Speaker 1: Life Audio Dennis Deennis Jennis Dennis Prager.
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Speaker 2: answering your question on an upcoming episode of Timeless Wisdom
Speaker 2: with Dennis Prager. And thanks for listening and supporting. Dennis
Speaker 2: Bragger on today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.
Speaker 3: I mean, do you think Hitler really inside of his heart?
Speaker 3: Do you think he could be happy? He was a
Speaker 3: happy person to himself thinking that what he was doing
Speaker 3: was the right thing.
Speaker 4: Question, is the first most important to become a better man?
Speaker 4: Or is it more important to become a better father
Speaker 4: or like a better husband? Is there a priority?
Speaker 5: I wondered what kind of airsoft gun you use?
Speaker 6: Your opinion? How much of a role do you think
Speaker 6: God plays and finding by for a husband.
Speaker 7: For a person.
Speaker 8: My wife and I kind of have a little disagreement,
Speaker 8: and it's nothing serious or intense, but I drink a
Speaker 8: bottle of wine a night, which adds up to about
Speaker 8: two and a half to three glasses of wine. I
Speaker 8: think yes, And do he thinks that I'm an alcoholic?
Speaker 9: I have a question. A client of ours ask us
Speaker 9: if we would make a contribution to a charity that
Speaker 9: they were raising money for. When we looked up the
Speaker 9: charity on the website, it stands for everything that we don't.
Speaker 2: That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Welcome
Speaker 2: to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of hours
Speaker 2: of Dennis's lectures courses in classic radio programs. Had to
Speaker 2: purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. Go to Dennisprager dot com.
Speaker 1: I try to have you set the agenda on this hour.
Speaker 1: One eight praguer six twenty bucks. That is one eighth
Speaker 1: prager p is a pneumonia r A g e er
Speaker 1: seven seven six or eight seven seven two four three
Speaker 1: triple seven six. Whatever you'd like to ask me anything.
Speaker 1: It could be silly, it could be trivial. What is
Speaker 1: my favorite color? That would be actually allowable.
Speaker 10: I don't know. If I have one favorite color.
Speaker 1: Then that does that tell anything about you? By the way,
Speaker 1: I love that stuff. Oh tell me your favorite color
Speaker 1: and I will tell you your entire personality trait system
Speaker 1: of personality traits.
Speaker 10: I love that stuff, but I ad.
Speaker 1: A little a little suspicious, but I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe that's true. I love it anyway. And we begin
Speaker 1: with in the Yakima, Washington and Jeremy Jeremy Dennis Prager height.
Speaker 8: Very glad to talk to you.
Speaker 10: Thank you.
Speaker 8: You see but the screener wrote what I wanted.
Speaker 1: To Well, yeah, but nobody else saw it, so okay,
Speaker 1: tell you have to say it right.
Speaker 11: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Well, my wife and I kind of have a little
Speaker 8: disagreement and it's nothing serious or intense, but I drink
Speaker 8: a bottle of wine a night, which adds up to
Speaker 8: about two and a half to three glasses of wine.
Speaker 8: I think yes, and he thinks that I'm an alcoholic,
Speaker 8: and I disagree, And you know, it's it's all mostly
Speaker 8: said and fun, you know, but I was just wondering
Speaker 8: your opinion.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a it's a fascinating question, which shows that
Speaker 1: alcoholic doesn't seem to have a very scientific definition, does she?
Speaker 10: Let me ask you the following.
Speaker 1: And I don't claim to be an expert in this arena,
Speaker 1: but I do have common sense and I have dealt
Speaker 1: with the issue in others. Let me ask you a
Speaker 1: few questions. Number one, does it change your behavior? No?
Speaker 8: I never get violent.
Speaker 10: I never Well, no, I mean in any in any way?
Speaker 1: I mean how well, how does it change your behavior?
Speaker 1: If you get happier? I mean, it may get better.
Speaker 8: Probably smile a little bit more. That there's nothing beyond that.
Speaker 10: Does she like when you smile more?
Speaker 3: She does?
Speaker 1: Okay, so the effects of it she likes. She's just
Speaker 1: worried that this may be a bad sign. Let me
Speaker 1: ask you question number two. Okay, I assume you do
Speaker 1: not operate a motor vehicle after this.
Speaker 10: Okay.
Speaker 8: Question number three not to that point, either I really
Speaker 8: have no.
Speaker 1: Really, you would not measure having no if there were
Speaker 1: a breath test, you would not actually be considered driving
Speaker 1: under the influence.
Speaker 8: Oh, probably under a breath test. That's why I don't
Speaker 8: do it. Okay, fight and I don't want to risk Okay.
Speaker 10: Next? Next, do you drink at other times during of
Speaker 10: the day?
Speaker 12: No?
Speaker 10: Do you want to?
Speaker 8: No? Not unless we're out to eat for a special occasion.
Speaker 1: Right, fourth or fifth? Can you go for five days
Speaker 1: without it?
Speaker 8: If I want to? But I haven't seen any need to.
Speaker 1: If I gave you one thousand dollars, would yes? If
Speaker 1: I gave you five hundred, would you?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 10: I gave you one hundred?
Speaker 5: Probably?
Speaker 1: Yeah, tell your wife all these things. Okay, Really, I
Speaker 1: think that if you would even consider leaving it for
Speaker 1: one hundred dollars for five days, you're either very poor
Speaker 1: or quite in control of your drinking.
Speaker 10: Do you ever miss a night?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah I do?
Speaker 1: And and and what are your what is your behavior?
