I'm entirely wrong, or they're entirely wrong, or I'm largely wrong, and/or they're largely wrong. It is a fascinating thing when I hear from people, callers, or, or read people We just have to find a middle ground. What is the middle ground between believing that a human fetus is not human and a human fetus is human? Where is there a middle ground? It's somewhat human? Even if you're pro— if you're completely pro-choice, you have to admit that what I'm stating makes sense. What is the middle ground? There might be a middle ground legally, and I, by the way, I am for a middle ground legally because I always believe the best is the enemy of the better. But morally and logically, there is no middle ground. It is either human or it's basically a pimple. And those who say a woman can do what she wants with her own body regard the human fetus as and I'm using their terminology saying fetus as a pimple. Either men cannot become women and women cannot become men, or they can be. What's the middle ground? You could become half a woman, half a man? Where's the middle ground? Is there a middle ground? That carbon emissions are an existential threat to life on Earth, or to human life at least. What's the middle ground? It's partially existential? There's no such thing. Existential means existence of. No left-wing position allows for a moderate— if you're a moderate leftist, you have left leftism. What's the middle ground between those who believe in all-black graduations and those who think that that is that is immoral, that that is a pure form of racism. What's the middle ground? Have 11 non-Blacks in it? What is the middle ground? So you're naive if you think, oh, you know, if we just sat down and talked. I'm totally for sitting down and talk. I was just on, let's see, last month I was on a Man of the Left's podcast, David Pakman, And you can watch it, it's on YouTube. And by the way, he was a perfect gentleman, I was a perfect gentleman, and it was fascinating because he has a very large body of followers, and it's fascinating to read how many were happy to see that there could be a civil discourse between the two, as there should be. Fred has a history of developmental issues. He was diagnosed with autism, technically ADHD with autistic traits, at age 4. Struggled with depression and anxiety as he got older, and was expelled from 3 different special needs schools due to behavioral problems stemming in part from an impulse control disorder. He's an 18-year-old high school student in New Jersey, lives with his parents, who asked the Washington Free Beacon to withhold his real name. Like many people on the autism spectrum, Fred cycles through obsessions with extreme views and extreme views. He was part of an alt-right group chat as recently as last year, his parents said, but apostatized suddenly and now considers himself far left. Still, Fred has a few interests that have remained constant throughout his life, and so on and so forth. Anyway, in December 2022, at 17 years old, he announced he was a transgender woman. Now you realize this is 100% socially induced. 100%. He's a troubled child with ADHD and is on the autistic spectrum. The revelation came a few months after Fred's best friend, who also has autism, began identifying as transgender. So you see the damage that people are doing by saying you can actually become the other gender. Do you understand? It is a thoroughly damaging announcement. You can, you can dress that way, you can, you can surgically alter your body, but you don't become the other. That, that Netherlands has awarded Miss Netherlands the title to a, a man who looks like a woman is a statement about the Netherlands. It's not about— it's not a statement about your being able to become the other person. And then they go to Planned Parenthood and then they get hormone blockers. I don't know how a good society produces so many awful people. It's a riddle. Here we go. It's the happy, happy, happy, happy girl. It's Ladies and gentlemen, it is the happiness hour on the Dennis Prager Show. Every Friday, every Friday, the second hour of the DP Show is the happy, happy, happy— those are the original lyrics, ladies and Gentlemen, hi everybody. Moral obligation to act happy even if you don't feel it. Also, if you act happy, you'll actually be happier. And happiness is, for most people, a choice. You choose to be. When you think about it, almost everything is a choice. So you have to make the right choices. It's a big deal, happiness. It's a moral issue as much as it is an emotional issue, maybe even more so. The happy make the world better and the unhappy make it worse. Hmm, I should do an hour on personal happiness and political views. They are related, ladies and gentlemen. Are you allowed to say ladies and gentlemen anymore? I'm not joking. I'll bet— no, no, no, no, you're not. The London Tube, that's the subway of London, they dropped ladies and gentlemen in their announcements at least 5 years ago because there are people on the train who are neither ladies nor gentlemen. So they want to be inclusive, and they now say passengers, not ladies and gentlemen. That is, I believe, true as well in New York City and other places that are sick. Yes, to think that ladies and gentlemen is now politically incorrect All right, the happiness hour. So I have to deal with this issue because it is so ubiquitous and so important. I