WEBVTT - A Timeless Wisdom Special: Dennis Prager & Larry Elder

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<v Speaker 1>Life Audio on today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe many of you know Larry Elder. Larry Elder, what

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<v Speaker 2>if they call it called full disclosure, full disclosure. I

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<v Speaker 2>am a friend, good friend of Larry Elder, and we

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<v Speaker 2>have been for many years. We were radio colleagues on

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<v Speaker 2>the same station in LA for many years. Then I

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<v Speaker 2>moved over to the Salem Radio Network.

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<v Speaker 3>That night when I called my mom Dennis and told

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<v Speaker 3>her I met somebody from LA who's in talk radio.

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<v Speaker 3>And she said who, I said, His name is Dennis something.

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<v Speaker 3>Dennis starts with a P. I can't really can't remember.

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<v Speaker 3>It'sid Prager. I said, yes, Oh my god, you met him?

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<v Speaker 4>And what did he say?

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<v Speaker 2>What do you look like?

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<v Speaker 5>What?

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<v Speaker 4>She acted like? He was Elvis? I couldn't believe it.

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<v Speaker 1>That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Welcome

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<v Speaker 1>to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of hours

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<v Speaker 1>of Dennis's lectures, courses in classic radio programs had to

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<v Speaker 1>purchase Dennis Prager. There's rational Bibles. You go to Dennis

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<v Speaker 1>Prager dot com.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, everybody, I'll go to the Dennis Prayer Show. The

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<v Speaker 2>music might be actually familiar to a fair number of

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<v Speaker 2>you in the southern California area, because one of the

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<v Speaker 2>most successful talk show hosts in America now a podcaster,

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<v Speaker 2>and one of the most successful podcasters in America is

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<v Speaker 2>Larry Elder. And I know it's very touching for me

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<v Speaker 2>to have Larry on my show because I brought him

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<v Speaker 2>to radio and he became a national sensation, and not

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<v Speaker 2>only in broadcasting and podcasting, but also in writing. If

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<v Speaker 2>you read his column each week, you will get an education.

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<v Speaker 2>And I say this obviously people know, with total sincerity.

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<v Speaker 2>And he and I used to work on a same

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<v Speaker 2>station many many years ago in Los Angeles. Maybe many

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<v Speaker 2>of you know Larry Elder. Larry Elder. What if they

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<v Speaker 2>call that called full disclosure, full disclosure. I am a friend,

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<v Speaker 2>good friend of Larry Elder, and we have been for

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<v Speaker 2>many years. We were radio colleagues on the same station

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<v Speaker 2>in LA for many years. Then I moved over to

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<v Speaker 2>say the Salem Radio Network, and things have been wonderful

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<v Speaker 2>and a blessing since Larry's show was one of the

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<v Speaker 2>most popular in Southern California, a very difficult place to

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<v Speaker 2>have a popular show because people live in their cars

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<v Speaker 2>in southern California, and it's it's really the center of

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<v Speaker 2>talk radio and just a household name Larry and I.

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<v Speaker 2>When we go back to what year, I.

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<v Speaker 3>Would say we probably go back, Dennis to around nineteen

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<v Speaker 3>ninety round nineteen ninety nineteen. I first met you when

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<v Speaker 3>you were in Cleveland. I picked you up from the airport.

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<v Speaker 3>You might no, but we met before that, right, but

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<v Speaker 3>even before that on approach, Well.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right, that's right. I was shitting in.

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<v Speaker 4>Who's being interrupted now? Just asking? I'm just asking, you know, well,

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<v Speaker 4>it's just a question.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but you're offended. I wasn't. That's a different. I

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<v Speaker 2>am not easily offended.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm a thins akain that guy who's easily offended.

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<v Speaker 3>Is that what you're saying? You mean I'm being racially

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<v Speaker 3>profiled on the Dennis Brager Show. I am shocked and

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<v Speaker 3>I am appalled.

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<v Speaker 2>See that's the thing. The man plays the race card

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<v Speaker 2>like that. It doesn't even you could be.

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<v Speaker 3>Don't leave home, Dennis, don't leave home without it. Honestly,

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<v Speaker 3>I never leave home without it. I get my license,

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<v Speaker 3>I get my race card, social Security card, and I'm

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<v Speaker 3>out the door.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, now you know why I pushed I never pushed

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<v Speaker 2>like I pushed to have Larry Elder on radio. He

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<v Speaker 2>was a lawyer who did a periodic guest appearance on

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<v Speaker 2>a Cleveland TV show. And I'm telling you, I'm always

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<v Speaker 2>I'm always a little afraid to invoke. Oh God did something,

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<v Speaker 2>but it almost seems divine. Only God knows why. I

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<v Speaker 2>was asked from LA to sit in for the early

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<v Speaker 2>morning Cleveland television show for a week. There was no

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<v Speaker 2>point to it, but I mean it was fine as

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<v Speaker 2>a lovely show. I'm not insulting anyone. It didn't amount

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<v Speaker 2>to anything, but it was an experience. And one of

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<v Speaker 2>the guests, I mean we had, didn't I also have

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<v Speaker 2>somebody who spoke to their dogs.

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<v Speaker 4>Or yeah you did? I mean that wasn't wasn't Turtle don't.

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<v Speaker 2>Did you come on with you? I don't. I don't remember.

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<v Speaker 2>Did you come on? You know you don't do dogs?

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<v Speaker 2>I got that. Anyway, It was a very eclectic show,

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<v Speaker 2>shall we put it? That's right? And it wasn't My

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<v Speaker 2>co host cute? She was very attractive. Yeah, okay, I

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<v Speaker 2>remember that. That was the only thing. I remember two things,

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<v Speaker 2>three things the dogs, The co host was cute, and

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<v Speaker 2>Larry elder. That's all right. That was it, and Larry

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<v Speaker 2>came on to discuss some legal issues.

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<v Speaker 4>It was sexual harassment in the work. Was that what

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<v Speaker 4>it was place? And I didn't do a demonstration.

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<v Speaker 3>I actually described what it was and the Supreme Court

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<v Speaker 3>case to come down, and I was on to talk

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<v Speaker 3>about that.

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<v Speaker 2>So those things you said to me were not did

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<v Speaker 2>not constitute harassment.

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<v Speaker 3>They okay, So I have this, although I do you

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<v Speaker 3>quite appealing inns. For good reason, I've never really told.

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<v Speaker 3>Since we're full disclosure.

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<v Speaker 2>I may not survive this hour sale. And if you

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<v Speaker 2>folks start hearing a repeat some highlight show, it's because

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<v Speaker 2>they had enough.

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<v Speaker 3>Of Flower and Dennis I years. I think I think

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<v Speaker 3>you're hot. I'm just going to say, by the way,

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<v Speaker 3>I don't mind that I am touched. Okay, say it

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<v Speaker 3>all right? Are we done?

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<v Speaker 2>Yes? We are? Okay. So I had Larry on as this,

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<v Speaker 2>this lawyer who would periodically come out. Now, folks, let

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<v Speaker 2>me tell you seriously, I there's an interesting little observation here.

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<v Speaker 2>I learned many many years ago that overwhelmingly I should

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<v Speaker 2>not make quick first impressions. I'm not kidding, because I've

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<v Speaker 2>often found that they were either too negative or too positive.

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<v Speaker 2>On rare occasions, I have totally gone with the first impression.

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<v Speaker 2>I thought this guy was terrific. I went back to

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<v Speaker 2>Los Angeles and I told the station manager at that time,

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<v Speaker 2>George Green, and I always I always cite him because

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<v Speaker 2>he's he was a wonderful man in my life and

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<v Speaker 2>in your life. I said, George, I found this great.

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<v Speaker 3>Part genius, part maniac. But it's a great guy.

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<v Speaker 2>No part. No, he was part genius and part Dodger fanatic.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't remember the maniac part, but Dodger fanatic I

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<v Speaker 2>remember and listening.

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<v Speaker 4>But no, it's all right, it's not. That's okay, it

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<v Speaker 4>does I understand.

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<v Speaker 2>And now he was a call guy, maniac, it's just

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<v Speaker 2>a maniac. Didn't didn't apply there, But anyway, it doesn't matter.

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<v Speaker 2>So I said, George, I found this guy who happens

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<v Speaker 2>to be black, who was awesome and comes from comes

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<v Speaker 2>from LA. Let's try him out anyway, it says if

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<v Speaker 2>I had said to George, to his credit, because he

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<v Speaker 2>gets us all the time. So nothing happened. So I

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<v Speaker 2>I just decided I will get did I get a

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<v Speaker 2>tape from your or I just invite you on the show.

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<v Speaker 3>I sent you a tape, and but you also invited me.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, So I invited him on the show, and I said, George,

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<v Speaker 2>you have to listen. I'm having this guy I told

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<v Speaker 2>you about from Cleveland. He's back visiting his parents. And

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<v Speaker 2>your mother, of course, became your late great mother, became

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<v Speaker 2>very famous because you'd have her honus as a chairman

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<v Speaker 2>of the board and Supreme Court justice and everything. And

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<v Speaker 2>so I had you on. It was one of the

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<v Speaker 2>great hours of radio that I did, and I will

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<v Speaker 2>I'll never forget because among the things you talked about

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<v Speaker 2>was your lack of a great adulation for black leadership

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<v Speaker 2>in America.

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<v Speaker 3>Specifically for people like Jesse Jackson. And that's correct.

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<v Speaker 2>And I believe it was a black caller who called

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<v Speaker 2>up and who liked me but couldn't stand you immediately, right,

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<v Speaker 2>because I could say what I wanted, but that's dismissed.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm white, but for you a black place, say what

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<v Speaker 2>you did. Please. So the guy said to me, Dennis,

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<v Speaker 2>where the hell did you find this guy? And you

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<v Speaker 2>immediately answered.