Speaker 1: Then you get you get down? Or does it Does
Speaker 1: it feel like a withdrawal?
Speaker 8: No, it doesn't feel like a withdrawal. I may get
Speaker 8: a slight headache, but there's really nothing uh huh.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean maybe of us will call him and
Speaker 1: tell me why I'm wrong, But it doesn't sound like
Speaker 1: a problem to me. And I don't even drink, so okay, okay,
Speaker 1: thank you very much. Interesting question, indeed, and uh this
Speaker 1: is powerful. This is powerful. Sherboy again Wisconsin. Rick, Hello, Rick,
Speaker 1: Dennis Prager.
Speaker 7: Mister Prager. It's an honor to talk.
Speaker 10: To you, sir. Thank you. I'm well appreciated.
Speaker 7: Hey, I just have a question. I'm walking my daughter
Speaker 7: tomorrow down the aisle. Congratulations, Well, thank you, And I'm
Speaker 7: just wondering what you would say if you have a daughter,
Speaker 7: what you would say as you were or right before
Speaker 7: you walk.
Speaker 1: I would tell that is such a great alan. Put
Speaker 1: that down for a subject for an hour.
Speaker 10: This is a great question.
Speaker 1: And off the top of my head, I would tell
Speaker 1: every woman marrying, and whether my daughter or sister or friend,
Speaker 1: I would say, you unless the man is a jerk,
Speaker 1: which in which case nothing matters. But if he's not
Speaker 1: a jerk, and most men are not jerks, but if
Speaker 1: unless he is, you will set the happiness of the home.
Speaker 1: You will set. You are the minister of the marital.
Speaker 1: Marital minister of the interior of the marital kingdom, and
Speaker 1: that you must know that that that is just the
Speaker 1: way it is. That is the way it is designed
Speaker 1: by God or nature. You pick, you pick it.
Speaker 10: And your.
Speaker 1: How you how you bring him and your marriage joy.
Speaker 1: He will respond, But you are the one essentially in
Speaker 1: charge of marital happiness.
Speaker 7: Oh, it's very interesting.
Speaker 1: I do believe that, and I don't think that there
Speaker 1: are many in our egalitarian age. Everything is assumed to
Speaker 1: be fifty to fifty, which is a catastrophe. A catastrophe.
Speaker 1: There are obligations that fall more on men, and there
Speaker 1: are responsibilities that fall more on women.
Speaker 7: Right right, Well, I thank you very much. I really
Speaker 7: enjoy your program.
Speaker 1: Let me know what happens, and congratulations to you.
Speaker 10: Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe at some point tomorrow I will be thinking
Speaker 1: of this man of Rick walking his daughter down the
Speaker 1: aisle somewhere in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It's very touching, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Power of radio You enter people's lives like this. I
Speaker 1: love it.
Speaker 10: I do.
Speaker 1: Every day is every day is more exciting than the previous.
Speaker 1: And we start with Kelly in Pasadena. Hello, Kelly, Dennis Prager. Hello, Kelly,
Speaker 1: I would like it. Hello, y, I don't hear a thing.
Speaker 9: I'm here.
Speaker 10: It's strange you do, now I do?
Speaker 9: Can you hear me?
Speaker 10: Now? I do? Yes?
Speaker 9: Hi, Hi, I have a question. A client of ours
Speaker 9: asked us if we would make a contribution to a
Speaker 9: charity that they were raising money for. When we looked
Speaker 9: up the charity on the website, it stands for everything
Speaker 9: that we don't.
Speaker 10: Oh and they don't know that.
Speaker 9: Oh they do know that.
Speaker 1: Well then that that's a really, that's a that's terribly selfish.
Speaker 1: I would never do that to somebody. No, really, that's why. No,
Speaker 1: it's not a matter of pushy. That's just unfair to you.
Speaker 1: I don't mind pushy if the charity is, you know,
Speaker 1: kids in wheelchairs or something, uh where you know, to
Speaker 1: neutral charity. But I assume that this is a political one.
Speaker 9: It's a political Well I went.
Speaker 1: To see if I would never do that. I would
Speaker 1: never do that to anybody. I mean, that's so that's
Speaker 1: so wrong. I mean, that's morally wrong what.
Speaker 10: This person did. It's not a matter of pushy at all.
Speaker 1: If the person's pushy for something that that does not
Speaker 1: affect you ethically. I mean, I have I can you
Speaker 1: is it on the left, this charity. Okay, can you imagine?
Speaker 1: I mean, it would be just as wrong if you
Speaker 1: were liberals and somebody came to you and said, listen,
Speaker 1: i'd like you to give I'm a client of yours.
Speaker 1: I want you to give to the Republican National Committee.
Speaker 9: Well, we were going to ask her to do that
Speaker 9: in in uh as a as a giveback, but we
Speaker 9: haven't done that yet.
Speaker 1: I God, I'd love to interview this woman. That's my
Speaker 1: way of saying I want to slap them, but I
Speaker 1: I I really would. I'd like to I'd like to
Speaker 1: ask ask that all right away. It's totally wrong. What
Speaker 1: she asked of you is wrong. One should never ask
Speaker 1: anybody to donate to a political charity. It's not right
Speaker 1: unless they know that they're in full agreement, right.
Speaker 10: Okay, okay, all right, thank you. Yeah, that's morally wrong.
Speaker 1: As I say, pushy's fine for a I mean, pushy
Speaker 1: people get things done. I mean I don't tend to
Speaker 1: be a pushy person, but I acknowledge that we need them, alrighty,
Speaker 1: And in Los Angeles it's Bruce, Hello, Bruce Dennis Prager.