will say, and I don't care if it sounds like I'm bragging, it doesn't matter to me because I'm not saying it to brag. I'm saying it's to note a fact. I spoke about the need to get friends, to find friends, from the very beginning of my broadcast career, and certainly the beginning of the Happiness Hour 24 years ago, before loneliness became a Western— well, not just Western, Japan has it as badly— a, a somewhat universal crisis. I was talking to you about the absolute importance of finding friends. Remember I said date for friends like you date or dated for a spouse? Because I knew in my own life the importance that friends have played. It is incomparable. It is indescribable. How important it is. Oh, talking about that, oh God, I gotta find the, uh, I gotta find this. Just this week, maybe yesterday, there was an article. Oh, where was it? I, I gotta, I have to find it for you because it's precious. That people who are married, study shows, studies finds People who are married are less lonely. I thought, wow, take a study. You know my view, which the left often cites me as saying this because they believe in studies like the religious believe in the Bible. Studies, like it's— they're all conducted by people who are only seeking truth. But in any event, my motto is studies either confirm what common sense already suggested or they're not true. There is literally only one study about human behavior— I'm not talking about how mitochondria behave— there's only one study that has ever been counterintuitive. And as soon as I heard the logic, I accepted it. That people who— couples who live together prior to marriage are more likely to divorce. And it sounds counterintuitive because you would think that they get to know each other better, they see how they interact living with one another as a married couple would, and so it's actually better in terms of marital success. But it turns out that people who live together and have problems, it's so difficult to break up, it's like a divorce, that troubled couples who live together are more likely to marry than troubled couples who do not live together. So that was the only study in my life that was counterintuitive, and the moment I heard the logic It became intuitive. So here was one: marriage is— let's make— married people are less lonely. And now, you can be lonely in marriage, there's no question about it, where, you know, you're each going your own way and it's a hostile, if you will, hostile work environment. I understand that. But generally speaking, it is true. But I'm not going to talk to you about marriage. I'm talking to you about loneliness. Okay, so we got, uh, the study has come up thanks to an intrepid producer. Let's see here. Can marriage save America from loneliness epidemic? Study suggests it can. Turns out it's in Newsweek by a man I adore. Right? Is that correct? Yes, Lee Habib. I adore that man. And by amazing coincidence, he actually quotes me in the piece. It's very funny when I read a piece that has nothing to do with me and then I see I'm quoted. That, I must admit, is jolting. And he quotes me. He says, it didn't take long— this is how he begins his piece in Newsweek. It didn't take long for God to address man's potential loneliness problem. In the Old Testament, the first half of the world's best-selling book. Actually, I think it's the first two-thirds. Indeed, it happens just 36 verses into the book that joins two major religions, Judaism and Christianity, and that has informed Western civilization. Genesis 2:18, that's the second chapter of the first book. And the Lord God said, it is not good for man to be alone. Until this verse, Dennis Prager explains in his book The Rational Bible: Genesis, the only adjective God used to describe what he had created was good. Now, for the first time, God declares something not good. Yes, not good to be alone. That's correct. So I want to talk to you about that. Then he goes on to quote John Milton, Paradise Lost. That, that's, that's nice. In the words of the great 17th century author John Milton, loneliness is the first thing which God's eye named not good. I have often quoted, and I do in my Bible commentary, The Rational Bible, a Christian pastor whose name I never learned, but I am morally bound and religiously bound. In Judaism, you are not allowed to cite a source and not name the source, but I don't know the name, so I just said it was a Protestant minister who said that God was saying, even I, God, do not assuage your loneliness. You need a human being or human beings. After all, Adam knew God. Some Christian pastor did a whole video criticizing me for saying that. He said God is completely sufficient. And I devoted a fireside chat, my weekly PragerU fireside chat, I devoted one to responding to his video. You should see it. It's very illuminating when religious people say things that are so obviously wrong because their ideology makes them say it. Really? God is— God alone assuages loneliness? Really? Maybe in some people, but in the vast majority of humans, you're in solitary confinement for years and you believe in God, you, you won't go crazy? God made us to need human beings. Why is that a— why isn't that a beautiful thing? So I want to talk to you about solving this, if it's possible. There are ministers of loneliness in, in countries— Sweden, Britain, Japan. Back in a moment. 1-800-PRAIGER, 776.

