The Best Thing You Can Do for America - Sunday Fireside Chat

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

All ready, ready? We're all ready, ready. Otto, you ready? Otto, what is it? Uh, the clapper. Scene 1, Otto. Hi everybody, Dennis Prager fireside chat number 196. 196. So folks, for number 200, if you want to make a little party at home and have a cake, cigars, it's a good idea. Wow, 196. We didn't even know if it would go past 2. It was an experiment, and thank God it's caught on literally around the world. So I'm Dennis Prager, and I talk to you about things on my mind. Then I take your questions, and it's very spontaneous, as you can probably tell. At least I can tell. So what's on my mind? Well, there's always a lot on my mind. I actually often drive in the car with no music on. I love thinking. A lot of people don't like thinking because they, they go— especially women. Not that women think less than men, they think more than men actually, as it happens. But a lot of their thoughts get dark. I know this from my wife, to be honest, who is an always 100% upbeat person. But she doesn't like silence because then her thoughts turn to dark arenas. Men and women are different. Yeah, I know you have to go to graduate school to deny the obvious, but that is a perfect example of our minds working in different directions. By the way, talking about that, I don't know if you've heard this, Megan. They did an experiment at some university quite, I don't know, 15, 20 years ago. They, they told men, college men, to go into a room alone. In other words, one at a time for hours. And of course, no videos, nothing. Just sit on a chair in a room. So they did it with a number of men. They did it with a number of women students, obviously all alone for X period of time. And then they would ask them, what did you think about? Did you ever hear me tell about this one? Yes. This was revelatory to me, not about the men, but about the women. So the men, what'd you think about? Sports and sex. Shocking. Now here was the interesting one. So what did the women think about? It wasn't sports and sex. What did the women think about? They reviewed conversations. And that's, that's a burden. Men, men as a general rule don't review conversations. It's a— so that when, you know, if you tell those of you married, if you say, you know, my husband doesn't remember a conversation we had, you're right. It's, it's about most differences, you have to laugh. It's very important to laugh about a lot of their serious values differences. You can't laugh about those, but idiosyncratic to your sex differences, it's good, it's good not to let them get you down. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something that has been on my mind all of my life, actually. But I wrote my, my recent column. I write a column every week, and if you like the fireside chat, you'd certainly like my column. It of course is at DennisPrager.com, but it's really all over the internet— TownHall.com, AmericanGreatness.com. Daily Wire picks it up every week as well, and Jewish World Review, a lot, a lot of places. Anyway, I hope you read it. This column is what's the best thing the vast majority of Americans, and for that matter almost anyone in a relatively robust democratic industrialized country, can do. What's the best thing you can do? Well, I wrote 5 things, but they're all related, and I'm just going to mention one. Because it is the very best thing the vast majority of people could do. If you could find a cure for cancer, that is the best thing you can do for your society. I fully acknowledge that. Since, uh, you're not gonna find a cure for, uh, for cancer, I mean, somebody will, or some group of people will, I understand. The 99.9% of people, the best thing you can do is marry, and raise good people. Now, why is this not universally acknowledged? What could be better than raising good human beings? Name, name something better. Fighting for, against social injustice? Fighting global warming? Seriously, what is better than raising good human beings? Now, those who are married to causes believe their cause is more important. But how about the cause of making a kinder world and more honorable world? How could society be better than, than its members? You want to make society better? Make good members of the society. It's pretty, uh, pretty obvious. Even Otto gets it. Otto is currently in snore mode. He is in a very deep REM sleep at this time. Yes, I know. I want you to know I find that very soothing when he does that at night. Okay. What could be better than that? Make a family and try to raise happy, healthy human beings, populate the society with honorable, courageous, decent people. What could you do that's better than that? Protest against, uh, police brutality? By the way, on that note, they've done some surveys asking people How many people, how many Blacks do you think the police, unarmed Blacks, do you think the police kill in a year? Even, by the way, on those occasions where it's either a mistake or their right to because the unarmed Black is trying to get the policeman's revolver and kill the policeman. Including everything. Do you know what the answer is for the last statistic about, so 2 years ago or whatever it was? About 16. Yeah, let's, let's say 20. Most people think it's in the thousands. 20. All these, all these gigantic protests and riots over something that almost never happens in society— an innocent Black killed by a policeman because he's Black. It almost never happens. Shows you the power of media and lies to persuade people otherwise. Anyway, what's the best thing you can do? Protest police racism or raise good people? The best thing you can do for yourself is get married and make a home and a family. Most people do not find all that much meaning from work that they think they find. But there's a hell of a lot of meaning raising kids, making a family. Ask people who have a family about that. That's what you should do. Ask people who've done it. I know one woman, one young woman very well, and she was very committed. To her career, quite committed and quite successful. And then got married and then had a baby. And it all of a sudden, her career has pretty much taken second place to her baby. That's actually healthy. Now, what happens whenever I say this? Oh, he has said no, women should be— what is it? Barefoot and pregnant. This is— this, you know what that response is? That is a learned response from the angry and unhappy who teach you at college, now high school as well. When you study under unhappy people, you get unhappy results. That, that's the most persuasive argument for any ideology is a happy individual. I've said this about religion. The best advertisement for atheism is an unhappy religious person. The best advertisement for religion is a happy religious person. How many, uh, how many of your high school and college teachers radiate happiness? Not many, I'll tell you that. Not many. Because they're not particularly happy. Many of them are angry. But anyway, you're always angry if you think you're a victim. Back to my issue. The best thing you can do for society is get married and raise good people. That's it. But you know what? It ain't as sexy as marching for world peace. As if your march for world peace will have any impact. Impact you want on world peace. The impact you want on world peace is by making good people. Bad people are the ones who make war or who start wars. Let's put it that way. Okay. All right. We go to the video question.