Speaker 10: Yeah, Hi, how are you doing good things?
Speaker 13: Good? Capital punishment. You take the view that you're in
Speaker 13: favor of capital punishment. What would you think of this
Speaker 13: idea that anybody who's convicted of a murder be not
Speaker 13: only sentenced to prison, but they'd be put into a
Speaker 13: box where they're literally welded in, never to come out
Speaker 13: again until they come.
Speaker 11: Out feet first, so the society.
Speaker 13: Would never have to worry about that person ever getting
Speaker 13: back into society and doing more harm. And then take
Speaker 13: school kids every second or third year and take them
Speaker 13: on trips through prisms where they could see these walls
Speaker 13: where these people are locked in and never never to
Speaker 13: come up.
Speaker 10: Bruce, Bruce, you're cracking me up.
Speaker 1: So basically what you're saying is, let's not kill them,
Speaker 1: let's torture them for their entire life.
Speaker 13: Well, I don't know if it would they be tortured
Speaker 13: or wouldn't.
Speaker 1: They welded up in a box? Yep, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that that.
Speaker 10: You know.
Speaker 1: I don't use the word torture loosely like the Abu
Speaker 1: grab folks, but that would constitute torture to me. I
Speaker 1: simply believe that if I take your life, I deserve
Speaker 1: to lose mind. It's very simple, but not simplistic back
Speaker 1: in a moment on The Dennis Prager Show.
Speaker 2: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this
Speaker 2: No to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
Speaker 1: All Right, everybody, this is the hour that you set
Speaker 1: the agenda, whatever's on your mind. On the Dennis Prager Show.
Speaker 1: I'm in never rethinking my answer to the guy who
Speaker 1: drinks a bottle of wine a night. Everything I said
Speaker 1: I stand by, actually everything I asked you. But I
Speaker 1: understand the wife's concern. I don't think that I in fact,
Speaker 1: I'm sure I didn't articulate any sympathy.
Speaker 10: For her worry about you. That is a lot.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't wouldn't call you an alcoholic because
Speaker 1: I don't even know what the term is, and I
Speaker 1: generally judge things by their effect, and your willingness to
Speaker 1: forego it easily was a good sign. But a bottle
Speaker 1: of night is a lot. And I think it would
Speaker 1: put me at ease if if my spouse were drinking
Speaker 1: a bottle, if they would make it a half a
Speaker 1: bottle night. But I uh, I don't want to give
Speaker 1: you a hard time. I don't want to give her
Speaker 1: a hard time, but it's it was a very interesting question.
Speaker 10: And let us go.
Speaker 1: To Mike and Van Nuys, California. Hello, Mike Dennis, Hi, Mike, Hi, Hi,
Speaker 1: how you doing?
Speaker 6: Great question for you your opinion? How much of a
Speaker 6: role do you think God plays and finding by for
Speaker 6: a husband, for a person.
Speaker 10: It's a great question.
Speaker 1: You will love this answer, or at least it's not
Speaker 1: the whole answer, but you.
Speaker 10: Will love this.
Speaker 1: There is a very strong Jewish tradition that asks the question,
Speaker 1: what has God been doing since he finished creating, since
Speaker 1: the sixth Day? What's God been doing? And the traditional
Speaker 1: answer that is given is miss a vague zugot, which
Speaker 1: means bringing couples together, which I've always laughed at because
Speaker 1: or not at, but left with because it shows how
Speaker 1: complex bringing the right people to the right people is.
Speaker 1: That that takes up God's whole time. Now, of course.
Speaker 10: It's not meant.
Speaker 1: To be literally taken, but it gives an idea of
Speaker 1: how complex it is and that it would take God
Speaker 1: to figure it out. In so many cases, I would
Speaker 1: say that they're undoubtedly are people. Undoubtedly there are people
Speaker 1: who have met somebody and it was God who helped
Speaker 1: facilitate their meeting. I believe that. I believe it, and
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. I would go so far as to say
Speaker 1: that there may be even people who divorce who God
Speaker 1: brought together for whatever reason that they did. So it's
Speaker 1: not even it's not even dependently on the marriage. Last
Speaker 1: that God may have well brought two people together for
Speaker 1: whatever reasons.
Speaker 10: So I am.
Speaker 1: I am very much a believer, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't say that God brought every two people who
Speaker 1: were together together. Certainly I would not say that about
Speaker 1: Hollywood stars, only because of the nature of the and
Speaker 1: the fleetingness of the of the romance.
Speaker 10: But yes, I do believe.
Speaker 1: If I believe that God is active, I don't know
Speaker 1: exactly when, although in my own life I certainly have
Speaker 1: such beliefs. In Burbank, California, David Hello, David.
Speaker 5: Hi, Dennis Hi, I wondered what kind of airsoft gun
Speaker 5: you use?
Speaker 1: Oh, you're you're talking to a newly minted mavin on
Speaker 1: this subject, I got to tell you. Playing with my
Speaker 1: son and his friends, shooting them and getting shot at,
Speaker 1: it's a right. So I now have I now have
Speaker 1: two spring ones and I have one gas. My son
Speaker 1: has one electric. But we have very strong rules, many
Speaker 1: including that everybody has to use the same type. You
Speaker 1: can't have an electric versus a spring. That's not fair. Also,
Speaker 1: you can never use an electric on automatic you know
Speaker 1: the guy machine guns. Of course they'll get you any time.
Speaker 5: Do you play around the house or do you go
Speaker 5: to an organized thing?
Speaker 10: No?
Speaker 1: No, no, around the house in the yard, and we
Speaker 1: use trees as places to hide.