Only the lonely know the way I feel tonight.

Well, that was perfect. Dennis Prager here. I want to remind you about the saving money on your phone bill. I've tried it and it works. It's amazing. $35 a month, 15GB of data, unlimited text, unlimited talk. Brand new Samsung phone, brand new, the 5G Samsung phone, Gorilla Glass. 2-day battery free, free. So, and again, it's $35 a month. That's, that's all. So I got a phone through them, and I see no difference between them and AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile. And you got a free mobile hotspot. It's, it's an amazing deal. Go on your phone that you now have and dial #250 and say Dennis Prager. #250 and say Dennis Prager. Talking to you about loneliness, it's fascinating the lessons to be learned here. I was reading from Lee Habib's piece in Newsweek, which is typical Lee Habib terrific stuff. Loneliness. Lonely people are up to 30% more likely to suffer heart disease, at far greater risk for dementia, stroke, and depression. Which unfortunately makes— if you're lonely, it makes you even more depressed. Reading this, so I, I feel bad even noting this. This cracks me up, but it's probably— I don't know. Forget it's probably. I'll just tell you what the Daily Mail headlined, and so did other media in the U.S.: America's top doctor declares loneliness an epidemic and warns it's as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Well, let me just say this: I much prefer that you have friends and smoke 15 cigarettes a day than have no friends and don't smoke. So how do you, how do you, uh, how do you combat this? By the way, it's worse with young people. That, that's amazing. The loneliness epidemic is hitting young people especially hard. The 15 to 24 year old age group reported a nearly 70% decline in time spent with friends during the same period. The period is 2003 to 2020. Well, social media is a big factor. If you're watching your phone all day, you're not going to interact. They don't even talk on phones much. That was an old problem when I grew up, spending too much time on the phone with friends. Parents should be so lucky today that kids are talking to their friends on the phone. The, the more you go back, the more kids played with other kids at all ages. Let's get together, you know, let's go to, let's go to the pizza joint. Let's go for a burger. Let's go to a movie. Time in youth was spent with other youths, and then TV started the curse. As I have said for 40 years broadcasting, the decline of America began with television and college. Colleges stink. Fools are making fools. Most of you listening know that's true, but it's hard to face because you so want your kid to go to college, and I totally understand that. I wonder how many professors are lonely. Interesting question. I don't know the answer. Be an interesting survey to take. You have to do things with others. Join anything. If you can't bowl, join a bowling league. Famous book of, I think, the '90s, Bowling Alone, by a Harvard professor, became a classic. More Americans were bowling, but fewer were joining bowling leagues. Everybody joined something, especially churches and synagogues. Just joined. My mother went to sisterhood meetings. Is that— they exist anymore? Even in synagogues, the synagogue sisterhood. It sounds so quaint. My father went to brotherhood meetings. Men joined Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs, and then like everything else, they said, no, no, no, no, we have to have men and women in everything. And then they started their decline. You must search for friends. Should be your number one priority. It is more important than how much money you earn. Rich lonely people don't do well. Lower middle class, even lower class people with friends do much better than the very wealthy who don't have friends. Let's see here, 1-8-Prager-776. So what is your state? Are you lonely? Do you know someone who is? Do you have reasons other than those that I have offered for why it is such an epidemic? Is my advice not tenable in your life, that you search for— search what I was going to say with was kindred spirits. That's, that's how you— that— I don't know how you have friends. Some people have friends who are not kindred spirits, who do differ on fundamentals of life, and God bless them. I, I don't want to break up those friendships, but they can't be as deep. Usually they, they can't be as deep as friendships with people who share your values because I've always, always defined best friend as someone to whom you can say anything. The more you can say, the closer you will be. Very important lesson in happiness and friendship. The more you feel free to express yourself with a friend, the closer you will be with that friend. Same with your spouse. The more you hide, the less close you are. Rule of life: the more you hide, the less close you are. It even is even true with children. If you had to hide who you are from your child you're less close. 1-800-PRAAGER-776. Wow. Loneliness is the subject of this Happiness I was ahead of the curve 40 years ago, begged people to find friends. 25% of Americans 40 years of age have never been married. Never. It was 8% in 19— what was it, 1980? Uh, yeah, 1980. No, 6%. 6% of people 40 had never been married. In 1980, 40 years later, 25%. Really sick stuff going on in this society. The feminist message has ruined so many lives that it's hard to imagine a competing disaster compared to feminist ideology. You don't need a man. Brilliant. Very unhappy human beings. If you read I gotta tell you, I read— and it was a service to you, my friends, it was done solely because I do a show— I read The Feminine Mystique, sort of the Bible of the modern feminist movement. I think it was written in the '60s by Betty Friedan. Betty Friedan, if there was a picture of an unhappy human being, there would be a picture of Betty Friedan, who led a perfectly legitimate middle-class life And she was a profoundly unhappy human being. She was also ideologically Marxist, though she doesn't dwell on that aspect, but it is known. And it makes perfect sense. There are no happy Marxists. If you're happy, you don't become a Marxist. I mean, it's definitional. It's not an opinion on my part. It's definitional. Imagine a happy Marxist. It's an oxymoron. Reading— I don't know which was more depressing, and I mean this literally. I don't know which was more depressing of the recent classics that I've read, Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique or Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. They're both so dark. I'm unhappy. This is Betty Friedan's motto. I'm unhappy, you should be too.