Dennis, it's Sabrina from Los Angeles, California. And as you know, I'm a staff member here at PragerU. So one of my good friends has unfortunately become a leftist over the last few years, and he loves to retweet anti-PragerU propaganda and talk really badly about me. Really negatively about this company and my career behind my back. He is super lovely to my face but talks really poorly about my value system and my career and my company. Um, so I'm wondering, should I confront him head-on or just leave it be? Just to give you some context, he has been a friend for 16 years. He attended my wedding. He literally just attended my co-ed baby shower last month, and I just need some advice on what to do. Thanks.

Hmm, well, serves you right for having a co-ed baby shower. All right, that was a joke. Sabrina, you're terrific. We love you at PragerU. So let me get this straight. You have a friend for 16 years who smiles at you and attends your baby shower and is sweet to you in person, and then in public craps on everything you value and on all that you work for. What exactly is the question? What kind of friend is that? I mean, you're not asking me, what should I do about a friend who has different values than I and lines up on the different side of the issues? That's not the same question. He attacks your work. What you do. That's not a friend. Sorry, it's not a friend. It's painful after 16 years. That's a big chunk of your life at your age. It's painful to acknowledge that. I fully understand that. There's a lot of pain in life, and that, that would be one of them. And I would just say A friend doesn't do this. If you want to declare war on what I do and what my passions are and where my loyalties are, you are free to. But I, I, uh, I, I, I'm not an idiot. I can't consider you a friend if you do that. That's it. That's the truth. You don't have to be angry when you say it. I don't know what possible answer he could have. You wouldn't do it to him. And he chooses to do it obviously publicly. He's not writing you private emails. He's doing this publicly. Okey doke. All right, let's go to your questions. Nash Luke, 19, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Hello, Mr. Prager. Megan, Rodrigo, Nathan, Otto, Snoopy and company. Wow, the list is getting longer. I proudly have attended the only Jesuit high school in Minneapolis, but instead of the Pledge of Allegiance every morning, we recited Ad Mahorem Dei Gloriam. We study, work, and play for the greater glory of God. My school rarely had an American flag in the building. A big red flag came in 19— in, in 2017 when they received backlash after the volleyball team knelt during the national anthem at an away game. I truly believe my high school can be a guiding light for youth in Minneapolis, but I think it will all be in vain if it drifts away from conservative values. What do you recommend I do to help anchor my school? God bless you. Thank you. God bless you too. I don't know what you could do, to be honest. Your team, your school won't have an American flag, doesn't have the Pledge of Allegiance, does not censure— I don't mean censor— doesn't censure, doesn't condemn its own team from kneeling during the national anthem at an away game. That your, your school's pretty far gone. You know why it's far gone? Not because of patriotism, but because of moral idiocy. If they don't understand that the American flag represents liberty on the face of planet Earth, they're worthless. Sorry, they just are. They might be sweet and kind and lovely, and they might be deep believers in Christ, but they're morally useless. If you can't tell the difference between freedom and non-freedom, between decent and indecent, if you think America is an indecent country unworthy of standing for its flag when you represent your school, your school is beyond the pale. That's my, that's my view. I don't think there's much you can do except show them this video, and then they will attack me, which is fine. It means nothing to me. But they need to— they have a broken moral compass. And it bothers me the most because they are supposedly religious. They're supposedly biblically rooted. And yet they don't— they live, unfortunately, Hosea, the prophet Hosea's admonition, woe unto those who call good evil and evil good. Antonio, 21, West Chester, Pennsylvania. Hey, Mr. Prager, as you know, China is involved with many human rights violations, such as the persecution of the Uyghur Muslims. At one point, does it become a moral obligation for the Western world to intervene? May God bless you, and please give Otto and Snoopy a rub for me. I give them plenty of rubs. One of them will be from you. Thank you. Dennis Prager. Now, yes, it's a very difficult question. When is it a moral obligation for nations to intervene on behalf of persecuted people? I mean, and by intervention, I assume you mean military intervention. The first thing you have to ask is, will it help? Obviously, military intervention that doesn't help might just exacerbate things. At this point, an invasion of China is, is quite unrealistic. But there are other things people can do. China is at this point the greatest threat to liberty on Earth. It has already squashed Hong Kong as the world watched, which is what the world almost always does when bad countries suppress free countries. That's why I consider world opinion to be largely useless. Ask the Armenians how much the— how much world opinion helped them in the second decade of the 1900s. Ask the Jews how