Speaker 5: They don't make a mess those balls they do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is correct, and I am sure that we
Speaker 1: have ruptured a number of the lawnmowers which pick up
Speaker 1: plastic pellets. But no, if you use the plastic ones,
Speaker 1: it's not going to rupture anything. There are ones out
Speaker 1: of aluminum that that may be tougher. I happen to like.
Speaker 1: Of all of them, spring is the most skill because
Speaker 1: you have to reload every time, not reload but you know,
Speaker 1: what do you call it?
Speaker 10: Yeah? Recock it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but there's a blast intended to the gas, which
Speaker 1: I get a big kick out of that. You can actually,
Speaker 1: you know, just every time you pull the trigger. I
Speaker 1: did not think I'd get into this, but it is
Speaker 1: a lot of fun and kids just they love when
Speaker 1: the dad plays with them. It really means a lot
Speaker 1: to them. And I say this to all the fathers
Speaker 1: listening that when you can do what you're if you
Speaker 1: can do sometimes what your kid wants go to their level.
Speaker 1: It is and it's a really meaningful thing to them.
Speaker 1: And so they they he and his friends just love
Speaker 1: when I play. And I'm delighted that they love when
Speaker 1: I play. You and I do, and big target. Not
Speaker 1: only that, listen to this. They all dress. This is hilarious.
Speaker 1: They get ready as if they are going to Iraq.
Speaker 1: They get into you know, garb. They wear all black,
Speaker 1: not to be seen as easily. Meanwhile, I'm six four
Speaker 1: and in shorts, long white legs standing out. I mean,
Speaker 1: I get I don't think.
Speaker 10: I have one.
Speaker 5: Should came paint your leg?
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, exactly, that's what that's right, green and black
Speaker 1: exactly look like a tree.
Speaker 10: That is right.
Speaker 1: Well, you tell me what you get when you when
Speaker 1: you finally get one. Okay, all right, thanks very much,
Speaker 1: all right, Bob, I really do. I get such a
Speaker 1: kick out of it. And uh, you know, I would
Speaker 1: be more than happy to discuss with any parent. Well,
Speaker 1: but my kid is playing with guns, I'd be more
Speaker 1: than happy. But since it's not raised, I'm going to
Speaker 1: get to what am I going to do?
Speaker 10: Since it was raised, I will avoid it.
Speaker 1: That's it, okay, alrighty to Sandy and Denver Denver, I
Speaker 1: just said, Denver, Hello, Sandy, Dennis Prager, Hi Dennis.
Speaker 14: Thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 2: I admire you so much, thank you so much.
Speaker 9: And I'm trying to read the books you recommend, of
Speaker 9: all the people you interview in your books too.
Speaker 15: But I'm also wondering if you read fiction.
Speaker 1: I made a decision many years ago on two grand
Speaker 1: that I unfortunately don't read fiction. It's extremely rare, and yes,
Speaker 1: the reasons are not that there is not an immense
Speaker 1: amount to be learned. There is, but I have no choice.
Speaker 10: I have to. I have to know simp.
Speaker 1: I simply have to know so much of what has
Speaker 1: actually happened and is actually happening that I just can't
Speaker 1: afford that time. Secondly, I read slowly. If I read fast,
Speaker 1: and I envy fast readers, I've never been and will
Speaker 1: never be, probably although there are speed reading things that help.
Speaker 1: But for what I have to read and mark up
Speaker 1: everything I read. I mark up every every book, every article.
Speaker 1: I read slowly, Wow, and therefore I would read a
Speaker 1: work of fiction in the time that I you know,
Speaker 1: it would take too long. But there are works of
Speaker 1: fiction that I read earlier in my life that remain
Speaker 1: with me much more than almost any work of nonfiction.
Speaker 1: Great fiction is awesome, is awesome. The fact that I
Speaker 1: don't read it is no reflection on it. It is
Speaker 1: just yes, so all right. On the other hand, one
Speaker 1: should not read only fiction. In my opinion, one does
Speaker 1: need to know, One needs to know what has happened
Speaker 1: or what is happening. But for many people fiction is
Speaker 1: their TV, and frankly it's fall super infinitely superior to TV.
Speaker 1: So you enjoy yourself if you do, Sandy, read fiction.
Speaker 1: But if I could have any book great history.
Speaker 2: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 2: Mister Freger, my name is Gregory.
Speaker 10: I'm a direct descentant of the World.
Speaker 11: War two generation.
Speaker 10: Take care yourself and welcome back.
Speaker 11: Maybe all money can keep you safe and well, and
Speaker 11: the same thing with the rest of your family.
Speaker 2: So are you enjoying timeless wisdom? We'd love to hear
Speaker 2: from you. Call eight seven seven, two four three seventy seven,
Speaker 2: seventy six and leave a review, share your thoughts or
Speaker 2: just even an encouraging word for Dennis. Your voicemail might
Speaker 2: just make it on the show. That's eight seven seven
Speaker 2: two four three seventy seven seventy six. That's eight seven
Speaker 2: seven two four three triple seven six. Thanks for listening
Speaker 2: and for your support. Now back to more of Dennis
Speaker 2: Prager's timeless wisdom.
Speaker 1: All right, let me take a really tough one, and
Speaker 1: I mean it. This is I never thought about this one.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to respond spontaneously in English, Indiana. You
Speaker 1: pronounce it English or English? John, Hello, Dennis, Hi is
Speaker 1: an English or English English, just as the language English Indiana, John,
Speaker 1: go ahead.
