WEBVTT - Why Do People Do Bad? 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:07.360 Life audio of today's episode of Timeless Wisdom. 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:11.160 Why do people do bad? 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:14.720 My personal belief is that the ultimate downfall of man 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.000 individual or as a group is pride. And I think 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:19.760 it goes back to what you were talking about before 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.360 with the people that were in charge of the gangs. 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:24.799 How they were so full of themselves, they had the 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.840 best self esteem. I think it goes back to pride. Caesar, 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.639 look at what he did, and most prideful man I 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:32.400 think we ever had on this planet. 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:38.440 Well, there's competition for that title, Megan, But so by 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.280 pride meaning what filled with oneself? 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.440 Yes, I think a total egotism. But then I think 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.960 pride can be this big swirling depth. You know, as 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:53.400 somebody that has roadbrake, maybe you know pride. How did 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.640 that person cut me off or not signal or something. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.960 I think that's why people rape and murder and everything. 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:03.560 It all comes back to pride. 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:08.399 That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Welcome 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:12.679 to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of hours 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.040 of Dennis's lectures, courses in classic radio programs, and to 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:21.800 purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to Dennisprager dot Com. 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:24.440 All right, everybody, you're listening to the Dennis Prager Show. 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:27.160 Let's crank it up there, Sean, this is the Ultimate 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:34.440 Issues Hour. This is the hour devoted to the great 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.160 questions of life. I have an hour each week on 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:42.679 Friday devoted to the question of happiness. And this is 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.200 to the great questions of life. Hi, everybody, the Ultimate 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.520 Issue is hour. Here we are, I'm Dennis Prager. 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:50.120 Thank you, Sean. 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:55.720 The question today and this is really ultimate and ultimate question, 0:01:55.840 --> 0:02:02.360 an ultimate issue. Why do people do bad? And let 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.760 me let me answer because a lot of you are 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.440 already don't call in. Don't call in yet. Please don't 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:13.840 know they're already calling in. Don't call it yet. Don't 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.400 call it. Wait till I wait till I define bad. 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:19.480 And let me tell you what I what I'm I'm 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.960 asking about it because I want to be very precise 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:23.880 or this thing will go all over the place. I 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.040 I want to focus in like a laser on the 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.960 question that I'm talking about. When I mean bad, I 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.840 mean bad toward fellow human beings. I'm not talking about 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:40.200 sin against God. Although everybody who believes in religion in 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:42.919 any sophisticated sense knows that when you heard the human 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:44.600 you were, you are sinning against God. 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:45.800 But that's not my point. 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.000 I'm talking when I say evil or bad, I'm talking 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:54.760 about bad toward another human. And this is this subject 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.680 is as much addressed to secular people as to religious people. 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:00.840 It's not a religious question. And per se, you may 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:04.800 have a religious answer. That's fine, that's your prerogative. But 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:09.280 my question is why do people do bad things to others? 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:14.400 And and I mean really bad things, whether it's blowing 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:19.440 up a children and or people on on buses, or 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:26.120 or wars of aggression to conquer, to conquer and enslave people, 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.720 whether it is it is racism where you believe people 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:36.320 of another group are are inferior, or or in daily 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:41.320 life when now, when you when you cheat on a test, 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.080 that's a bad thing. We'll call it evil. I'll call 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:48.240 it bad. Bad is lesser than evil. That's how I'm 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:52.640 using the term here. Why do people do bad things 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.920 to other peoples deliberately hurt other people? 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.520 Why? I'd like to offer you. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:04.760 Some some answers, And incidentally, I need to tell you 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:06.720 that we're going to have an hour on why do 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.600 people do good? Alan, if you'll put that down, I 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.120 think the question of why do people do good is 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.600 at least as complex as the question why do people 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:22.000 do bad? People think that it's natural to do good, 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:26.520 but folks, it is natural to do bad. It is 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.719 more natural to cheat than to be honest. It is 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:34.800 more natural to lie when it serves your purposes than 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:42.360 to tell the truth. So, folks, it's the question of 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.000 why do people do good? Is a very very real one. 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:48.240 But I'm dealing this hour with the question that more 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.680 people ask why more people ask why do. 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:51.360 People do bad? 