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<v Speaker 3>I said, Dennis was driving down the street. He saw

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<v Speaker 3>me at the corner of Florence and Dinker, holding up

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<v Speaker 3>a sign and saying we'll speak negatively about black leaders

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<v Speaker 3>for food.

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<v Speaker 2>At that point I laughed so hard and uncontrollably that

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<v Speaker 2>we had to go to a break, a break, and

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<v Speaker 2>that had never I've never lost control. That was the

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<v Speaker 2>one time ever before or since that that has happened.

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<v Speaker 2>And I knew I was going to bug George forever

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<v Speaker 2>until you got a show. You got a show, and

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<v Speaker 2>the rest is history. You went nationally, You've had a

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<v Speaker 2>number of great TV shows and so on, and you

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<v Speaker 2>are you are an important voice. His columns, by the way,

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<v Speaker 2>are if there were ten columns a week I read,

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<v Speaker 2>Larry Elder is one of them. Of course I read

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<v Speaker 2>about one hundred, but if I can only read ten,

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<v Speaker 2>yours would be one of them. And that's a big compliment.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, you're up there with Dennis the Menace, and you.

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<v Speaker 4>Mean representative Kucinich.

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<v Speaker 2>I think, actually at it was a lot of fun anyway.

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<v Speaker 3>But Dennis, again, thank you so much for that very

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<v Speaker 3>kind introduction. You of course have underplayed your role and

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<v Speaker 3>what happened. You were quite insistent that that George listened

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<v Speaker 3>to me and for you had me on for two years.

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<v Speaker 3>You had me on Christmas one year and then Christmas

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<v Speaker 3>the next year. And when I met you in Cleveland,

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<v Speaker 3>I told you that I've never really listened to talk radio.

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<v Speaker 3>I knew nothing about it. But you can tell when

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<v Speaker 3>the hosts like each other when they don't. And Dennis

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<v Speaker 3>was giving you the cliff notes version of how he

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<v Speaker 3>got me into radio. If I may elaborate a little bit, Dennis,

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<v Speaker 3>we met in Cleveland. I was living and working in Cleveland,

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<v Speaker 3>even though I'm from here. And it was a live

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<v Speaker 3>show called Here in La. Here in La called Morning Exchange,

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<v Speaker 3>kind of like a Today Shows, probably the longest running

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<v Speaker 3>local show in the country, and Dennis sat in for

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<v Speaker 3>the host. I was there as a contributor. I'm a

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<v Speaker 3>lawyer and I would talk about legal matters, and so Dennis,

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<v Speaker 3>I walk in. I see this big guy from California

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<v Speaker 3>with white hair, and people tell me that the normal

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<v Speaker 3>guy's not going to be there. You got a guy

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<v Speaker 3>named Dennis Prager. He's from LA really, and I didn't

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<v Speaker 3>know Dennis. I mean, I knew Dennis was a talk

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<v Speaker 3>show host. And the reason I knew that is because

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<v Speaker 3>my mom loved, loved love talk radio, and she loved

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<v Speaker 3>Dennis Dennis is her favorite host by far.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow.

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<v Speaker 3>And that night when I called my mom Dennis and

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<v Speaker 3>told her I met somebody from from LA who's in

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<v Speaker 3>talk radio. And she said who. I said, His name

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<v Speaker 3>is Dennis something. Dennis starts with a P. I can't

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<v Speaker 3>really can't remember, said Prager. I said, yes, Oh my god,

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<v Speaker 3>you met him?

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<v Speaker 4>And what did he say?

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<v Speaker 2>What do you look like?

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<v Speaker 1>What?

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<v Speaker 4>She acted like? He was Elvis. I couldn't believe it.

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<v Speaker 3>And so Dennis invited me on LA radio when I

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<v Speaker 3>next came home and I said, I'll be home in December.

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<v Speaker 4>Dennis said, fine.

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<v Speaker 3>So I called you and I got a message and

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<v Speaker 3>you didn't return the call. And I thought, frankly, Dennis,

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<v Speaker 3>it was something that you said to be nice to me.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's have lunch one Yeah, yeah, but.

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<v Speaker 4>You didn't really kind of mean it right.

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<v Speaker 3>And so I'm sitting having dinner with my mom and

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<v Speaker 3>she said, did you call Dennis?

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<v Speaker 4>And I said, well, yeah. She said, what happened?

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<v Speaker 3>I said, left message and he didn't call back. She

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<v Speaker 3>gets the phone, she puts it in front of me.

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<v Speaker 3>She says, call him again.

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<v Speaker 2>God bless her.

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<v Speaker 4>So I called again. I got you.

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<v Speaker 3>You had me on that night, George Green, the general

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<v Speaker 3>manager of the station, happened to be listening and Dennis,

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<v Speaker 3>after the show was over, talked about how wonderfully thought

0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.240
<v Speaker 3>the show was. And I said, Dennis, two years ago,

0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.120
<v Speaker 3>I sat in in Cleveland for a guy and I

0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.040
<v Speaker 3>fell in love with talk radio, and I sent a

0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:29.640
<v Speaker 3>tape to KRLA and to KFI and to KBC. I

0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.200
<v Speaker 3>didn't hear from anybody. And Dennis, since you said I

0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:34.520
<v Speaker 3>did so, well, would you mind maybe talking to somebody

0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:36.760
<v Speaker 3>around here about He said, I will be delighted. I've

0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.360
<v Speaker 3>never recommended anybody in my life, but I'll recommend you.

0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.079
<v Speaker 3>But for Dennis leaning on George, George would not have

0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:43.640
<v Speaker 3>given me a two day audition. George gave me a

0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.880
<v Speaker 3>two day audition. After one day, he hired me. And

0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:47.760
<v Speaker 3>I've been on KBC for twenty years.

0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.280
<v Speaker 1>This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.439
<v Speaker 1>Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:04.160
<v Speaker 2>You're listening to the Dennis Prager Show, and I am

0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:09.319
<v Speaker 2>with one of the more popular thinkers and deservedly so

0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:15.000
<v Speaker 2>thinkers writers television radio. He pretty much does it all,

0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.360
<v Speaker 2>Larry Elder. Larry and I go back many years. You

0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:20.920
<v Speaker 2>heard the story just before. It's another reason, by the way,

0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.559
<v Speaker 2>to get Pragertopia, just for just for this hour alone.

0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.800
<v Speaker 2>It's worth subscribing to the show at under seven dollars

0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:28.640
<v Speaker 2>a month. And I mean it sincerely. You go to

0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:32.040
<v Speaker 2>Pragertopia at the Dennis Prager dot com or Prager Radio

0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:36.360
<v Speaker 2>dot com. Larry was on Larry King last night. I

0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.600
<v Speaker 2>just learned because some callers are calling in to make

0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:42.080
<v Speaker 2>a reference to that fact. And and I just looked

0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:43.760
<v Speaker 2>at Larry right before we went on and I said,

0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:45.319
<v Speaker 2>you were Larry King last night? He said yes. And

0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:49.920
<v Speaker 2>Wolf Blitzer tonight this afternoon, and it's will it all

0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:54.240
<v Speaker 2>be about the Crowley Gates? Yes, with the beer? Are

0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:58.360
<v Speaker 2>you primarily And I say this, If the answer is yes,

0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:02.120
<v Speaker 2>I'm annoyed. But it's it's typical of the media. Are

0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.439
<v Speaker 2>you primarily called in when the issues concerned race interesting?

0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.200
<v Speaker 3>You should ask that And the answer is yes. And

0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.320
<v Speaker 3>it is annoying and it is condescending. As you know,

0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:14.840
<v Speaker 3>I've written about health care, I've written about written about

0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:18.080
<v Speaker 3>the Welfaret Dapnis.

0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:18.959
<v Speaker 2>And they call themselves this is the interesting thing.

0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:23.360
<v Speaker 3>They called a compassionate liberal Open Mind, right, and Dennis

0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.840
<v Speaker 3>The other day, I'm watching all three morning shows. I'm

0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:27.720
<v Speaker 3>flipping around. I don't normally do that, but I just

0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:29.199
<v Speaker 3>wanted to see how they were going to respond to

0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:29.800
<v Speaker 3>this Gates thing.

0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:31.400
<v Speaker 4>Uh, they had.

0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:35.440
<v Speaker 3>Six quote experts, all of them were black. Now, the

0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:39.360
<v Speaker 3>person who was called a racial profiler was white. Wouldn't

0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.040
<v Speaker 3>you think maybe they might want a quote white person's

0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:46.280
<v Speaker 3>perspective on this, somebody from say the the police union

0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.480
<v Speaker 3>or some former cop or somebody to give his or

0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.120
<v Speaker 3>her opinion about what it feels like to be falsely

0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.840
<v Speaker 3>accused of racially profiling. But only blacks are experts in

0:13:55.920 --> 0:14:00.000
<v Speaker 3>this issue. And all six of their experts, Good Morning America's.

0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:00.679
<v Speaker 2>Even same views.

0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.240
<v Speaker 3>All six of the they had pretty much the same view,

0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:04.440
<v Speaker 3>but they were all black.

0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:06.640
<v Speaker 2>Right, But that's right, that's right. That's called diversity.

0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.000
<v Speaker 3>Now, I can't talk about Obamacare, even though I've considered

0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:10.720
<v Speaker 3>myself an expert.

0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.720
<v Speaker 2>No, no, no, This is the thing about liberals. Women have

0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.640
<v Speaker 2>only something to say about women's issues. Blacks have something

0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.800
<v Speaker 2>to say about black issues. You almost never have them

0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:23.520
<v Speaker 2>have blacks on who have something to say about humanity.