That's it.

And the number of unhappy young men and women, especially women feminism has created, is in the tens of millions. Okay, let's, uh, let's talk to you. 1-800-PRAGER-776. Matheson, Colorado. Chris, hello.

Hey, Dennis, it's been a long time.

Since what?

Oh, since we chatted. How many? Probably 15, 20 years. Not 20 years, but 15 years.

Oh, I recall. It was a great call.

Uh, yeah, right. Yeah. Uh, so I, I, uh, throughout my life, uh, I've, I've made it very important to try to maintain friendships, and I've managed to do, um, two of them. Uh, well, actually it was almost three, uh, I still have two high school friends that we were like the Three Musketeers and we're still buddies today. And so it's something that I really cherish now. But I had this one friend that I met while I was in the service. I was stationed in New England. Met him through the ham radio and we were friends for 33 years. And we could talk about anything. And I went out to visit him in Kentucky and we really just enjoyed each other immensely, it seemed. And then one day we're just talking on the phone. This was, uh, June of '22. And he just said, you know, I just can't do this anymore. And I asked him, what are you talking about? And he said this, I'm done. And I said, would you please elaborate? No, I'm done. So I don't want to talk to you anymore. And, uh, goodbye. And that click. And that was it.

Wait, he didn't explain?

No. And I don't— and it broke my heart.

Of course it broke your heart. It should have broken your heart.

I respect the man. So I just— After that, I honored— I mean, I'm not going to bother.

No, naturally.

And, but I just— he was, he, he was Jewish when I met him, and he converted to Christianity. And then, and that really confused me. I, I just— none of it made any sense. And I thought maybe he's going through some kind of a crisis or something that he chose not to share with me.

Um, wait, he— you were close with him for all those years and he didn't tell you he's converting to another religion?

Oh yes, he did that when he went— when he—

okay, well, wait a minute. So why do you know to this day why he has severed relations?