much world opinion helped them in the fifth decade of the 1900s. Ask the Cambodians how much world opinion helped them in the 1970s. Or the Tutsis, how much it helped them when the Hutus wiped out hundreds of thousands of them. What we have to do is confront China non-militarily, unless it invades Taiwan. Then I think that would be worthy of, uh, of war. And only if China knows we believe that will they not invade Taiwan. I'll tell you one thing, this video will not be seen in China. That, that, that's pretty clear. Uh, China— the Chinese Communist government has just had its 100th anniversary and praised Mao. How do you like a country whose reigning party praises someone who murdered 60 million of their own people. That's, that's pretty rare in history. Let us salute the torturer-in-chief, the murderer-in-chief, the greatest genocidal maniac in human history, Mao Zedong. And that's what they do. Look, folks, the world is a very tough place. If human beings were basically good, we'd have a different world. That's why I believe that the first thing you have to know in making a good world is the raw material with which you begin. And the raw material of human nature is pretty troubled. What they're doing to the Muslims, the Uyghurs, look at what they did to Tibet. What did the world do about Tibet? One of the oldest independent countries on the face of the earth, the Tibetans. One of the oldest cultures on earth. One of the least aggressive cultures on earth. And look, look at what China did to it. Look at what China just did to Hong Kong after swearing to Britain that it would allow Hong Kong to have its own way of life, right? One country, two systems. That was never going to work. Because the left never allows liberty. Never. Nowhere. From Hong Kong to the United States, there is no example of the left allowing liberty. Liberals allow liberty. Conservatives allow liberty. But the left never does. Okay, Rob 33, Columbus, Ohio. Hi Dennis, thanks for sharing your general life wisdom and especially thoughts for those on the path to conservatism. The one argument that others always say when I speak about Trump or conservatives, quote, how can you belong to a party that houses white supremacist voters? With these groups being labeled far right and Trump voters, I have a hard time responding. I'm hoping they would be more open to my thoughts of conservatism if I have a better rebuttal. Like you say, liberals are our allies, but they don't know it yet. Tell Otto that Daisy says hi. Otto, Daisy says hi. Be well. Thank you. I wonder, Otto would probably enjoy meeting Daisy. He's loud today. Yeah, there we go. That worked. Okay, so let's see. How can you belong to a party that houses white supremacist voters? You know who housed the Ku Klux Klan in the early part of the 20th century? The Democrats. They were all, all of the Ku Klux Klan-ers were Democrats. Okay, and would they have said then, how could you be a Democrat, it houses the Ku Klux Klan? And by the way, it's not even a fair analogy because this white supremacist thing is tiny compared to the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and 1930s. How could you be a member of the Democratic Party today that houses so many people who hate the United States? That's an infinitely more relevant question. The number of white supremacists in the United States is infinitesimally small. Let me state on oath on the Bible, I never met one. How is that possible? You know what's interesting? There's a young woman who's now reading all my mail for me and answering some of it. She's been on my radio show. She's, she's very well-spoken, 21 years old, and she attends Harvard, and I don't hold that against her. And she noted something very intelligent. She said, I've seen thousands of your emails. How come not one came from a white supremacist? Not an interesting point. Yeah, hey, aren't, aren't we right-wingers white supremacists? So you think I'd get all this mail from kindred spirits? Not one. Because I hate white supremacists. The number of people who hate liberty in the Democratic Party is magnitudes more than the number of white supremacists in the Republican Party. It's just the propaganda line. Oh, how could you be part of a party that has white supremacists? How could you be part of a party that has communists? How could you be part of a party that has people that hate liberty, that defend the Castro regime in, in Cuba? I mean, the list is, is, is unbelievably long of the damage done by the Democratic Party compared to the Republican Party. Also Columbus, Ohio. That's rare. Caleb 16. Hello, Dennis Prager. I am a percussionist in my high school band. I love playing music. I love listening to great songs. Unfortunately, the majority of modern songs are meaningless. You talked about how the left has destroyed music in another PragerU video. What does the left gain from destroying music? Thank you, Dennis, for speaking your mind. Well, I don't know specifically. Well, I do know the left destroys everything it touches. It has destroyed art and music. That's correct. Wherever, look at the junk that is up at our museums, for example, of modern and/or contemporary art. I mean real junk. I mean, I can give you— I have written this up. You could, you could look this up on the internet, but just examples that I remember. A gigantic exhibit at a Dutch museum of sculpted turds. T-U-R-D-S. Poop. Gigantic poop. It was given a serious review in the New York Times. Do you know how much— how's he doing?