0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.040
<v Speaker 2>It's vile. By the way, I just want people to

0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.840
<v Speaker 2>know because I'm called conservative, and the liberals have created

0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:35.120
<v Speaker 2>an entire bundle of characteristics of conservatives. I from the

0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:39.400
<v Speaker 2>beginning of radio, never had women on to discuss women's issues,

0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.000
<v Speaker 2>just to give an and I would say that to them.

0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:45.200
<v Speaker 2>It was, for example, when I had women pastors on.

0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:47.320
<v Speaker 2>My very first radio show was on religion, I had

0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:50.080
<v Speaker 2>clergy of all faiths. If a woman pastor or a

0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:54.400
<v Speaker 2>woman rabbi was on, I never discussed women's issues. I

0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.840
<v Speaker 2>wanted to give them the respect of you have something

0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:02.000
<v Speaker 2>more to say than is related to having a uterus.

0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.479
<v Speaker 2>So but in the liberal.

0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.960
<v Speaker 3>Credibly it's incredibly, incredibly condescen of course it is. It

0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.560
<v Speaker 3>is limiting, and I consider myself to be a pundit.

0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:12.680
<v Speaker 2>Yes you are.

0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.760
<v Speaker 4>Can talk about number exactly.

0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.440
<v Speaker 3>You don't have a show for the number of years

0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.000
<v Speaker 3>that I did talking about quote black things.

0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.400
<v Speaker 2>Well, right, your your book about the things that a

0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.880
<v Speaker 2>person can't say about America want to be memorized by

0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:27.320
<v Speaker 2>every American. That's how good.

0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:29.640
<v Speaker 4>What is the actual the ten things you can't say

0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:30.120
<v Speaker 4>in America?

0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:31.600
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's right. I thought it was ten. But I

0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:33.320
<v Speaker 2>don't want to get it wrong. Okay, because it might

0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:35.440
<v Speaker 2>have been nine or eleven and I look silly.

0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:37.760
<v Speaker 3>Inflation is now twelve, that's right, and it's up.

0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.080
<v Speaker 2>To twelve twelve things you can't say now about America.

0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.240
<v Speaker 2>That's exactly right. I just I just want to bounce

0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:44.760
<v Speaker 2>one thing off you. I'm going to tell you a

0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:49.760
<v Speaker 2>story and then tell your story. Ironically, I'm white, so

0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:53.480
<v Speaker 2>I'm dismissed when I say that I don't think there's

0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.800
<v Speaker 2>much racism in America, that I think it's the best

0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.120
<v Speaker 2>country on earth for a black to live. And I

0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.800
<v Speaker 2>get Keith Richburn. He's my source for that, the great

0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.240
<v Speaker 2>Washington Post writer wrote a book about how happy he

0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.000
<v Speaker 2>is to live in America after being stationed in Africa

0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:10.240
<v Speaker 2>for the Washington Post. And of course, obviously he's a

0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:14.440
<v Speaker 2>black man. And then I will get this has happened

0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.480
<v Speaker 2>my whole career. I have happily a lot of black listeners.

0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:22.040
<v Speaker 2>One will call up and say or a number will say, well, Dennis,

0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:23.440
<v Speaker 2>you know, with all respect, you don't know what you're

0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:25.880
<v Speaker 2>talking about. You're not black, you don't walk in our shoes.

0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.320
<v Speaker 2>And I want you to know every day I experience

0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:31.960
<v Speaker 2>a racist incidents. Do you know what My answer is,

0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:37.200
<v Speaker 2>I have an answers. My answer is, okay, what happened today?

0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.680
<v Speaker 2>And every single time the answer then is all right,

0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.840
<v Speaker 2>well not today. So then I no, no, no, no. Then

0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.160
<v Speaker 2>I pursue it and I say, okay, what happened yesterday?

0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:49.920
<v Speaker 2>Well it didn't happen yet, you know. But you know

0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.440
<v Speaker 2>it's a matter of speech. So I said, well when

0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.320
<v Speaker 2>was the last time? And there's there's silence. I'm not

0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.840
<v Speaker 2>saying it never happens, but it is so far from

0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:05.480
<v Speaker 2>every day that the line should just be dropped. So anyway,

0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.879
<v Speaker 2>so let me ask you how often does it happen?

0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.639
<v Speaker 3>The answer is, how can anybody know that he or

0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:19.879
<v Speaker 3>she has been quote victimized close quote because he's or

0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.919
<v Speaker 3>her race when there are so many other variables that

0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.679
<v Speaker 3>go into any kind of encounter. I was in Beverly

0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.879
<v Speaker 3>Hills a few years ago. I had on a pair

0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:30.879
<v Speaker 3>of jeans, a leather coat, two or three days of

0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:35.320
<v Speaker 3>beard growth, and my car was parked in a parking garage.

0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:39.199
<v Speaker 3>It had an elevator, kind of a dirty looking little elevator.

0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.320
<v Speaker 3>Wasn't even sure it worked, And I pushed the button

0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:44.640
<v Speaker 3>and the door opened and there was a black woman

0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:48.280
<v Speaker 3>in it, and she clutched her purse. She went to

0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:49.760
<v Speaker 3>the side of the elevator.

0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:50.800
<v Speaker 4>I got in.

0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:52.600
<v Speaker 3>I looked at her, and I smiled, and I said,

0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.240
<v Speaker 3>don't worry, I've never violated the terms of my probation.

0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:01.280
<v Speaker 4>And she starts cracking up. Now that's awesome, as I profiled. Yeah,

0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:04.240
<v Speaker 4>I was profiled because the way I was dressed.

0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:07.680
<v Speaker 3>Unusual to be in Beverly Hills dress kind of the

0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.840
<v Speaker 3>way I was dressing, she was a black woman. If

0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.360
<v Speaker 3>she had been a white woman and I had been

0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.000
<v Speaker 3>the type of black victocrat that I speak about, that's

0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:21.120
<v Speaker 3>probably an incident that I would have used to prosplained

0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.479
<v Speaker 3>the racial thing that happened to me that day. In

0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:26.320
<v Speaker 3>my first book, the one that you mentioned Ten Things

0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.160
<v Speaker 3>you Can't Say in America, I talk about a movie

0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:33.400
<v Speaker 3>called Virtuosity that Denzel Washington was in.

0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.120
<v Speaker 4>You never saw it, nobody ever saw.

0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:36.000
<v Speaker 2>It wasn't a good movie.

0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:37.640
<v Speaker 4>In the movie, he's.

0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:40.159
<v Speaker 3>Supposed to kiss his white co star, whose name I

0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:43.920
<v Speaker 3>believe is Kelly Lynch. He refused to kiss her, even

0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.360
<v Speaker 3>though it was in the script, and he said Denzel

0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.680
<v Speaker 3>did that he did not want to offend the core audience,

0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.800
<v Speaker 3>which was young white males for this movie. Kelly Lynch said,

0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:59.040
<v Speaker 3>I'm just I'm just so sad that he didn't want

0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:02.200
<v Speaker 3>to do that. I'm sorry. I kind of thought our

0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.879
<v Speaker 3>world had gone beyond that end of quote words to

0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.920
<v Speaker 3>that effect, And I said, wait a second, who would

0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.359
<v Speaker 3>be in a better position to know if white males

0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.280
<v Speaker 3>would be offended if a black guy kissed a white woman,

0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:19.480
<v Speaker 3>Denzel or Kelly. I'm sure Kelly probably knows a lot

0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:23.359
<v Speaker 3>more white people intimately than does Denzel. Yet instead of

0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:27.000
<v Speaker 3>saying to Denzel, you're full of it. My brother wouldn't care,

0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.800
<v Speaker 3>my father wouldn't care, my uncle wouldn't care, my friends

0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.800
<v Speaker 3>wouldn't care, or whatever, she just threw up her hands

0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:35.680
<v Speaker 3>and said, yeah, I guess racism is a much bigger

0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.199
<v Speaker 3>problem than I thought. It's just fascinating to me how

0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.920
<v Speaker 3>if a black person makes the accusation without any kind

0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:44.640
<v Speaker 3>of corroborating evidence, it's accepted.

0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:48.840
<v Speaker 2>It's a line I developed many, many, many many years ago.

0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.720
<v Speaker 2>If you can't call a black fool a fool, you're

0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:55.440
<v Speaker 2>the racist. That's my motto. It has been my motto

0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:59.040
<v Speaker 2>my whole life, and that's what you're saying that's what

0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:03.639
<v Speaker 2>you should have said. What when you even said it?

0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.400
<v Speaker 2>I was trying to revealing lights be offended.

0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.520
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, the core, the core audience, white males.

0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:15.200
<v Speaker 1>This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.560
<v Speaker 2>Dennis, Dennis Jennis Dennis Prager.

0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:21.000
<v Speaker 1>Do you have a question you've always wanted to ask

0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:24.800
<v Speaker 1>Dennis Prager. Well, now it's your opportunity for upcoming Ask

0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.400
<v Speaker 1>Me Anything episodes of Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. We're

0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:32.040
<v Speaker 1>inviting you to leave Dennis a voicemail. He'll personally answer

0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:35.000
<v Speaker 1>selected questions, and your question could be featured on a

0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:40.240
<v Speaker 1>future episode. Whether it's about faith, morality, politics, history, relationships, happiness,

0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.800
<v Speaker 1>for simply navigating life, Dennis would love to hear from you.

0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:47.119
<v Speaker 1>Just call eight seven seven two four three seven seven

0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.120
<v Speaker 1>seven six and leave your question. Oh and be sure

0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:52.520
<v Speaker 1>to include your first name and where you're calling from.