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:55.520 Is a very interesting one, but that I'll put aside 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.560 as well right now, because we discussed that issue on 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.440 one of the ultimate issues hours, and that was the 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.480 question of our people basically good, And of course I 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:04.640 don't believe are basically good. I believe that we have 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:09.080 good tendencies and bad tendencies, and it's very hard to 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:12.040 vanquish the bad tendency. So let me begin my answer 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.240 about why people do bad, and please hear me out, 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:20.200 because the issue isn't to get everybody's opinion to be 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.080 perfectly honest, and forgive me for even saying that that 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:27.040 is not It is to try to clarify great issues. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:29.719 That's the purpose here. So I'd like you to react 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:31.599 to what I'm saying. And if you have something else 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:33.919 to say, of course it's welcome. But I need you 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.120 to hear me in this case first. So don't call 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.600 in yet, because I haven't even told you one answer, 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:43.440 except that it's easier to do bad often than it 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.919 is to do good, all right, In answering this question. 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:52.279 In answering this question, I divide, as I so often do, 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:58.280 between the macro and the micro, the personal and the societal, 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:03.400 if you will, or the social. There are two. There 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:11.200 are two authors of evil, the individual and the society, 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:15.279 or if you will, in the In the societal, there 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:20.080 is what I would call ideological reasons for evil. Let 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.240 me tell you something. There is more evil done or 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:27.400 certainly in the in the last hundred years, there has 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:33.680 been far more evil done for ideological reasons than because 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:42.400 of peoples, than because of people's sadism or cruelty. See 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:46.400 when you hear about a kid, a child who's kidnapped 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:52.000 and raped and and strangled, that's an active evil. Every 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.000 I think everybody listening knows that that is an active evil. 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:57.960 But those are relatively rare. 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:03.839 The vast majority of real evil that has been done 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:08.520 since the twentieth century began, at least, has been done 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:13.680 for ideological reasons. When the Nazis did what they did, 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.200 and the Communists did what they did, and the and 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:21.360 the Islamic totalitarians jihadists do what they do, it's out 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:27.560 of ideological reasons. There was torture in the name of 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:32.320 the Nazi state, torture in the name of communist liberation, 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:39.080 and torture in the name of Islam. I'm not here 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.160 to argue whether that is real Islam, that is what 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:43.320 that is the name they gave it. Would they would 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.640 invoke Islam and then torture people. I am not indicting 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.000 all of Islam, and it is not the subject whatsoever. 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:55.640 My point here is solely that there is ideological evil, 0:07:55.840 --> 0:08:02.040 and then there is character and psychological evil. Now I 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.239 am clear on this, and I need to convey it clearly. 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:11.040 The two sources, the two big sources of evil are 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:22.160 individual character slash psychology and social justification. Social justification comes 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:26.800 from ideological evil, and that's worse because the people doing 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:31.120 it think they're doing good. The Nazis thought they were 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.600 doing good the Communists thought they were doing good, and 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:40.360 the Islamic torturers think they're doing good. That is what 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.040 you need to understand. These people think it's good. That's 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:51.120 why it's Ideological evil is more frightening than individual evil 0:08:54.080 --> 0:09:00.000 because individual evil is done by people with sick character. 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:09.000 There's six psyches or six psyches, not necessarily both, but 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:12.800 and they are relatively rare. I mean, how many people 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:18.480 are kidnapped and murdered. Now you have a fair amount 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.880 of it. I mean gang violence. That's individual, that's not ideological, 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:27.800 that is individual. These are human beings with no self restraint, 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.720 who live the laws of a of a if you will, 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:40.520 a moral jungle. That still is relatively rare compared to 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:44.400 ideological evil. The number of people killed by Nazis and 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:50.000 Communists in the twentieth century we approached one hundred million, 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:57.199 actually exceeded one hundred million, and there people often thought 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:03.640 they're doing good. I am advancing the proletariats revolution, I'm 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.280 advancing a world of equality. 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:06.479 You know what Lenin's. 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:12.840 Phrase was for how he justified murdering non communists, murdering landowners, 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:19.000 murdering people who did who engaged in business. You in 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:23.640 order to make omelets, you have to break eggs, or 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.240 he put it the other way to you have to 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:30.320 break eggs to make omelets. See, so we're making beautiful omelets, 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:32.240 so of course we're going to have to break some heads. 