That grossed him out.

That's right, it grossed him out. I'll tell you this, if you gross out a dog, a dog, it's really gross. Do you know how much art there is of urine? And fecal matter and menstrual blood and blood and, uh, and, and, and the like. It's, it's called, uh, scatological art, like Piss Christ. The artist's— it's a very famous one— the artist's urine in which a crucifix was placed. Yes, look it up. Piss Christ. Look up the turds exhibit in, in the Netherlands. Look up the, uh, the golden toilet. And you know what the name of the toilet was? America. A pure gold toilet so that you can go in, you pay a certain fee, you go in and you, you relieve yourself on America. This was at the Guggenheim Museum. What the left has done to the arts is, is what it's done to education generally, and to baseball, and to basketball, and to football, and to late-night TV, and now to the sciences and medicine. Everything the left touches, it destroys. Everything. There is no exception. It's a very sad fact. There in the human being, there is a desire to build and there is a desire to destroy. They're in competition with one another. Well, I don't want to leave you on a down note. Let me give you an upbeat note. There are a lot of us who love goodness, who love truth, who love America, who understand that it's flawed because the human species is deeply flawed. The amazing thing about America is not that it's flawed, it's that it is composed of flawed humans and still ended up as good as it does. Ask the 3 million-plus Black Africans and Blacks from the Caribbean who have moved here in the last 50 years. Are you happy you moved here? That should help give a more sober read on America's goodness. I'm Dennis Prager. I'll see you next week.

Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

In Morocco, I went one Saturday to the Jewish community in Marrakesh, Morocco. Went to the synagogue, and then I was invited to a home. I remember the home, they had like 4 daughters and they wanted me to choose which one I wanted to marry. It was very adorable. And then Saturday night after the Sabbath ended, it's dark out, I walked out of what they call the Jewish ghetto. I walked out with young Jews, and all of a sudden, on motorcycles drove up a gang of Moroccans, Muslims, and started screaming in French, Zionists, Zionists! And they started beating the Jews. And I remember thinking, I can't stand by. This is— I'm not going to let this happen with and stand by.

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