No, no, it just— that was it. Pow. It was, it was just—

well, that, that is strange. I assume, I assume it's political, but I may be wrong. 1-800-PRAGER-776. I am going to devote an hour to something that occurred in Minnesota. Was it yesterday? No, the day before. I always rent the car, as I have noted on a number of occasions. I consider cars in general and rental cars in particular to be symbols of freedom. I don't like to be driven like to go where I want, when I want. I am a radically free human being. That's why I hate the left. I don't like to be controlled by anything other than God. Anyway, so I rented a Suburban, which is longer than my SUV by at least a foot. Or a foot. So I had a meeting at a restaurant. There was a parking structure. I parked, and it— I, I, I make no defense, I maneuvered it poorly in the spot, and I got so close to the car to my left I actually had to get out of the car through the passenger door. And which, when you're 6'4", is not easy. A lovely couple actually helped me out of the car, but that's not why I'm telling you the story. I'm going to tell you— I'm going to develop the theme anyway. Finally I— so I left a note on the door apologizing for being so close. It was literally less than an inch, and I assumed that if, if there was— I mean, it was easy for them to get in because I was close to the right side of their car, but I don't know how they would have gotten that without some degree of scraping the, the side of the car. So I left my phone, my phone number Got back, they had still not returned. So Alan and I maneuvered the car, and there was some degree of scraping off some paint. Not, not a serious injury to the car, the car body, but some paint was scraped off. So I left more on the note explaining, leaving what happened. I took a picture of it. that's just for my records and apologized and said, "This is my number." And I got, I got a day later the following text: "Hi, my name is..." and it's a woman and she left her name. "I own the Subaru." You scraped in the parking garage. My email is such-and-such. Please feel free to either text or email me. Thank you for leaving the note. That was very nice of you. So on. I wrote back a touching thing that I was touched by her response. So here is a really, really, really important question. And I'm not going to discuss it now, and I don't normally do this— raise an issue and then say we're going to leave it for now— but it's on my mind. And what percentage of Americans who did that to a car in the parking lot would leave a note? My point— I give you my word of honor— is not to praise me. It is to find out what you think the honesty quotient, the HQ, which is infinitely more important than the IQ, is of our fellow Americans. I have no idea what the answer is, so it will be a very interesting thing to discuss. By the way, it's also an interesting thing to discuss. Why did I do that? Why did I leave a note? You know, I analyze everything. I want to— I always wanted to understand life since I was in high school. So why did I That's part of what I want to discuss next week because that's not easy. So the obvious answer is that's the right thing to do. Yeah, but so what? People who wouldn't leave a note would also think that's the right thing to do but not do it. So clearly that's not enough. I can't wait to devote an hour to that. I remember Sean told me once that he had actually smashed into a car. The car went up in smoke and didn't leave his number. But because he felt, look, nobody was inside the car, you can always get a new car, and, and, you know, and, and immediately, uh, you know, went for a coffee. All right, let's, uh, Asheville, North Carolina. Cliff, Cliff of Asheville, how you doing? Good, thank you.

I've been reading your Rational Bible.

Which, which, uh, all them or one of the volumes?

Well, I've read Genesis and Exodus and I've just started Deuteronomy.

Well, I thank you.

Um, I, uh, I think you're a great writer. I loved your, um, essay on faith and doubt on page 383 on Genesis. I've got a ton of things that I disagree with you about.

Well, let me just say, before you mention— you can't mention all tons, so pick, pick one or two winners. But I just want to say that it's to your credit, really, that you continue reading even though you have a ton of disagreements. So go ahead.

Well, I guess the one that I would certainly win about would be Around page 282 in Genesis, your book in Genesis, you accuse Abraham's servants of embellishing, uh, his mission because he said, uh, that his master had sent him to his kin. And you said that that's not, uh, in your book you said, you know, it's not written that Abraham sent him to his kin. Actually Uh, there's two reasons why that was an unfair thing to do with Abraham's servant is to call him a liar on that.

I didn't call him a liar. That's not, that's not fair.

I just said, look, embellishing, not lying.

Correct. It's not the same because that's why we have different words. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, so what troubles you about that? I, I, I don't even have a great answer for you because I have to look at the text.

Sure. But there's two things that trouble me about that.

All right.

Number one, your typical wisdom— and it is typical, that typically good— uh, you don't jump to conclusions. But the Torah, written in about 300 pages, covers 2,400 years. The fact that something's not said is definitely not evidence that it didn't happen.