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:37.040 And so that was the understanding because of the beautiful 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.520 omelet that communism would be making. So you kill some 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.839 and in the case of Stalin, who went to between 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.160 twenty and forty million, you killed. But after all, you 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.360 make a beautiful omelet. Of course, the irony is that 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:54.040 the beautiful omelet was didn't exist either. They broke eggs 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:57.120 in order to break eggs, and all they had was 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:04.600 broken eggs. There are two sources then, for evil, bad 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:10.880 ideology and bad character, or bad character and bad psychology both. 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.679 I will talk about the bad character of bad psychology. 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.200 And now I'll take your calls. One eighth Prager seven 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:22.120 seven six. That's eight seven seven two four three triple 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:24.720 seven six eight seven seven two four to three triple 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.920 seven six. This is the ultimate Issues hour on the 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:32.120 Dennis Prager Show. Why do People Do Bad Things? 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:38.800 This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:49.520 Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless wisdom. 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.679 All right, everybody, Dennis Prager here, this is the Ultimate 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.400 Issues Hour, the Hour on the Great Questions of Life, 0:11:55.440 --> 0:12:00.920 every Tuesday at this hour. I have this subject today 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.440 is why do people do bad things? I mean really 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:07.560 bad things. I don't mean little bad things, although little 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.480 bad things. In other words, as an example, why do people, 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.760 for example, why will they park diagonally and take up 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:19.080 to parking spots. I mean, you know, that's bad, that's 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:24.600 not evil, but it is part of a continuum. Now 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:26.520 I'm not saying that somebody who does that is going 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:31.480 to be a torturer, but it's part. 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:33.000 It's part of a continuum. 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:38.400 And remember that what I have done here is I've 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:44.280 divided between ideological evil Nazism, evil done in the name 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:51.719 of religion, communism, where you have an ideological justification to 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.120 not only do evil, but to think you're right when 0:12:54.160 --> 0:13:01.160 you do it, versus individual evil stealing, murder, et cetera, 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.560 that you will do individually, and that emanates from character 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:10.200 flaws and psychopathology. Now, I don't believe that evil is sick. 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.720 Evil may in fact be. It's a very difficult question. 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:20.480 Is evil is all evil sick? Can of psychologically healthy 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:23.320 person commit evil, and in my opinion, the answer is yes, 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:30.559 my opinion, in fact, I'm certain of it. Not everybody 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.480 who does evil is sick, and not every sick person 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:39.640 does evil, but sometimes psychopathology causes you to do bad things. 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:43.280 All righty, let's see what you have to say, folks 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.760 in light of what I have just said. One eight 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:53.160 Praguer seven seven six and we go to Cleveland and Charles, Hello, 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:54.760 Charles Dennis Prager. 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:58.040 Well, thank you, Dennis. I'm looking for the next time 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:00.520 you come to Cleveland on the will D. But yeah, 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.200 I think there's only one root cause, and it's the 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:08.080 It's the failure to put uh any restraints on impulses, 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:12.679 and it's the nationalization for that. I treated sexual offenders 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.200 for five years. I've you know, I've been acting politically 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.840 and and and like you love love history and in 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.120 each case, and you're right, they don't have to be 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:25.640 as sick of the sense of being, you know, some 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:30.000 kind of you know, psychiat psychiatic disorder. Kids learned that 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.200 on a micro level. Kids learn that they can get 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.360 away with things, and they do it, and they develop 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.760 an ideology that says, uh, there the world is divided 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.760 into smart people and suckers, and on the macro level, 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:46.920 people learn that we can achieve certain things, and they have. 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:51.760 They have different nationalizations, but the core behaviors isn't that different. 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.360 Stylent isn't that different from a gang leader, as a 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.640 matter of fact. But in the study of so called 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.400 self esteem, the highest feeling in the kids country of 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:00.600 the that's. 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:04.120 Right, that's right. That is so good. 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.280 Thank you, Charles, and I'll be announcing when I come 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:10.560 to Cleveland, I will be that is exactly right. I 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.560 had a number of people on my show over the 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.760 course of years who noted, and I've always believed that, 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:21.800 but I had scholars who work in this field say it, 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:23.960 and perhaps it would give it more authority than my 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:27.880 theorizing about it that a lot of bad people have 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.520 very high self esteem. This notion you give kids high 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:34.680 self esteem and you will therefore be well on your 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:39.240 way to stopping anti social behavior is nonsense. A lot 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.280 of criminals have extremely high self esteem. That's why they 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.720 think they can do what they do to other people. 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:49.440 I am so terrific. I think so highly of myself 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:53.400 that I can rob a bank. You suckers out there, 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.760 you play by the rules, but not me. Ha ha, 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:03.000 I take what I want. So the battle against bad 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:07.080 is huge because it's so it's so easy to do it. 