Speaker 16: Hi, Yes, sir, this is John from your last two cruises.
Speaker 10: Oh, Hi John.
Speaker 6: Hi.
Speaker 16: So that's a pleasure to talk to you again.
Speaker 10: Thank you.
Speaker 16: I wondered I've heard you say if you were a parent,
Speaker 16: and would you rather your child smoke a cigarette or
Speaker 16: cheat on a test?
Speaker 10: Right?
Speaker 16: And I wanted to know what you would say in
Speaker 16: regarding to marijuana.
Speaker 1: Right, that's a great question. And I said I had
Speaker 1: never actually thought it through, and I'm going to do
Speaker 1: it with you on the air. When I asked the
Speaker 1: question of parents, would you rather your teenager smoke a
Speaker 1: cigarette or cheat on a test. What I am contrasting
Speaker 1: is are you more concerned with your child's character or
Speaker 1: your child's eventual and I mean really far down the
Speaker 1: road health. And to me, there's no question I rather
Speaker 1: my child smoke a cigarette than cheat on a test. However,
Speaker 1: I don't think that the problem with marijuana is a
Speaker 1: health problem. So where now we've now changed the question
Speaker 1: because I do believe and this will this will disturb
Speaker 1: a lot of people, and I don't mean to disturb them,
Speaker 1: and I may well be wrong, but my inclination is
Speaker 1: not to regard marijuana and and certainly not the more
Speaker 1: intense or heavier drugs as just health problems. I regard
Speaker 1: them as character problems. And so what you're asking me,
Speaker 1: in a sense, is between two character problems. I think
Speaker 1: that a high school kid smoking a joint is an issue.
Speaker 1: I think almost anybody smoking a jointing, I mean, except
Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with cancer patients having marijuana
Speaker 1: or anything like that.
Speaker 10: It's a non issue to me.
Speaker 1: That that's that's to me crazy, It's crazy that somebody
Speaker 1: could alleviate some pain with cancer with marijuana should be banned.
Speaker 10: I don't. I don't, I don't. I don't want to
Speaker 10: go there.
Speaker 1: Well, it is, it's it's heartless in the worst sense
Speaker 1: of the word. But but for the the problem is
Speaker 1: that a lot of people fight for legalization of marijuana,
Speaker 1: use the good intentions of the great majority of Americans
Speaker 1: to get the door opened to legalizing marijuana generally, and
Speaker 1: will abuse it.
Speaker 10: That's the problem.
Speaker 1: But in and of itself, of course, a cancer patient
Speaker 1: should have the ability to access a joint. I mean,
Speaker 1: it blows my mind all right anyway. But having said
Speaker 1: all that, outside of certain circumstances, the reliance on getting
Speaker 1: high is very, very troubling to me for the development
Speaker 1: of one's character, as is cheating on a test. So
Speaker 1: now we're talking apples apples, and therefore I don't know exactly.
Speaker 1: I would have to know the circumstances under which each
Speaker 1: of them happened. How often is the cheating? How often
Speaker 1: was the marijuana a one time experiment? Was the cheating
Speaker 1: a one time experiment, you understand, But to me, the
Speaker 1: eventual health benefits pale before character developments. But I do
Speaker 1: regard the use of marijuana as a character issue as
Speaker 1: cheating on.
Speaker 16: A test Okay, yes, I understand.
Speaker 10: All right, Thank you very very much. I hope I
Speaker 10: got that.
Speaker 1: That was a tough one, Alrighty one to eight Prager
Speaker 1: seven to seven six in Minneapolis, Tony, Hello, Tony, Dennis.
Speaker 4: Prager, Hi, Dennis, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 10: Thanks for calling.
Speaker 4: First, I must preface by saying I listened to you
Speaker 4: a couple of years here, and you really have helped
Speaker 4: me in my daily struggle to become a better man.
Speaker 10: Well that's some compliment.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, which brings me to my question,
Speaker 4: is huh the first most important to become a better
Speaker 4: man or is it more important to become a better
Speaker 4: father or like a better husband? Is there a priority?
Speaker 1: Yeah, better man will always win because a good man
Speaker 1: will become a better father and a better husband.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's exactly what I was thinking.
Speaker 10: Oh good, okay, I'm let's you go because of a
Speaker 10: lot of noise there.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, work on your men, work on yourself and likewise women.
Speaker 1: It is the better a woman you become, the more
Speaker 1: at peace with your female nature, with the more at
Speaker 1: peace with being a woman, and working on your character
Speaker 1: and also working on suppressing the bad parts of the
Speaker 1: female nature. Just as men have to suppress the bad
Speaker 1: parts of male nature. Part of being a man is
Speaker 1: self suppression, or if you will, channeling same with a woman.
Speaker 1: I cannot emphasize this too often that we I do
Speaker 1: not believe that by and large we raise girls to
Speaker 1: confront their natures as much as we raise boys to
Speaker 1: confront their natures, and we are paying a terrible price
Speaker 1: for both sexes.
Speaker 2: This episode of timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 2: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.
Speaker 1: Okay, and we go to Los Angeles and James. Hello James,
Speaker 1: Dennis Prager, Yes, sir, hi.
Speaker 3: Hey, Well, my question is I was wondering on that
Speaker 3: unhappiness in a relative sense, on what you would think
Speaker 3: of like, I mean, do you think Hitler really inside
Speaker 3: of his heart do you think he could be happy
Speaker 3: that he was a happy person to himself, thinking that
Speaker 3: what he was doing was the right thing.
Speaker 1: I believe that there were many, sincere Nazis, people who
Speaker 1: truly believed that killing every Jewish man, woman, and baby
Speaker 1: was a good thing. There really were people who believed that.