0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:56.439
<v Speaker 1>That's eight seven seven two four to three seventy seven

0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:00.760
<v Speaker 1>seventy six. While we can't feature every question, will listen

0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:04.240
<v Speaker 1>to every voicemail. So call today you may hear Dennis

0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.639
<v Speaker 1>Prager answering your question on an upcoming episode of Timeless

0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:11.600
<v Speaker 1>Wisdom with Dennis Prager. And thanks for listening and supporting

0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:19.560
<v Speaker 1>Dennis Prager. Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:23.240
<v Speaker 2>Larry Elder doesn't need an introduction to any of you.

0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.879
<v Speaker 2>He's a national talk show host. That's the theme that

0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:33.080
<v Speaker 2>he comes up with. I personally composed it. Larry's very grateful.

0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:40.600
<v Speaker 2>Larry also has a film Oil, which is a documentary

0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:48.480
<v Speaker 2>which is really powerful, Uncle Tom, and it features black

0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:53.440
<v Speaker 2>voices basically that you don't read in the New York

0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:57.600
<v Speaker 2>Times ever. New York Times says, when I think about

0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.320
<v Speaker 2>the brains that have not appeared in the New York

0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:07.159
<v Speaker 2>Times once, like Tom sole I mean Tom Soil's were

0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:11.280
<v Speaker 2>the most brilliant people of my lifetime, never appeared in

0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:16.199
<v Speaker 2>the New York Times. Walter Williams, brilliant economist, never appeared

0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:18.360
<v Speaker 2>in the New York Times. The best of my knowledge,

0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:22.679
<v Speaker 2>Larry Elder ever appeared in the New York Times. I

0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:27.040
<v Speaker 2>mean all of the all of the black writers at

0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:31.879
<v Speaker 2>the Wall Street Journal, they would appear there. Larry, I

0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:36.760
<v Speaker 2>got a question, and this sometimes, as you know, when

0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:40.520
<v Speaker 2>you ask questions, you have worked out an answer for yourself,

0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:44.679
<v Speaker 2>but you're curious about what the guests will say, I

0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:47.879
<v Speaker 2>have not worked out an answer for myself on this question,

0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:52.600
<v Speaker 2>which is something because I've thought about this for decades.

0:22:55.440 --> 0:23:01.359
<v Speaker 2>Why is Charles blow New York Times well paid in

0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:05.160
<v Speaker 2>a position that anyone of any color would die for

0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:14.359
<v Speaker 2>New York Times columnist MSNBC regular contributor, Or he's just angry?

0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:19.639
<v Speaker 2>Where is the successful middle class, upper middle class black

0:23:19.720 --> 0:23:22.960
<v Speaker 2>anger coming from?

0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:26.159
<v Speaker 3>Years ago, there was a cover story in Newsweek called

0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:28.640
<v Speaker 3>the Rage of the Black middle Class by a guy

0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:34.240
<v Speaker 3>named Ellis Cos He's the same issue, and the thrust

0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:37.000
<v Speaker 3>of it appeared to be that here I am acting

0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:38.639
<v Speaker 3>as if I'm not black. It appeared to be that

0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:41.520
<v Speaker 3>because I don't feel that way at all, I don't understand.

0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:43.560
<v Speaker 3>I never have understood this kind of anger from the

0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:45.439
<v Speaker 3>time I was a kid, and never understood it. Dennis,

0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:48.160
<v Speaker 3>I'm in a class in middle school with a bunch

0:23:48.200 --> 0:23:50.560
<v Speaker 3>of black kids. Maybe the school was ninety five percent Black,

0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:53.080
<v Speaker 3>five percent Asian, one or two white kids.

0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:54.359
<v Speaker 2>And this anger.

0:23:55.680 --> 0:23:59.240
<v Speaker 3>And we had the same classes, same teachers, same instructions,

0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:02.800
<v Speaker 3>same neighborhood, same recreational facilities. But a lot of my

0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:07.520
<v Speaker 3>peers were just pissed. And I think it's because they

0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:11.480
<v Speaker 3>felt that they should be pissed because of historical injustices,

0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:14.199
<v Speaker 3>things that have happened to their fathers, their parents. You know,

0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:16.520
<v Speaker 3>we're just one generation from Jim Crow. My dad grew

0:24:16.600 --> 0:24:18.720
<v Speaker 3>up in Athens, Georgia, and he told me a lot

0:24:18.720 --> 0:24:21.520
<v Speaker 3>of stories. They didn't happen to me, they happened to him.

0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:23.960
<v Speaker 3>But a lot of kids felt that they needed to

0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:29.080
<v Speaker 3>have some sort of it was morally appropriate, socially just

0:24:29.200 --> 0:24:31.480
<v Speaker 3>for them to be angry for people in the past

0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:34.400
<v Speaker 3>who couldn't stand up and be angry themselves. I guess

0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:37.320
<v Speaker 3>all I know, Dennis, is I've never felt that way.

0:24:37.320 --> 0:24:40.320
<v Speaker 3>My father always taught my brothers and me to work hard,

0:24:40.680 --> 0:24:44.040
<v Speaker 3>and whenever we complained, he would say, are you kidding?

0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:45.639
<v Speaker 3>When I was your age, so and so, and he

0:24:45.640 --> 0:24:48.199
<v Speaker 3>would tell us something and you'd be appalled at the

0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:50.840
<v Speaker 3>conditions that he suffered, and it would make you realize

0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:52.920
<v Speaker 3>that you should stop whining and pick up the cards

0:24:52.920 --> 0:24:57.240
<v Speaker 3>and play them. So it's attitudin though, and Dennis, that's

0:24:57.280 --> 0:25:02.240
<v Speaker 3>my riddle. And the whole thing happy Black a Republican right,

0:25:02.640 --> 0:25:05.119
<v Speaker 3>and so the whole thing is is more attitudinal than

0:25:05.160 --> 0:25:09.240
<v Speaker 3>it is even political. To not perceive yourself as a

0:25:09.320 --> 0:25:11.320
<v Speaker 3>victim to not perceive yourself as aggrieved?

0:25:12.000 --> 0:25:12.760
<v Speaker 4>Can I look to not.

0:25:12.680 --> 0:25:16.640
<v Speaker 3>Look for the worst possible explanation for a phenomenon? Cop

0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:18.399
<v Speaker 3>pulls me over? He pulled me over because I was black.

0:25:18.640 --> 0:25:20.320
<v Speaker 3>My goodness, dudes. I was on a ride along with

0:25:20.359 --> 0:25:24.760
<v Speaker 3>a buddy of mine who's white of Italian extraction, Derek,

0:25:26.200 --> 0:25:29.359
<v Speaker 3>and is at night and we're following this car and

0:25:29.359 --> 0:25:31.760
<v Speaker 3>the car pulls over to a gas station. Two black

0:25:31.800 --> 0:25:35.359
<v Speaker 3>guys come out. They see Derek and they start saying,

0:25:35.440 --> 0:25:38.239
<v Speaker 3>you racially profiled. Now they look at me and they

0:25:38.280 --> 0:25:41.119
<v Speaker 3>ignored me, even though I'm black. It didn't fit the script,

0:25:41.119 --> 0:25:43.280
<v Speaker 3>so they just pretended I wasn't standing there. But it

0:25:43.320 --> 0:25:46.840
<v Speaker 3>was just and did it with passion. And if they

0:25:46.840 --> 0:25:49.240
<v Speaker 3>were actors, they're good. And they got out of the

0:25:49.320 --> 0:25:51.240
<v Speaker 3>car and they were just convinced that Derek had pulled

0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:53.639
<v Speaker 3>him over because they were black, even though Derek didn't even.

0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:55.439
<v Speaker 2>Know what race they were. Was at night. I always

0:25:55.480 --> 0:25:59.439
<v Speaker 2>asked that question. I can if you're behind the driver,

0:25:59.600 --> 0:26:02.040
<v Speaker 2>which is what most police are, I didn't even know

0:26:02.119 --> 0:26:04.160
<v Speaker 2>during the day, you know what color they are.

0:26:04.240 --> 0:26:05.919
<v Speaker 3>And then, as you and I have talked about this before,

0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:08.040
<v Speaker 3>I have a lot of people who don't agree with me,

0:26:08.119 --> 0:26:11.359
<v Speaker 3>who are detractors and so forth. Why aren't you pulling

0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:13.239
<v Speaker 3>for me to be right? Wouldn't it be better if

0:26:13.320 --> 0:26:15.320
<v Speaker 3>Larry were right? Wouldn't it be better if Larry's vision

0:26:15.320 --> 0:26:16.080
<v Speaker 3>of the world were right.

0:26:16.359 --> 0:26:17.800
<v Speaker 2>I'll be back with Larry Elder.

0:26:19.840 --> 0:26:20.720
<v Speaker 4>I blame Alan est.

0:26:22.080 --> 0:26:25.720
<v Speaker 2>It's like blaming Canada though it's wrong. That doesn't work,

0:26:25.760 --> 0:26:29.320
<v Speaker 2>and it doesn't work. No, blame Allan, Blame Allen. That's

0:26:29.320 --> 0:26:31.680
<v Speaker 2>why he's the living martyr. We do blame him. That's

0:26:31.760 --> 0:26:32.760
<v Speaker 2>exactly absolutely.