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.760 It's so easy and so tempting. I remember the difficulty 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:16.360 I had telling young kids that you can't download music 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:17.520 that you didn't pay for. 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:18.440 Why not? 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:23.760 Everybody does it? Everybody does it. That ends the issue. 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:32.640 Everybody does it. The roots of bad are are so enormous, 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.720 but I have really divided them into two categories ideological 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:41.880 evil and personal evil, or personal bad and under personal. 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:48.720 I have psychological reasons and character flaw reasons, chieving, lying, 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:55.600 stealing for personal gain, murder for personal gain. See the 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.560 movie Crimes and Misdemeanors. Despite the fact that it was 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:01.920 made by Woody Allen, is one of the most brilliant 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:07.560 moral films ever made, if not the most brilliant. One 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:12.240 eighth Praguer seven seven six, and we go to Henry 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:16.240 with the opposite view. Hello Henry, Los Angeles, Dennis Prager, high, Hey, 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:16.840 good morning. 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:20.840 All right, Well my opinion is it is self loathing. 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:25.640 I mean, you take the dictators of the world, Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Stone, 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.080 they were all very short men with horrible families. I 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.960 mean these guys, they were consistently picked on and they 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:35.360 kind of flash back. And a lot of times people 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:37.760 reason people do things is that they feel alienated and 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.640 they want they need something attention or something that don't 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:42.760 make them feel good. Like the crook that does steal, 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:44.920 he steals it because it makes them feel like, hey, man, 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:48.000 I robbed the bank. Hey I'm pretty badass. I'm sorry 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.680 I shouldn't surround the radio. Sorry about that, Craiger, I'm 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.359 sorry about that. But a lot of guys feel that 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.440 they have to go out of the way to make themselves, 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.320 you know, have a feeling of self worth. Also, people 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.560 who talk people are hurt or torture people are something 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:04.600 from a pain inside. 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.080 Well yeah, no, I'm listening. I heard every word. Why 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.320 do you say then to the argument that was just 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.200 offered by Charles, which I supported that a lot. That 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.040 when they ever they do assessments of gang leaders and 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.239 a lot of the worst people in society, they have 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:22.400 high self esteem. 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.399 Well they seem to be have high self esteem because 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:27.760 but they went out and did that because they had 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:28.680 now self esteem. 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:30.080 Well no, maybe they did it. 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.399 Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait, maybe they did 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:34.960 it because they have such high self esteem, they don't 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.240 think that the rules that apply to suckers like you 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:38.880 and me apply to them. 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:39.760 Uber mentioned. 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.480 You see, you know what this is why, this is 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.520 why you could make the argument this self. That's why 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:52.879 I never attributed to the self esteem notion quite these 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.760 moral significance. It's good to have self esteem and it's 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.480 also to have a good dose of self doubt. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:00.680 Both are good. 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.200 So it's some of the best people I know suffer 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:11.800 from self esteem problems. So it's a tough call on 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.960 self esteem. But yes, I think that there is something 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:16.760 to what you say. But the idea that you know 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.199 Stalin was mistreated as a youth, I don't recall that 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:22.160 he may have been. I don't recall that. I've read 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.360 a number of biographies about him, but I never took 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:27.600 particular interest in his childhood. I don't even know if 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:33.399 we know much about his childhood. And with Hitler, I 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:34.960 mean he was the loss of his mother. I don't 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.040 know as if if he was raised well with poor 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.280 with poor self esteem, or or hurt by his parents. 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.960 I don't he was hurt by the death of his mother, 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:46.520 whom he loved. But you know the number of people 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.080 who lost their parents in history at an early age 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.880 is so large, and none of them ended up advocating 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:58.840 a genocide. We continue, why do people do bad things? 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:00.080 Have a whole host. 0:19:59.880 --> 0:20:03.960 Of different thoughts from around the country. But again I've 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:06.760 given you my to the ideological. That's why that's the 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:08.879 one I fight the most. We'll be back in a moment. 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:10.640 You're listening to the Dennis Prager Show. 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.800 This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:26.280 Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom. 