Speaker 1: There are many there are many in the Muslim world
Speaker 1: today who believe that of Jews and they're sincere. Now
Speaker 1: are they happy people?
Speaker 10: In general?
Speaker 1: I believe that good people are happy than bad people.
Speaker 1: There is, there is some form of comfort in massive hatred.
Speaker 1: There is, but in the final analysis, it doesn't come
Speaker 1: from a happy disposition. And our reports of Hitler were
Speaker 1: that he was essentially uh an he donic. The man
Speaker 1: was not did not have a joy of life, and
Speaker 1: certainly later on in his life relied on tremendous injections
Speaker 1: from his personal physician to keep to sustain his his mood,
Speaker 1: to even continue with life. I don't believe in the
Speaker 1: final analysis that people choose evil from a happy part
Speaker 1: of themselves. I do not identify the suicide terror world
Speaker 1: and its supporters with happiness. They may they may be
Speaker 1: jubilant at the death of Jews or Americans, but these
Speaker 1: are not happy people.
Speaker 3: Okay, see, Okay, Dennis, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great question, it really was. I thank
Speaker 1: you very much, all right. And also in Denver is Diane, Hello, Diane,
Speaker 1: Dennis Prager.
Speaker 17: Hi, thank you for taking my car.
Speaker 10: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 17: Okay. Earlier this week you talked about the boy in
Speaker 17: Utah who almost died because he was too scared of strangers.
Speaker 17: So I want to know what we should be teaching
Speaker 17: our kids so that they're safe without making them scared
Speaker 17: of all strangers.
Speaker 10: It's a very fine question. Other than never go to
Speaker 10: their car.
Speaker 1: If a stranger beckons you too to his car, don't go,
Speaker 1: and never go anywhere, and don't go out of a
Speaker 1: classroom unless there is a code word I unless you
Speaker 1: live in a particularly awful neighborhood. I think that you
Speaker 1: have to just take the risk. I mean, there is
Speaker 1: risk taking and having children, and any parent who wants
Speaker 1: to have no risks to their child will risk a
Speaker 1: very confused and psychologically undeveloped child. So there's a price
Speaker 1: paid for absolute safety, and I have decided that I
Speaker 1: would gamble with absolute safety for the sake of their
Speaker 1: psychological and emotional health.
Speaker 17: Do you let your kids? Your son go anywhere by himself?
Speaker 10: Yeah, let's see where does he go? He will go
Speaker 10: to get something to eat that is nearby. Yep.
Speaker 1: During the day, Sure, yes I do. But of course
Speaker 1: he's twelve. Now, I don't know what age we started
Speaker 1: allowing him to do so.
Speaker 17: So even not in groups like he's not walking, No.
Speaker 1: Not necessarily that's right, and I certainly flew on his
Speaker 1: own very early. But of course that's so safe. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you bring them to the airport and an
Speaker 1: adult picks them up at the other end. But I
Speaker 1: will tell you parents need to acknowledge that a price
Speaker 1: is paid for absolute safety, and moms in particular need to.
Speaker 1: That's why moms and dads have different roles. Mother's worry more.
Speaker 1: I remember how often my father would say to my mother,
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do? Keep him in a China closet?
Speaker 1: And it's funny because I never understood what a China
Speaker 1: closet was if there was a closet from China, And
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't understand, but he was right, and
Speaker 1: you can't. On the other hand, mothers have to worry too.
Speaker 1: And now to Pasadena and Kathy. Hello, Kathy, Dennis Prager.
Speaker 15: Hello, it's such a pleasure to talk to you. I'm
Speaker 15: so honored.
Speaker 10: Oh that's very sweet. Thank you.
Speaker 15: I just want you to note that every time that
Speaker 15: you say Alan write that down, it just cracks me up.
Speaker 15: And I just started to wonder, how long.
Speaker 12: Is that life?
Speaker 10: I just asked.
Speaker 1: I just asked him that knowing your question and he
Speaker 1: said it's three pages long.
Speaker 15: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: But I want to tell you though, it is a
Speaker 1: major factor in why this program is and this is
Speaker 1: my intention for the show to be relentlessly interesting.
Speaker 12: And I know that.
Speaker 15: I mean I often wondered what would you do without him?
Speaker 11: In fact, I would I.
Speaker 10: Would shoot myself. It is clear it has been.
Speaker 15: Established in heaven with Alan following you around. Whenever you
Speaker 15: think of a question for that, Alan, write that down.
Speaker 1: That is funny. No, he's not following me around. I
Speaker 1: wish he were. I actually believe it or not. Don't
Speaker 1: see him quite that often. Oh, really, yes, it's it's something.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we have the show obviously, but
Speaker 1: beyond that, and we're very dear friends where our friendship
Speaker 1: has preceded this, but we're not we're not in each
Speaker 1: other's physical presence.
Speaker 10: All that much.
Speaker 1: And you know, and and so I will often text
Speaker 1: message him with oh, got an idea, and so that's
Speaker 1: you know, that'll work too, well, it really works.
Speaker 15: And I just wanted to give a good going Alan too.
Speaker 10: Oh. He needs that, he needs that. He suffers from
Speaker 10: deep he suffers from deep insecurity. So it's very good
Speaker 10: that you said.
Speaker 1: That, all right, he will thank you.
Speaker 10: That's that's great. It's a great call. How long is
Speaker 10: the list? I didn't know either. I actually asked him
Speaker 10: why would I do with that?
Speaker 11: Him?