0:26:33.480 --> 0:26:36.800
<v Speaker 1>This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

0:26:42.359 --> 0:26:45.920
<v Speaker 1>Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

0:26:46.400 --> 0:26:48.520
<v Speaker 2>I have a dear friend on the line who is

0:26:48.600 --> 0:26:54.240
<v Speaker 2>one of America's leading thinkers, Larry Elder, and we are

0:26:54.480 --> 0:26:59.480
<v Speaker 2>on many of the same stations around the country, and

0:26:59.560 --> 0:27:02.520
<v Speaker 2>he he has written a book on Fathers and Sons,

0:27:02.800 --> 0:27:07.240
<v Speaker 2>which is a very powerful personal memoir now went paperback

0:27:08.320 --> 0:27:14.800
<v Speaker 2>a lot like me, A father and Son's Journey to reconciliation. Larry,

0:27:14.840 --> 0:27:16.119
<v Speaker 2>good to have you on the show.

0:27:16.840 --> 0:27:18.840
<v Speaker 6>Dennis, as always, thank you very much for taking the time.

0:27:18.880 --> 0:27:20.000
<v Speaker 6>I really do appreciate it.

0:27:20.080 --> 0:27:22.879
<v Speaker 2>I know you're a good man, Larry. I want to

0:27:22.920 --> 0:27:27.919
<v Speaker 2>ask you about something that is a sort of a

0:27:27.960 --> 0:27:32.000
<v Speaker 2>project of mine. You know, like first Ladies, they all

0:27:32.040 --> 0:27:36.679
<v Speaker 2>seem to take a project, whether it's fitness or child literacy.

0:27:36.800 --> 0:27:40.520
<v Speaker 2>I have a pet project, and that is getting adult

0:27:40.640 --> 0:27:44.359
<v Speaker 2>children who don't speak to their parents to start speaking again.

0:27:45.640 --> 0:27:45.800
<v Speaker 1>See.

0:27:45.840 --> 0:27:48.760
<v Speaker 6>I think that's a wonderful project. There's a book by

0:27:48.760 --> 0:27:51.879
<v Speaker 6>a religious writer named Jane Roberson called My Father's Face.

0:27:52.480 --> 0:27:55.280
<v Speaker 6>He talks about how this prison chaplain decided to improve

0:27:55.359 --> 0:27:58.080
<v Speaker 6>morale at a federal penitentiary where he worked, went to

0:27:58.119 --> 0:28:01.040
<v Speaker 6>a greeting card company and asked them for five hundred

0:28:01.080 --> 0:28:03.600
<v Speaker 6>Mother's Stay cards. And the greeting card company thought it

0:28:03.600 --> 0:28:05.600
<v Speaker 6>would be a good pr campaign, so they gave this

0:28:05.680 --> 0:28:08.800
<v Speaker 6>guy five hundred free Mother's Day cards and he distributed

0:28:08.800 --> 0:28:11.840
<v Speaker 6>them to the men at the prison, and morale did,

0:28:11.880 --> 0:28:14.920
<v Speaker 6>in fact improve. So he thought he'd replicate the same

0:28:14.960 --> 0:28:17.200
<v Speaker 6>thing during Father's Day. I think you know where I'm

0:28:17.200 --> 0:28:19.240
<v Speaker 6>going with the story, Dennis. He went to the same company,

0:28:19.320 --> 0:28:22.199
<v Speaker 6>got five hundred cards, distributed them to the men. Not

0:28:22.560 --> 0:28:25.280
<v Speaker 6>one inmate, not one wanted to send a Father's Day

0:28:25.320 --> 0:28:27.439
<v Speaker 6>card to his father. It turns out none of them

0:28:27.440 --> 0:28:29.200
<v Speaker 6>had a relationship with their father, or if they did,

0:28:29.240 --> 0:28:33.080
<v Speaker 6>it was awful. And it turns out most men behind

0:28:33.119 --> 0:28:35.280
<v Speaker 6>bars have either no relationship with their father or a

0:28:35.280 --> 0:28:38.280
<v Speaker 6>bad relationship with their father. It is by far the

0:28:38.440 --> 0:28:41.360
<v Speaker 6>number one social problem in this country, the large number

0:28:41.400 --> 0:28:44.440
<v Speaker 6>of kids, especially boys, who were brought into the world

0:28:44.520 --> 0:28:47.040
<v Speaker 6>without a father. The number right now all total in

0:28:47.080 --> 0:28:51.560
<v Speaker 6>this country is forty percent. When I was in college

0:28:51.600 --> 0:28:55.280
<v Speaker 6>in nineteen seventy, five years earlier, Daniel Patrick Mornihan later

0:28:55.320 --> 0:28:57.800
<v Speaker 6>on became a Democratic Senator from New York, wrote a

0:28:57.840 --> 0:29:01.440
<v Speaker 6>report called the Negro Family, a Case for National Action.

0:29:01.880 --> 0:29:04.400
<v Speaker 6>At the time, twenty five percent of black kids were

0:29:04.400 --> 0:29:07.000
<v Speaker 6>born outside of wedlock. The number now with twenty five

0:29:07.000 --> 0:29:10.240
<v Speaker 6>percent of white kids born outside of wedlock. The number

0:29:10.280 --> 0:29:12.880
<v Speaker 6>for black kids is about seventy percent. It's about fifty

0:29:12.920 --> 0:29:16.800
<v Speaker 6>percent for Hispanics. And Obama said a kid raised about

0:29:16.800 --> 0:29:19.120
<v Speaker 6>a father is five times more likely to be poor,

0:29:19.600 --> 0:29:22.040
<v Speaker 6>nine times we're likely to drop out of school, twenty

0:29:22.080 --> 0:29:25.000
<v Speaker 6>times were likely to end up in prison. And the

0:29:25.000 --> 0:29:27.760
<v Speaker 6>book I wrote is about my relationship with my father.

0:29:27.960 --> 0:29:31.200
<v Speaker 6>My father and my mother were married fifty some years

0:29:31.400 --> 0:29:34.840
<v Speaker 6>when my father died, so it wasn't like I had

0:29:34.880 --> 0:29:36.880
<v Speaker 6>an abandoned father or anything. I had the kind of

0:29:36.880 --> 0:29:39.160
<v Speaker 6>father that most boys have, which is the father in

0:29:39.240 --> 0:29:42.040
<v Speaker 6>the home. And it turns out after I wrote this book, Denis,

0:29:42.080 --> 0:29:45.080
<v Speaker 6>I was blown away by how many boys men had

0:29:45.080 --> 0:29:48.320
<v Speaker 6>the same kind of father I had. Hard toss in

0:29:48.320 --> 0:29:52.080
<v Speaker 6>my case, World War two vet not emotional. I never

0:29:52.120 --> 0:29:54.800
<v Speaker 6>said I loved you, and I thought my father really

0:29:54.800 --> 0:29:57.200
<v Speaker 6>did not like us we were kids because my father's

0:29:57.280 --> 0:29:59.880
<v Speaker 6>job was to punish us. When he got home from work,

0:30:00.320 --> 0:30:02.160
<v Speaker 6>he pulled out the belt and he would just whale

0:30:02.160 --> 0:30:04.760
<v Speaker 6>on us. And I thought my father spanked me too harshly,

0:30:04.840 --> 0:30:08.560
<v Speaker 6>too frequently, and for reasons that were too inconsequential. And

0:30:09.040 --> 0:30:13.000
<v Speaker 6>so every day I grew up with this seeding anger

0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:15.200
<v Speaker 6>towards my father. My true brothers felt the same way,

0:30:15.200 --> 0:30:16.520
<v Speaker 6>so I didn't think it was me. I thought it

0:30:16.560 --> 0:30:18.960
<v Speaker 6>was my dad. The only thing that made my dad

0:30:19.000 --> 0:30:21.640
<v Speaker 6>feel Dennis that he wasn't a criminal is because my

0:30:21.720 --> 0:30:23.880
<v Speaker 6>mother loved him, and I could tell she did. And

0:30:23.920 --> 0:30:26.040
<v Speaker 6>I knew that there was something redeeming about my dad

0:30:26.040 --> 0:30:27.719
<v Speaker 6>if my mom loved him, but I couldn't figure out

0:30:27.760 --> 0:30:30.600
<v Speaker 6>what it was. Now I'm fifteen years old, and unfortunately

0:30:30.680 --> 0:30:32.320
<v Speaker 6>now I have to work with my father because my

0:30:32.360 --> 0:30:35.160
<v Speaker 6>father saved up his nickels and dimes and started a

0:30:35.160 --> 0:30:37.600
<v Speaker 6>little cafe in the Peco Union area where we were born.

0:30:37.960 --> 0:30:39.600
<v Speaker 6>So now I'm twelve years old or so, and I'm

0:30:39.600 --> 0:30:42.280
<v Speaker 6>working with the sold and Dennis. He would yell at

0:30:42.320 --> 0:30:44.320
<v Speaker 6>me when things would go wrong, and they always did

0:30:45.000 --> 0:30:47.560
<v Speaker 6>little cafe, and so everybody could hear your father yelling

0:30:47.560 --> 0:30:49.360
<v Speaker 6>at you. When he's yelling at you, and it's embarrassing.

0:30:49.640 --> 0:30:51.840
<v Speaker 6>Now I'm fifteen years old, I love to say to

0:30:51.920 --> 0:30:54.920
<v Speaker 6>your audience. I had the courage to say to myself,

0:30:54.920 --> 0:30:56.640
<v Speaker 6>the next time my dad yells at me, I'm gonna

0:30:56.640 --> 0:30:58.520
<v Speaker 6>sit him down. I'm gonna say, see here, you and

0:30:58.560 --> 0:31:01.200
<v Speaker 6>me mano amano. I was scared to death with my father,

0:31:01.280 --> 0:31:03.040
<v Speaker 6>so I was afraid to do that. I just told

0:31:03.120 --> 0:31:05.120
<v Speaker 6>myself Dennis said, he yells at me one more time,

0:31:05.200 --> 0:31:08.840
<v Speaker 6>I'm walking out, and I did. Fifteen years old. You

0:31:08.880 --> 0:31:11.040
<v Speaker 6>don't defy my father, let alone walk out when the

0:31:11.040 --> 0:31:13.080
<v Speaker 6>place is full of customers, which is what I did.