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:30.320 You're listening to the Dennis Prager Show. This is the 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.320 Ultimate Issues Hour. Every week at this time, I devote 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:35.600 an hour to the great questions of life? Why do 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:39.560 people do bad things? And I'm not asking why do 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:43.520 people sin? That's a theological question and that's not my question. 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.439 Now bad is sinful, but that's a separate issue. But 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:48.479 why do people hurt other people? Why do they do 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:53.280 bad things? Whether it is little bad things like a 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.919 cheating on a test or huge bad things like murdering 0:20:56.920 --> 0:21:00.520 innocent people. But why do people do bad? And why 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:04.960 do people do evil? And there's a gradation that from 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:07.560 bad to evil? Obviously, I mean that's the way I'm 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:09.920 using them. These are not scientific terms. I don't mean 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:12.560 them to be, but they are helpful for the question 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:15.760 that I am posing. I consider it a riddle, by 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:19.480 the way, about why do people do good things? And incidentally, 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:21.760 the answer to why people do good things is the 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.840 same as to why people do bad things. But we'll 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:25.800 have a separate. 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:26.000 Hour on that. 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:30.960 But remember I'm dividing between ideological evil and personal evil. 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:35.280 Doing evil and for because an ideology told you to 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:39.639 do so. Nazis were told it's a good it's a 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:46.760 good thing to to kill Jews. And let's see those 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:49.800 who those who enslave blacks were told it's a good thing. 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:52.040 People need slaves. 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:57.080 Blacks are not fully human anyway, so you can do that. 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.760 That's ideological evil. That's why you could have people who 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:03.120 after a day, you could have Nazis, after a day 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:08.880 of guessing Jewish families go back to their family and 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:10.920 and and talk to you know, play with their kids. 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:14.480 And and that's why you could have had people who 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.480 engage in the slave trade and watch watch the suffering 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:21.600 on the on the Transatlantic crossing, and then and then 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:24.240 have h then go back to their families after their 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:32.280 after their crews. That's ideological evil. That's where the human being, 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:38.080 his conscience is perverted. That's the most dangerous because it's 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:40.159 it's well, it's the most dangerous because it happens on 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:45.639 the largest level of numbers. That's where you have basically 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:51.480 decent people taught that bad is good. We have that 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:54.880 today with with people who murder in the name of Islam. 0:22:55.440 --> 0:23:00.400 They think they're doing good. It'll usher in a full 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:04.479 period where the world will be ruled by Shariah. They 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:11.000 they think they're doing good. Then there is individual evil, 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:16.040 and sometimes they're together where the ideology reinforces your psychopathology. 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:21.879 But there was individual where it's just weak character and 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:28.080 a and a broken psychology, a broken psyche. One eighth 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:32.560 Praguer seven seven six. We go to Dallas, and in Dallas, 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:34.760 it's Megan. Hello, Meghan, Dennis Prager. 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:36.679 Hi, Dennis, pleasure to speak with you. 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:38.439 Thank you. Is it Megan or Megan? 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:40.159 It's Meghan? Actually, Okay. 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:43.639 I always like to know, Okay. 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:46.679 I My personal belief is that the ultimate downfall of 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:50.400 man individual or a group is pride. And I think 0:23:50.440 --> 0:23:52.280 it goes back to what you're talking about before with 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:54.919 the people that were in charge of the gangs. How 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:57.360 they were so full of themselves, they had the best 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:00.800 self esteem. I think it goes back to pride. Look 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:03.280 at what he did and most prideful man I think 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:04.800 we ever had on this planet. 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:10.520 Well, there's competition for that title, Megan. But but so 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:13.680 by pride meaning what filled with oneself? 0:24:14.440 --> 0:24:18.200 Yes, I think total egotism. But then I think pride 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:21.920 can be this big swirling depth. You know, as somebody 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:25.840 that has road rake maybe you know pride. How did 0:24:25.880 --> 0:24:30.080 that person cut me off or not signal or something. 0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:34.359 I think that's why people rape and murder and everything. 0:24:34.400 --> 0:24:35.520 It all comes back. 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:39.440 To pride, so which is related to the notion of 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:44.159 the high self esteem in bad people. Absolutely, Okay, very good, Megan, 0:24:44.240 --> 0:24:44.960 thanks so much. 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:45.600 Thank you. 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:51.960 Okay, and let's go to Cypress, California. Darren, Hello, Darren, 0:24:51.960 --> 0:24:53.000 Dennis Praeger. 0:24:53.400 --> 0:24:55.439 Hi, Dennis, a pleasure to speak with you. 0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:56.160 Thank you. 0:24:57.000 --> 0:25:02.520 I believe that I haven't developed to the ideolog ideological 0:25:02.640 --> 0:25:09.159 level yet, but I believe that at the micro level, 0:25:10.000 --> 0:25:14.119 it is all related to your ability to sympathize with others, 0:25:14.200 --> 0:25:18.760 and I think that it's instilled at an early childhood stage. 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:22.000 That's brilliant. That is absolutely right. I wish I had 0:25:22.040 --> 0:25:26.120 noted it. You're absolutely right. Is there empathy or enough 0:25:26.960 --> 0:25:27.640 right and. 0:25:27.560 --> 0:25:29.960 Your ability to develop that early on and how you 0:25:30.000 --> 0:25:31.480 relate to humanity. 0:25:31.080 --> 0:25:34.639 And that is why ideological evil. What it does is 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:39.320