Well, okay, that's an interesting question, and you and I should have a cigar one day, and I mean it. I really respect you, and I just obviously have to take a lot of calls. Uh, so omission in a, in a narrative is important. For example, Abraham and Sarah went to live in different cities after Abraham had planned to sacrifice their son Isaac, and it doesn't say they divorced. That's omitted, but it is implied, or at least that they separated for the rest of their lives. And it makes a lot of religious people, Jews and Christians, a little uncomfortable, but I think it's important. Back in a moment. All right everybody, it's the area. So the general, what is on your mind? Let's go here. Uh, Brad in— let's see, is that Katy, Texas? Is that correct? Katy, Texas?

Hey Dennis.

Hi.

Hey, I look for you in airports. Uh, you owe me a a hug from a previous call.

Is that true? As I said, I'd give you a hug if I saw you.

You did.

Good. I, and I mean it. There's no question. I, I hug men with greater ease even than with women.

You're the father I never had.

So, um, why didn't you have one?

Uh, he died when I was 3.

Wow.

My mother never remarried.

Fascinating. I'm sorry. Okay, well, I'm glad I could play that role in some way. Thank you. Go ahead.

Yeah, so, you know, it's interesting that might be kind of related to what we're about to talk about, but, um, so I'm, I'm in recovery 17 years. You've been an integral part in that, um, and I discovered you after I got into recovery, just after I got into recovery. So, um, but I'm curious, you know, and I know it's an anonymous program and everything like that, but, um, I've I feel sometimes my wife of course knows I got married later in life and she has 2 children and they're almost adults or they're once in college now. So I'm kind of wondering, do I share that with them if I'm able to? I don't know. I think there's wisdom in the program and I can share that obviously without sharing that I am in recovery. My wife doesn't want me to.

And how old are the children? How old are her children?

Well, one's autistic, he's 23, so he doesn't really know much what's going on. And, um, the other one is 19.

Is that a boy or a girl?

She's a girl.

So this is fascinating to me. Your wife does not want her 19-year-old daughter to know that You're in recovery for 17 years, no less. I, I must admit I'm puzzled because—

or her friends either, or her friends, right?

Uh, uh, I'm, I'm sort of speechless because I am, I am not married to you, and I am so proud of you It is an achievement that very few people have, in fact, to be redundant, achieved. You, you have done something most people have not done. To me, if you would have invented the, the, you know, some wonderful medicine, you would be on the level of what you have achieved. 17 years of sobriety. I, I, I would ache for my— if I were married to a woman who was 17 years sober, I would ache for my child to know what a spectacular woman I was married to. I wish I could talk to your wife.

Well, I didn't do it. God did.

But it doesn't matter. So, so let her be proud of God. But she's— but, but, uh, anyway, if you don't take any credit, uh, I think God will be annoyed with you. Okay, you're, you're not a divine robot. So, uh, I, I don't get it. I just don't get it. Is she not proud of you?

She is.

So then why wouldn't the daughter be proud and the friends be proud?

I think because she, um, her previous husband had an issue with it and she was afraid that, you know, that she would be, uh I, I don't know, uh, you know, I, I don't know. I think this—

I wish you could play— you know what, I wish you could play this call for her. I, I, I really do. I, I would love to talk to her, to be honest with you. Anyway, all I could say is I'm proud of you. It's an immense achievement. I, I have never had an addiction, and so I've never been in recovery. I— my son has, and I am incredibly proud of him, my younger son. And there, there, there's a Hebrew saying I learned very early in my life, one of these great aphorisms. It's, it's— it works in Hebrew better than in English. Usually the translations are just as effective, but it's essentially The, the most righteous man cannot stand on the same plane of achievement as the, the penitent, as the one who has turned his life around. I have never had the challenge that he has had, my last caller, but I, I, I have some sense because I went through it with my son, I have some sense of how difficult it is. I, I don't know. I'm not blaming the wife in the least. I give you my word, all of you. I give you my word, I'm not. But it would It would strike me in an analogous situation that I would point to this man that I married, say, you know, you think he's impressive? Well, let me tell you how impressive he is. That's the rhetoric that I would use. In such a case. We who have not been addicted stand in awe of those of you who have attained sobriety, whether it is gambling, drugs, alcohol, or whatever it might be. We continue. Dennis Prager Show. 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 Pragertopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives, as well as the daily show prep. Subscribe at pragertopia.com.