0:31:13.560 --> 0:31:15.800
<v Speaker 6>My dad got home that day, he said, why did

0:31:15.840 --> 0:31:18.720
<v Speaker 6>you walk out? And I said, Dad, I got sick

0:31:18.840 --> 0:31:20.520
<v Speaker 6>and tired of the way you spoke to me, and

0:31:20.520 --> 0:31:22.680
<v Speaker 6>that was an act of defiance I'd never done before.

0:31:23.200 --> 0:31:25.720
<v Speaker 6>My dad looked at me, paid me. He reached into

0:31:25.720 --> 0:31:28.000
<v Speaker 6>his pocket, pulled out the ten dollars bill that he

0:31:28.040 --> 0:31:30.560
<v Speaker 6>paid me a day, ten dollars plus tips. He bawled

0:31:30.600 --> 0:31:32.040
<v Speaker 6>it up and threw it at me as I lay

0:31:32.080 --> 0:31:34.280
<v Speaker 6>on my bed. He walked out of my bedroom. At

0:31:34.280 --> 0:31:36.720
<v Speaker 6>the age of I was fifteen again, and I did

0:31:36.720 --> 0:31:39.680
<v Speaker 6>not speak to my dad for ten years. And when

0:31:39.720 --> 0:31:42.040
<v Speaker 6>I say don't speak to him, Dennis, I mean nothing.

0:31:42.400 --> 0:31:44.480
<v Speaker 6>It was easy to avoid him because by the time

0:31:44.560 --> 0:31:47.800
<v Speaker 6>I graduated from school to seventeen years old, I then

0:31:47.840 --> 0:31:49.840
<v Speaker 6>went away to college in the East Coast, law school

0:31:49.840 --> 0:31:51.840
<v Speaker 6>in the Midwest. I would come home, of course, to

0:31:51.920 --> 0:31:54.120
<v Speaker 6>visit my mom, but I would always avoid my dad.

0:31:54.120 --> 0:31:55.600
<v Speaker 6>And it was easy to do it because my dad

0:31:55.600 --> 0:31:57.240
<v Speaker 6>had long hours and I knew what his hours were,

0:31:57.520 --> 0:31:59.760
<v Speaker 6>so I just never said a word to him until

0:31:59.760 --> 0:32:02.520
<v Speaker 6>I was twenty five years old. Now fast forward, I'm

0:32:02.520 --> 0:32:04.800
<v Speaker 6>twenty five years old. I graduated from law school. I

0:32:04.840 --> 0:32:08.400
<v Speaker 6>passed the cleaven the Ohio Bar, I passed the California Bar.

0:32:08.600 --> 0:32:10.440
<v Speaker 6>I'm making a great deal of money. I'm twenty five

0:32:10.480 --> 0:32:13.640
<v Speaker 6>years old, living large. I should be living large and

0:32:13.680 --> 0:32:16.880
<v Speaker 6>happy and vennis. I can't sleep, and I know it

0:32:16.880 --> 0:32:19.080
<v Speaker 6>has something to do with my dad. Not that I

0:32:19.120 --> 0:32:21.040
<v Speaker 6>ever thought we'd become friends. But I woke up that

0:32:21.120 --> 0:32:23.440
<v Speaker 6>morning and I called my secretary and I said, cancel

0:32:23.480 --> 0:32:25.520
<v Speaker 6>on my appointments. I'm flying to California. I'll be back

0:32:25.560 --> 0:32:27.560
<v Speaker 6>in two days. I was living in Ohio in those days,

0:32:27.840 --> 0:32:29.320
<v Speaker 6>so I came back to LA I didn't want my

0:32:29.400 --> 0:32:31.800
<v Speaker 6>dad to prepare for this meeting. I walked into the

0:32:31.840 --> 0:32:33.960
<v Speaker 6>restaurant at one point thirty. My dad was, of course

0:32:33.960 --> 0:32:35.840
<v Speaker 6>shocked to see me. I had two big bags. He said,

0:32:36.280 --> 0:32:37.640
<v Speaker 6>why are you here? I said, I want to talk

0:32:37.680 --> 0:32:39.440
<v Speaker 6>to you. He said, I put your bags from the back.

0:32:39.480 --> 0:32:40.880
<v Speaker 6>I said, no, Dad, I'm only going to be here

0:32:40.880 --> 0:32:42.560
<v Speaker 6>for five or ten minutes. I want to talk to

0:32:42.600 --> 0:32:44.600
<v Speaker 6>you that I'm taking off. He said, okay, wait till

0:32:44.600 --> 0:32:46.720
<v Speaker 6>we close. So I sat there for an hour and

0:32:46.760 --> 0:32:49.320
<v Speaker 6>I said to myself, now, Larry, don't take off on him.

0:32:49.360 --> 0:32:52.080
<v Speaker 6>Just tell him the highlights. He'll probably call you an

0:32:52.160 --> 0:32:55.280
<v Speaker 6>ungrateful son. You can call him an ungrateful father and

0:32:55.640 --> 0:32:58.040
<v Speaker 6>an solb for a father, and at least maybe you'll

0:32:58.040 --> 0:32:59.680
<v Speaker 6>clear the air enough and you'll be able to sleep.

0:33:00.160 --> 0:33:02.800
<v Speaker 2>Hold on, we want to get the rest. It's riveting

0:33:02.880 --> 0:33:07.760
<v Speaker 2>beyond words. I want to I'm talking about Father's Son Reconciliation.

0:33:07.920 --> 0:33:12.400
<v Speaker 2>The book, of course, is Larry Elders sort of an

0:33:12.440 --> 0:33:16.680
<v Speaker 2>autobiography a lot like me, a father and son's journey

0:33:16.720 --> 0:33:17.680
<v Speaker 2>to reconciliation.

0:33:18.560 --> 0:33:21.920
<v Speaker 1>This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

0:33:27.440 --> 0:33:31.200
<v Speaker 1>Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

0:33:31.920 --> 0:33:36.000
<v Speaker 2>So the story, if you just tuned in, the story,

0:33:36.160 --> 0:33:39.600
<v Speaker 2>is that Larry stopped speaking to his father because of

0:33:39.640 --> 0:33:45.040
<v Speaker 2>his father's treatment of him. Tough treatment, not abusive, tough treatment.

0:33:45.880 --> 0:33:49.880
<v Speaker 2>And from fifteen to twenty five, is that correct?

0:33:50.160 --> 0:33:51.800
<v Speaker 6>That's correct?

0:33:52.240 --> 0:33:55.800
<v Speaker 2>And then you learned, You learned, then you walked back.

0:33:56.240 --> 0:33:58.640
<v Speaker 2>You flew backward. I had met you in Ohio, so

0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:02.719
<v Speaker 2>I know this. You were living in Cleveland, and you

0:34:02.800 --> 0:34:07.080
<v Speaker 2>flew back because you were still bothered by not talking

0:34:07.120 --> 0:34:10.840
<v Speaker 2>to your father. You're a successful lawyer at this point,

0:34:11.440 --> 0:34:14.040
<v Speaker 2>and your father shocked, obviously to see you in his

0:34:14.080 --> 0:34:16.040
<v Speaker 2>little restaurant in Los Angeles.

0:34:16.200 --> 0:34:16.399
<v Speaker 5>Right.

0:34:16.880 --> 0:34:20.399
<v Speaker 6>So my dad sat down and Dennis I teed off

0:34:20.440 --> 0:34:23.280
<v Speaker 6>on him. I spoke NonStop for almost twenty five thirty minutes,

0:34:23.600 --> 0:34:26.480
<v Speaker 6>every spanking, every slight, everything he ever said or did

0:34:26.560 --> 0:34:28.759
<v Speaker 6>to me that I thought was unfair or unwarned, I

0:34:28.800 --> 0:34:31.720
<v Speaker 6>told him. And finally, Dennis, I was out of AMMO

0:34:31.920 --> 0:34:34.120
<v Speaker 6>and I stopped, and my dad looked up and said,

0:34:34.640 --> 0:34:38.400
<v Speaker 6>is that it? And I said yeah. He said, you

0:34:38.400 --> 0:34:40.279
<v Speaker 6>didn't speak to me for ten years because of that,

0:34:41.280 --> 0:34:44.560
<v Speaker 6>and I said yes. And for the first time I

0:34:44.600 --> 0:34:46.920
<v Speaker 6>saw my father cry. He said, let me tell you

0:34:47.000 --> 0:34:49.239
<v Speaker 6>about my father, Larry. Now I knew my dad was

0:34:49.280 --> 0:34:51.680
<v Speaker 6>an only child, Dennis. I knew nothing really about him.

0:34:51.520 --> 0:34:52.080
<v Speaker 2>And didn't care.

0:34:52.320 --> 0:34:54.680
<v Speaker 6>I didn't like him. I met his mother one time,

0:34:55.360 --> 0:34:57.240
<v Speaker 6>and I knew that he was an only child. Outside

0:34:57.239 --> 0:34:59.600
<v Speaker 6>of that, I knew nothing about my father's background and

0:34:59.640 --> 0:35:02.520
<v Speaker 6>didn't give a damn. And my father proceeded to tell

0:35:02.600 --> 0:35:04.920
<v Speaker 6>me that Elder, my last name, is not the name

0:35:04.960 --> 0:35:08.560
<v Speaker 6>of his biological father. I said, what, I said, who

0:35:08.600 --> 0:35:10.920
<v Speaker 6>is your biological father? He said, I have no IDEA

0:35:11.840 --> 0:35:14.719
<v Speaker 6>Elder turns out was a cruel guy, alcoholic. He used

0:35:14.760 --> 0:35:17.799
<v Speaker 6>to beat him and his mother. Whenever he would work.