Speaker 1: I wouldn't shoot myself, but I threatened to that. That's
Speaker 1: why that way, he just remains working with me because
Speaker 1: of guilt, because he just he doesn't want me to
Speaker 1: shoot myself. We uh, we will continue on the Dennis
Speaker 1: Prager Show with your questions, what is anything you'd like
Speaker 1: me to deal with? From the most heavy to the
Speaker 1: most light? One eighth Praguer seven seven six. We resume momentarily.
Speaker 2: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 2: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.
Speaker 1: All right in Los Angeles, Tim, Hello Tim, Dennis Prager, Hi, Dennis, Hi.
Speaker 18: My question is my stepdaughter, not my stepdaughter, my stepsister.
Speaker 18: My stepmother's daughter just killed herself and she had three
Speaker 18: small children. I just wondered, what do you say to
Speaker 18: the mother?
Speaker 1: Well, other than in other words, what do you say
Speaker 1: in addition to what you would say if let us
Speaker 1: say she had died of a disease or of a
Speaker 1: drunk driver. I mean, what additional things would you say,
Speaker 1: because it's a suicide, Is that what you're asking?
Speaker 18: Yeah, rather other than other than I'm sorry? What else
Speaker 18: can you say?
Speaker 1: Well, there isn't always that much. But the thing that
Speaker 1: comes to my mind is that I would assume that
Speaker 1: any parent whose child commits suicide has enormous guilt, and
Speaker 1: you need to reassure her that she, the mother, is
Speaker 1: in no way responsible unless you know, unless the mother
Speaker 1: I don't know abused her as a child and you know,
Speaker 1: locked her in a closet and froze her exactly. But
Speaker 1: otherwise it is not the parent's fault. And parents parents
Speaker 1: the burden. I'm parent. The burden we parents have about
Speaker 1: our children's happiness is really unfair to us, but we
Speaker 1: have it. I mean, parents feel bad if their kid,
Speaker 1: and their kid could be ten, twenty thirty, forty, fifty sixty,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. They feel bad if the kid is depressed.
Speaker 1: Imagine how they feel if the kid commits suicide. So
Speaker 1: what you have to try to do is reassure her
Speaker 1: you are not responsible. We don't know why people commit suicide,
Speaker 1: but it has nothing to do with you.
Speaker 18: How do you say that?
Speaker 10: In those words?
Speaker 1: Say if you're close enough to say, listen, it's maybe
Speaker 1: the most natural thing for you to feel some responsibilit
Speaker 1: you have none. You must say that to yourself, and
Speaker 1: you must know it, even if your heart tells you otherwise.
Speaker 1: I am talking to your mind, and your mind must
Speaker 1: know you are not in any way responsible. Okay, yep,
Speaker 1: that's the best thing you could tell her, I think Denver,
Speaker 1: Mark Kello, Mark, Dennis Prager.
Speaker 19: Oh, hi, Dennis, Hi. I just wanted to let you
Speaker 19: know that I discovered a reliable way of keeping slow
Speaker 19: drivers out of.
Speaker 10: The left lane other than bumping them.
Speaker 19: Well, that works, but this is a little better. And
Speaker 19: it's funny. I was taking my video camera in for repair,
Speaker 19: and so it was in the right seat there, and
Speaker 19: there was a slow driver in the left lane, and
Speaker 19: I got that video camera out, put it right on
Speaker 19: the dashboard there and pointed it at him, and he
Speaker 19: couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Speaker 10: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: If it were I think anything that will not cause
Speaker 1: an accident should be done, because I consider that to
Speaker 1: be selfish, narcissistic and injurious to the flow of traffic.
Speaker 10: And I thank you. I love it.
Speaker 1: Any other ideas to get slow drivers out of the
Speaker 1: left lane. You will always have a voice on this show,
Speaker 1: The Dennis Prager Show in Queen's Creek, Arizona.
Speaker 10: Nathan, Hello, Nathan, Dennis Prager.
Speaker 11: Hey Dennis, how you doing okay?
Speaker 10: Thank you.
Speaker 11: I've been an avid video game player for quite some
Speaker 11: time now, and I have noticed myself slipping into a
Speaker 11: pretty lazy cycle of putting video games over work as
Speaker 11: far as priority. Huh, And I'm wondering if you think
Speaker 11: this is common among video game players.
Speaker 1: I believe that anything can become Anything with a screen
Speaker 1: can become addictive. There is actually they have done physiological
Speaker 1: experiments and show we are actually there's something. There's an
Speaker 1: effect of that tube, or even if there's no tube,
Speaker 1: if it's an LCD screen, But there is an effect
Speaker 1: that watching a screen has on people, and TV computers
Speaker 1: video games are examples of it, and so there you
Speaker 1: can absolutely become addicted to it. There's no question one
Speaker 1: could become addicted to almost anything. As it happens wherever
Speaker 1: there is a great chemical to the extent that addiction
Speaker 1: is chemical and not just psychological. There are actual endorphins
Speaker 1: or other chemicals that are secreted that are pleasure that
Speaker 1: are pleasure inducing, and we seek to repeat pleasures and
Speaker 1: pleasures that are gained through addiction need to be increased.
Speaker 1: That is why at dope addicts, narcotic addicts, they need
Speaker 1: a greater dose or a more frequent dose, because the
Speaker 1: same pleasure can now be derived only at a greater dose.
Speaker 1: And you have to watch out for is an hour
Speaker 1: that gave me pleasure in the past now insufficient and
Speaker 1: it must be two hours? So my question to you
Speaker 1: is a time one. How much do you spend playing
Speaker 1: video games?