0:35:17.840 --> 0:35:19.640
<v Speaker 6>He would bring the mother money home give it to

0:35:19.719 --> 0:35:22.240
<v Speaker 6>my grandmother for her to keep because he would gamble

0:35:22.239 --> 0:35:25.080
<v Speaker 6>it away. Come Wednesday, he'd want the money. She wouldn't

0:35:25.080 --> 0:35:26.560
<v Speaker 6>give it to him. He'd beat the crap out of her.

0:35:26.640 --> 0:35:28.440
<v Speaker 6>My dad would stop him. He'd beat the crap out

0:35:28.480 --> 0:35:30.000
<v Speaker 6>of my dad. And I said, how long does this

0:35:30.080 --> 0:35:32.840
<v Speaker 6>go on? He said five years? I said, then what

0:35:33.360 --> 0:35:35.120
<v Speaker 6>he said? Well, then I came home. I was thirteen

0:35:35.160 --> 0:35:38.440
<v Speaker 6>years old. Elder was long gone. You see my grandmother,

0:35:38.520 --> 0:35:40.680
<v Speaker 6>he said, could neither read nor write. Had a series

0:35:40.719 --> 0:35:43.400
<v Speaker 6>of boyfriends, each one more irresponsible than the one before

0:35:43.840 --> 0:35:46.920
<v Speaker 6>I came home, started quarreling with my mom's then boyfriend.

0:35:46.920 --> 0:35:50.120
<v Speaker 6>At the age of thirteen. She sided with the boyfriend

0:35:50.239 --> 0:35:54.799
<v Speaker 6>threw me out of the house, never to return. I said,

0:35:54.840 --> 0:35:58.719
<v Speaker 6>you're thirteen years old Athens, Georgia, Jim Crow South at

0:35:58.760 --> 0:36:00.920
<v Speaker 6>the beginning of the Great Depression. If she throws you

0:36:00.960 --> 0:36:04.600
<v Speaker 6>out of the house, he said, yes, never to return.

0:36:05.200 --> 0:36:09.279
<v Speaker 6>Series of huff jobs. Ultimately he became a pullman porter

0:36:09.360 --> 0:36:12.120
<v Speaker 6>for the trains and was able to travel all around

0:36:12.160 --> 0:36:14.279
<v Speaker 6>the country. And for a black BOYE and the Jim

0:36:14.280 --> 0:36:16.200
<v Speaker 6>Crow South to leave the South and see the West

0:36:16.239 --> 0:36:19.200
<v Speaker 6>Coast was amazing, and my dad liked the weather. People

0:36:19.200 --> 0:36:21.319
<v Speaker 6>seemed less racist, and my dad made a mental note

0:36:21.320 --> 0:36:25.920
<v Speaker 6>that maybe sometime I will travel to Los Angeles Pearl Harbor. Happened.

0:36:25.960 --> 0:36:28.919
<v Speaker 6>My dad joins the Marines. I said, why the marine's dad?

0:36:29.200 --> 0:36:31.680
<v Speaker 6>He said, two reasons. They go where the action is,

0:36:31.719 --> 0:36:35.760
<v Speaker 6>and I love those uniforms. My dad became a staff sergeant,

0:36:35.760 --> 0:36:39.359
<v Speaker 6>a cook and on Guam as they were waiting the

0:36:39.360 --> 0:36:42.680
<v Speaker 6>invasion of Japan, the bombs fell. No invasion. My dad

0:36:42.680 --> 0:36:44.400
<v Speaker 6>comes back home to Chattanooga, where he had met and

0:36:44.400 --> 0:36:46.279
<v Speaker 6>married my mom, and he wanted to get him a

0:36:46.320 --> 0:36:48.920
<v Speaker 6>job as a short eared cook because my dad, as

0:36:48.960 --> 0:36:50.799
<v Speaker 6>I said, was a staff sergeant in charge of cooking

0:36:50.840 --> 0:36:53.800
<v Speaker 6>in World War two, and he can look at a cake, Dennis,

0:36:53.880 --> 0:36:55.239
<v Speaker 6>or a pie and tell you what's in it. That's

0:36:55.239 --> 0:36:57.879
<v Speaker 6>how good he is. So my dad goes all around

0:36:57.960 --> 0:36:59.560
<v Speaker 6>Chattanooga to get a job as a cook. Ef he

0:36:59.600 --> 0:37:01.600
<v Speaker 6>gets out of the war and he's told we don't

0:37:01.680 --> 0:37:04.839
<v Speaker 6>hire any Inwards, he goes home to my mom and said,

0:37:04.840 --> 0:37:07.000
<v Speaker 6>this is bs. I'm going to unemployment office. Goes to

0:37:06.960 --> 0:37:09.920
<v Speaker 6>the unemployment office. Lady says you went through the wrong door,

0:37:10.400 --> 0:37:12.600
<v Speaker 6>sends him out to the door that says colored only

0:37:12.719 --> 0:37:14.799
<v Speaker 6>ghost to that door to the very same lady who

0:37:14.840 --> 0:37:17.080
<v Speaker 6>sent him out. He came home and said, told him

0:37:17.080 --> 0:37:19.160
<v Speaker 6>whether this is BS, I'm going to Los Angeles. I'm

0:37:19.160 --> 0:37:20.719
<v Speaker 6>gonna get me a job at the short ordered cook

0:37:20.840 --> 0:37:23.440
<v Speaker 6>comes out here, walks around for two days and is

0:37:23.480 --> 0:37:27.160
<v Speaker 6>told I'm sorry, you have no references. My dad even

0:37:27.200 --> 0:37:28.799
<v Speaker 6>offered to work for free to get a reference. They

0:37:28.800 --> 0:37:30.759
<v Speaker 6>wouldn't do that. He was treated the same way in

0:37:30.880 --> 0:37:32.520
<v Speaker 6>la as he was in Chattanooga. They were just a

0:37:32.520 --> 0:37:34.719
<v Speaker 6>little more polite about it. My dad went to an

0:37:34.760 --> 0:37:37.880
<v Speaker 6>unemployment office, this time just one door. He took the

0:37:37.880 --> 0:37:40.040
<v Speaker 6>first thing he could get, which was a job cleaning

0:37:40.080 --> 0:37:43.040
<v Speaker 6>toilets and the Bisco brand bread full time job. Did

0:37:43.040 --> 0:37:45.200
<v Speaker 6>that for ten years. Took a second full time job

0:37:45.480 --> 0:37:48.480
<v Speaker 6>cleaning toilets at another bread company called Barbara and Bread,

0:37:48.760 --> 0:37:50.800
<v Speaker 6>cooked for a weekend on the cook for a family

0:37:50.800 --> 0:37:53.040
<v Speaker 6>on the weekends, and went to night school two or

0:37:53.040 --> 0:37:55.560
<v Speaker 6>three nights a week to get his ged. The man

0:37:55.640 --> 0:38:01.520
<v Speaker 6>Dennis never slept, That's why he was grouchy all the time.

0:38:01.920 --> 0:38:04.879
<v Speaker 6>You go for having two three hours of sleep, if

0:38:04.880 --> 0:38:08.000
<v Speaker 6>that day after day, month after month, year after year,

0:38:08.080 --> 0:38:10.879
<v Speaker 6>then you come home into a house with three rambunctious

0:38:10.920 --> 0:38:14.040
<v Speaker 6>boys throwing things, yelling, and screaming, and see how you feel.

0:38:14.320 --> 0:38:16.520
<v Speaker 6>So as my dad was telling me this, Dennis, we

0:38:16.680 --> 0:38:20.840
<v Speaker 6>talked over eight hours. My father got bigger and bigger

0:38:20.920 --> 0:38:23.920
<v Speaker 6>and bigger, and I got smaller and smaller and smaller.

0:38:23.960 --> 0:38:26.399
<v Speaker 6>And finally, after eight hours, I'm crying and I said

0:38:26.400 --> 0:38:30.120
<v Speaker 6>to my father, Dad, I am so sorry I judge

0:38:30.160 --> 0:38:33.920
<v Speaker 6>you this way. And my father said, don't be Just

0:38:34.040 --> 0:38:36.800
<v Speaker 6>follow the instructions I've always given you and your brothers.

0:38:37.239 --> 0:38:40.239
<v Speaker 6>Hard work wins you get out of life which you

0:38:40.239 --> 0:38:42.920
<v Speaker 6>put into it. Lara, you cannot control the outcome, but

0:38:42.960 --> 0:38:45.040
<v Speaker 6>you are one hundred percent in control of the effort.

0:38:45.360 --> 0:38:47.880
<v Speaker 6>And before you whine and moan about what somebody did

0:38:47.960 --> 0:38:49.719
<v Speaker 6>to you, go to the nearest mirror, look at it

0:38:49.760 --> 0:38:52.320
<v Speaker 6>and say what could I have done to change the outcome?

0:38:52.680 --> 0:38:54.839
<v Speaker 6>And finally, no matter how good you are, how hard

0:38:54.880 --> 0:38:57.640
<v Speaker 6>you work, bad things will happen. How you and your

0:38:57.680 --> 0:38:59.879
<v Speaker 6>brothers deal with those bad things will tell your mother

0:39:00.080 --> 0:39:04.600
<v Speaker 6>and me if we raised men. And I wrote the

0:39:04.600 --> 0:39:07.000
<v Speaker 6>book about this conversation, and phone I was writing it,

0:39:07.040 --> 0:39:08.560
<v Speaker 6>my dad would come in every now and then when

0:39:08.560 --> 0:39:10.200
<v Speaker 6>I would ask him things, and he would say, why

0:39:10.200 --> 0:39:13.240
<v Speaker 6>are you writing about my little life? And I said, Dad,

0:39:13.320 --> 0:39:16.040
<v Speaker 6>your life is epic and it's going to inspire people.

0:39:16.280 --> 0:39:17.960
<v Speaker 6>And the way we've gotten back together is going to

0:39:18.000 --> 0:39:20.560
<v Speaker 6>inspire people. And that's exactly what's happened, Dennis. I've gotten

0:39:20.640 --> 0:39:22.920
<v Speaker 6>hundreds of letters all over the country from people saying,

0:39:23.400 --> 0:39:25.719
<v Speaker 6>until I read your book, I did not pick up

0:39:25.719 --> 0:39:27.800
<v Speaker 6>the phone and talk to my dad for ten years.

0:39:27.840 --> 0:39:31.040
<v Speaker 6>I did, and now we're talking. Or I started talking

0:39:31.080 --> 0:39:33.160
<v Speaker 6>to my father. Or I encourage my husband to pick

0:39:33.200 --> 0:39:35.240
<v Speaker 6>up the phone and call his father, or I encourage

0:39:35.280 --> 0:39:37.239
<v Speaker 6>my brother to pick up the phone and call his father.

0:39:37.719 --> 0:39:40.600
<v Speaker 6>It's really had exactly the kind of effect that I

0:39:40.640 --> 0:39:42.840
<v Speaker 6>wanted to do. And it shows you not having a

0:39:42.880 --> 0:39:45.240
<v Speaker 6>father is not a death sentence because my father didn't

0:39:45.239 --> 0:39:47.680
<v Speaker 6>have a father and grew under circumstances that I think

0:39:47.719 --> 0:39:50.319
<v Speaker 6>are harsher than most anybody can imagine. And it turned

0:39:50.320 --> 0:39:52.960
<v Speaker 6>out to be a great guy, hard working, believes in

0:39:52.960 --> 0:39:55.360
<v Speaker 6>this country and believes in the future of this country.

0:39:55.920 --> 0:39:58.480
<v Speaker 6>And that's what I hope that the book will impart

0:39:58.480 --> 0:39:59.480
<v Speaker 6>to people when they read it.

0:40:01.360 --> 0:40:04.839
<v Speaker 2>I'm just riveted, as Alan said, he said, I must

0:40:04.880 --> 0:40:07.560
<v Speaker 2>have heard this ten times. I could think I could

0:40:07.560 --> 0:40:09.160
<v Speaker 2>repeat it, and I'm still riveted.

0:40:10.040 --> 0:40:12.879
<v Speaker 6>Well, he was an amazing man. And by the way,

0:40:12.920 --> 0:40:16.200
<v Speaker 6>Dennis a lifelong Republican, and my mother was a lifelong Democrat,

0:40:16.200 --> 0:40:18.520
<v Speaker 6>as you know. And when they would sit at the table,

0:40:18.560 --> 0:40:21.840
<v Speaker 6>they'd have these discussions. And the older I got, the

0:40:21.880 --> 0:40:23.920
<v Speaker 6>more sense my father made. My father used to say

0:40:23.960 --> 0:40:27.000
<v Speaker 6>this about democrats. Democrats want to give you something for nothing,

0:40:27.360 --> 0:40:29.000
<v Speaker 6>and when you try and get something for nothing, you

0:40:29.040 --> 0:40:31.840
<v Speaker 6>almost always end up getting nothing for something. And the

0:40:31.960 --> 0:40:34.680
<v Speaker 6>number one problem my mother and father both had, however,

0:40:34.840 --> 0:40:37.360
<v Speaker 6>was the welfare state. Even though my mom was a Democrat,

0:40:37.440 --> 0:40:40.520
<v Speaker 6>she knew that it created perverse incentives. And in my view,

0:40:40.560 --> 0:40:43.440
<v Speaker 6>the welfare state has incentivized women to marry the government

0:40:43.680 --> 0:40:46.880
<v Speaker 6>and allowed men to abandon their financial and more responsibility.

0:40:47.160 --> 0:40:49.440
<v Speaker 6>It has been a new tron bomb dropped on this.

0:40:49.480 --> 0:40:56.160
<v Speaker 2>Country, God has it. Ever, the story is inspiring. And

0:40:56.800 --> 0:40:59.759
<v Speaker 2>as I began by saying, so that everyone can hear,

0:41:00.040 --> 0:41:03.320
<v Speaker 2>it's a sort of crusade of mind to get adult

0:41:03.440 --> 0:41:07.320
<v Speaker 2>children to talk to their parents. I discovered through radio.

0:41:07.640 --> 0:41:10.960
<v Speaker 2>I now ask often at speeches, raise your hand. If

0:41:11.000 --> 0:41:15.400
<v Speaker 2>you know anybody then that way people are in self conscious,

0:41:15.440 --> 0:41:18.800
<v Speaker 2>it's not about them. If you know any family in

0:41:18.840 --> 0:41:21.800
<v Speaker 2>which an adult child just doesn't speak to a parent,

0:41:22.560 --> 0:41:24.760
<v Speaker 2>and between a third and a half of all hands

0:41:24.760 --> 0:41:30.160
<v Speaker 2>goes up. It doesn't matter if the audience is conservative, liberal, Jewish, Christian, atheist.

0:41:31.200 --> 0:41:39.440
<v Speaker 2>It's an epidemic in the country. And try to have

0:41:39.520 --> 0:41:45.160
<v Speaker 2>empathy for your parents. That's a lot of what Marie's

0:41:45.239 --> 0:41:46.080
<v Speaker 2>story is about.

0:41:46.280 --> 0:41:49.520
<v Speaker 1>Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

0:41:50.480 --> 0:41:54.840
<v Speaker 2>Today's subject is a dual one because they are so related.

0:41:55.880 --> 0:41:59.640
<v Speaker 2>And I begin with the question of trusting people. The

0:41:59.680 --> 0:42:02.160
<v Speaker 2>world is divided, you know, there are all these divisions.

0:42:02.160 --> 0:42:04.799
<v Speaker 2>The world is divided between those who love dogs and

0:42:04.800 --> 0:42:06.680
<v Speaker 2>those who love cats. We have all of these types

0:42:06.719 --> 0:42:09.719
<v Speaker 2>of divisions, right, and that's fine, and I get a

0:42:09.800 --> 0:42:13.400
<v Speaker 2>kick out of that. One division is those who trust

0:42:13.520 --> 0:42:17.040
<v Speaker 2>people and those who don't trust people. And I am

0:42:17.200 --> 0:42:22.000
<v Speaker 2>in the group that trust people in my life. And

0:42:22.440 --> 0:42:24.319
<v Speaker 2>I think any of you who have heard me over

0:42:24.360 --> 0:42:26.600
<v Speaker 2>any period of time know that I don't think people

0:42:26.600 --> 0:42:29.640
<v Speaker 2>are basically good. So you would think if you don't

0:42:29.680 --> 0:42:34.200
<v Speaker 2>think people are basically good, why would you trust anybody. Well,

0:42:34.239 --> 0:42:40.520
<v Speaker 2>on a daily basis, I am prepared unless given reason

0:42:40.640 --> 0:42:42.880
<v Speaker 2>not to, I am prepared to trust people.

0:42:43.520 --> 0:42:47.240
<v Speaker 5>I'm currently dealing with trust, and I believe it also

0:42:47.320 --> 0:42:50.439
<v Speaker 5>goes in hand hand with lies. I think everybody lies,

0:42:50.480 --> 0:42:55.560
<v Speaker 5>including myself. But the thing is to face those things.

0:42:56.600 --> 0:43:00.280
<v Speaker 5>One of my friends has been continually.

0:42:59.760 --> 0:43:06.239
<v Speaker 2>Lying to me, and by the way, that's by the way.

0:43:06.280 --> 0:43:11.759
<v Speaker 2>The interesting thing about lying is especially when adults do this.

0:43:11.880 --> 0:43:16.280
<v Speaker 2>Kids have their own reasons, but when an adult lies

0:43:16.360 --> 0:43:19.720
<v Speaker 2>to another adult, it is because the lying adult doesn't

0:43:19.719 --> 0:43:23.120
<v Speaker 2>trust the other one. The reason that people lie to

0:43:23.239 --> 0:43:28.040
<v Speaker 2>a friend is very simple. If you knew the truth,

0:43:28.960 --> 0:43:31.560
<v Speaker 2>you would you wouldn't love me, or wouldn't like me,

0:43:31.680 --> 0:43:33.680
<v Speaker 2>or wouldn't be with me, or wouldn't stay with me.

0:43:34.280 --> 0:43:38.000
<v Speaker 1>Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with

0:43:38.160 --> 0:43:42.560
<v Speaker 1>Dennis Prager. Visit Dennisprager dot com for thousands of hours

0:43:42.640 --> 0:43:46.400
<v Speaker 1>of Dennis's lectures, courses in classic radio programs, and to

0:43:46.440 --> 0:43:53.719
<v Speaker 1>purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just

0:43:53.760 --> 0:43:56.120
<v Speaker 1>a second to thank the team at Life Audio for

0:43:56.200 --> 0:43:59.160
<v Speaker 1>their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio

0:43:59.200 --> 0:44:02.080
<v Speaker 1>dot com to find dozens of other faith centered podcasts

0:44:02.120 --> 0:44:05.680
<v Speaker 1>and their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,

0:44:05.960 --> 0:44:06.399
<v Speaker 1>and more.