Speaker 8: Uh?
Speaker 11: Probably about an hour and a half a day or so.
Speaker 1: And is that your Is that your only diversion from what?
Speaker 1: From from? For you know, is that your only pointless diversion?
Speaker 1: I play Spider Solitaire. I probably play an hour a day.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't. I don't worry about it taking
Speaker 1: from my work because you're not supposed to work all day,
Speaker 1: you're allowed.
Speaker 10: I would just max it out at ninety minutes.
Speaker 1: Alrighty, let's go to Denton, Texas.
Speaker 10: Drew. Hello, Drew, Dennis Praeger.
Speaker 14: So, thank you for this call, and I'll try to
Speaker 14: be big, brief and to the point, but I want
Speaker 14: to say you change my life in regards to Jewish people.
Speaker 14: And I've seen that I've had a bias, very subtle,
Speaker 14: but it's very deep. But my life has been changed,
Speaker 14: and I do thank you, sir. My question is in
Speaker 14: regards to the will of God coming or coming from
Speaker 14: a Christians perspective. There's there's people say, for instance, like
Speaker 14: Billy Graham who says, you know, the will of God
Speaker 14: for my life is to be a you know, evangelist.
Speaker 14: But what is the Jewish tradition and what is your
Speaker 14: thoughts on the will of God for a person's life,
Speaker 14: Like did you think, hey, the will of God for
Speaker 14: my life is to be a talk show radio host.
Speaker 1: You're asking an effect in some sense, the wrong guy.
Speaker 1: I had such a strong sense of divine mission. I
Speaker 1: wrote it in in the journal that I kept in
Speaker 1: high school that I believe that I am on this
Speaker 1: earth to try to influence people to be good. That's
Speaker 1: what I wrote when I was a junior in high school.
Speaker 1: I don't that's not a normal thing to write, but
Speaker 1: I have always had a sense of mission in that sense,
Speaker 1: and it is on the on the rare, rare, rare
Speaker 1: moments of my life that it has left me, I
Speaker 1: was bereft of a sense of purpose and it was
Speaker 1: very painful. So I was blessed by God with a
Speaker 1: sense of that so early I didn't really need to
Speaker 1: work at it. But generally speaking, one thing that Judaism. Remember,
Speaker 1: Jews have to be divided between those who live Judaism
Speaker 1: and those who don't. There are very many secular Jews,
Speaker 1: unlike secular Christians, although there really are secular Christians that
Speaker 1: are just not a name, you know, cultural Christians, they're
Speaker 1: called there are, if you will, cultural Jews. But Jews
Speaker 1: who take Judaism seriously have a built in mission because
Speaker 1: there is a belief that which you share as a Christian,
Speaker 1: that the Jews are God's chosen people and have to
Speaker 1: be alighted too the nations, and have to live a
Speaker 1: certain life of holiness and ethics emanating from observance of
Speaker 1: the laws, an area where there would be a Jewish
Speaker 1: Christian difference on the role of law, but it.
Speaker 10: Is built in.
Speaker 1: And so now your question might be how does one
Speaker 1: individually fine one? And that would be the same for
Speaker 1: a Jew or Christian or anybody else. I think I
Speaker 1: wish I had more time on that. Likewise, for John
Speaker 1: and Jennifer and Anthony and the names that I don't
Speaker 1: see because coming up now are the highlights of the
Speaker 1: week that we put together for you. So you always
Speaker 1: enjoyed that. Stay tuned. I'll be right back with you tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Un Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Praeger.
Speaker 1: The university is secular, and there is more idiocy in
Speaker 1: the in the university than at your local church.
Speaker 12: Well, it's funny enough, it says what you mean. I
Speaker 12: didn't think that was the shape your question would take.
Speaker 10: Well, let's be let's yeah, that is what I mean.
Speaker 12: I actually, in some ways you're pushing at an open door.
Speaker 12: I mean, the same as true of Hollywood. I suppose
Speaker 12: it's not exactly religious. It's very respectful, too much so
Speaker 12: I think of religion.
Speaker 10: But you couldn't well leave Hollywood.
Speaker 1: The university, it takes secularism seriously. It is the most
Speaker 1: secular of our maid your institutions, and it's the only
Speaker 1: place in the Western world where people still believe, for example,
Speaker 1: that men and women are basically the same, just as
Speaker 1: I was taught when I went to Columbia University.
Speaker 12: It's actually taught by the university because I know what
Speaker 12: you mean, it seems to be a prevalent assumption. They
Speaker 12: confuse equality with identity. But that's not necessarily a secular.
Speaker 1: No, no no, but a lot of that. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if it's necessarily I mean.
Speaker 12: Why don't I just concede this to you now? I mean,
Speaker 12: an atheist can be a nihilist or a fascist. It
Speaker 12: can be a national socialist. The most national socialists were
Speaker 12: pagans and worshipers of odd cults, and of course many
Speaker 12: of them were Christians too. An atheist can be a stalinist.
Speaker 12: An atheist can be a sayist or a massachist. It
Speaker 12: doesn't say anything about your morality or your intelligence to
Speaker 12: be a non believer, all right.
Speaker 1: So all I'm saying is, when you spoke about I
Speaker 1: think you use the word stupidity as as essentially synonymous
Speaker 1: with religious belief. I'm saying to you that institutionally, there's
Speaker 1: more stupidity and secular institutions than in religious ones in
Speaker 1: my country.
Speaker 10: The United States of America.
Speaker 2: Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with
Speaker 2: Dennis Prager. Visit Denispragger dot com for thousands of hours
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