WEBVTT - Essential Lessons for Human Behavior - Sunday Fireside Chat: 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:24.200 Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of 0:00:24.240 --> 0:00:27.880 hours of Dennis's lectures courses in classic radio programs. Had 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:32.319 to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. Go to Dennisprager dot com. 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:40.760 Y there, this is Marissa strit I am the CEO 0:00:40.879 --> 0:00:42.920 of Preger You, and you are about to listen to 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.960 a special edition of fireside Chat with Dennis Prager. Those 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.240 of us here at Peger You are continuing to do 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:51.760 the very important work that we've been doing with him 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.320 for over ten years. We are educating millions of young 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:59.080 people online, we have state partnerships to bring our content 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:01.959 into schools, and so much more. You can head over 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:04.399 to peger You dot com to see the progress that 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.119 we've been making. Also, I'd love to invite you to 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.000 support our mission by donating to our five ZHO one 0:01:10.039 --> 0:01:13.480 C three. It is a nonprofit. Your tax deductible donation 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.520 will go to an institution of higher learning that actually 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:20.959 shares your values. So enjoy your podcast and thank you 0:01:21.039 --> 0:01:22.640 so much for all your support. 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.280 Hi everybody, and I know this is a strange moment 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:30.120 because this is he was very comfortable till I lifted 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.919 my hand that was Charlie. By the way, that Charlie 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:38.120 belongs to Rodrigo. Rodrigo is behind the camera now, and 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:45.680 Charlie and I have a fairly long relationship. Nothing like this, 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.240 of course I can do. Oh my god, you're up 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:56.080 to day Outtle the man, America's best known dog. All right, everybody, 0:01:56.080 --> 0:02:01.280 welcome to the fireside chat. I'm Dennis Prager. This is 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:07.560 number one hundred, and this is number one hundred and 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:12.480 seventy two. That's a lot. And we haven't missed a 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.000 week in one hundred seventy two weeks. That is that right, 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:20.720 That's what's amazing. Well, how do I explain this to 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.120 those of you who are new to me. It is 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:28.720 just a chance to completely spontaneously offer you some thoughts 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.959 about life about America, about a whole host of issues, 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.600 and take your questions. And that's really what it's about. 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:41.480 It is ninety nine percent unrehearsed. So you'll say, what 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.880 is the one percent? The one percent is I do 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.920 give thought to what I will open up talking about. 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:53.480 That's true. I do. Today's talk. Today's opening is so 0:02:53.639 --> 0:03:02.920 important that I hope number one seventy two will go viral. 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:09.000 That's how important I think the subject is. So want 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:15.000 to explain to you what I think is one of 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:19.240 the two or three most important things people have clearout 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:24.880 life in order to understand life and to have wisdom, 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:29.160 which is the same thing as understand life. Human nature 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.840 is not basically good. I've talked about this on many occasions. 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:37.360 I have a prayger You video on it. People don't 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:43.440 quite understand why it's as important as I know it is, 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.040 and I won't give you all the reasons it's so 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:53.480 important to understand how profoundly flawed human nature is. I 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:58.000 want to make something clear. There is good in human nature. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.280 There's no question about that. Otherwise you couldn't explain any goodness. 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.160 There is goodness on earth. After all, there are people 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:07.360 who are good. They work on themselves and they work 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.520 on their nature, or in some cases they're just luckily 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.040 born with a really good nature that is not the 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:18.400 usual flawed nature. But the reason I'm raising it today 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:23.240 is that to understand what is happening in America today, 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:26.800 this is the key thing to understand. So I'll go 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:32.479 to the conclusion and then I'll work backwards. If you 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:38.960 understand how flawed human nature is, you will understand what 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:47.440 a moral achievement America is. That's it. That's the key 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:53.440 to what I want you to understand today. See, if 0:04:53.480 --> 0:05:02.920 you have really mundane ingredients and make a terrific meal 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.400 out of it, that's a big achievement. If you have 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:11.719 spectacular ingredients, it's not as big an achievement. Given the 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:19.200 ingredients of human and nature, what America baked itself into, 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.920 if you will, cooked itself into, is an astonishing achievement. 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:26.680 But if you think people are basically good, which a 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:30.920 lot of people, especially the well educated, because they don't 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:37.800 understand much and unfortunately I mean that literally, they think, well, 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:42.200 human nature is good. So of course it's astonishing how 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:46.080 terrible America is. If you start out with the appreciation 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:50.840 of the raw material, then you marvel at how good 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:55.320 America became. Of course, America has bad aspects to it, 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.080 of course it does. How could it not look at 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:05.880 the raw material human beings, nation, what country, what tribe, 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:11.760 what group, has not had a profoundly flawed society. That's why, 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.279 among other things, you have to compare America to other 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.880 places who made as free a place for as many 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:21.039 people from as many backgrounds. Nobody This is not to 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.760 say that all Americans are good. A lot of Americans 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.760 are awful, in fact, more today than perhaps ever before 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.200 in some ways, which is a very sad thing for 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:35.719 me to say, because it's a very painful subject. But 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:40.960 given again this raw material, it is astonishing what we 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.840 made here, what Americans made here. So let me deal 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.279 with their raw material. Very rarely I use notes. But 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:52.200 there are so many lousy parts to human nature. I 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.640 had to make a list of some of them. This 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.000 is not an exhaustive list, and it's not in any 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:05.400 order of importance. When you realize what people want, what 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:10.640 animates them, and then you realize that this place has 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:15.880 been pretty darn good with all its flaws, the flaws 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:22.000 are completely understandable. The good parts are a riddle, the freedom, 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:27.520 the opportunity, the working through the terrible origins that had 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:32.600 racism in them. That is, it's an amazing achievement given 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.080 human nature. So here are some parts of human nature 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:42.480 I thought i'd share with you that are, shall we say, difficult, 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:47.440 no order of importance. A vast number of people, for example, 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:52.560 yearn for power. Power. The desire to have power over 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:57.880 other people is apparently very widespread. It is especially true 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:05.640 in many men. And I must admit I have a 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:10.160 flawed nature like anybody else. This is not one of 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:16.360 my built in flaws. There is zero, zero desire in 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:20.600 me to have power over anybody else. I can't even 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.600 I know it's there, I know how widespread it is, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.920 but I must tell you I have no relationship to it. 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.320 It's one of the reasons I didn't run for office. 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.480 It's one of the reasons I'm conservative. I want I 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.520 don't want anybody that power over me either. I want 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.440 me to have power over me. I want my moral 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:39.280 co to have power over me. I want God to 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.800 have power over me. And that's it. So I don't 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.120 want to have power over anybody else. And that, by 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:50.640 the way, that was the American founding dream. Small government, 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:56.520 so that you can develop individually to the best of 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:01.080 your ability, without the most universal thing in the world, 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:12.439 strong government, Princes, kings, queens, emperors, other governments, dictators, tyrannies. 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.120 I mean, think about it. The human norm has been 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.960 for the state to have power over the individual. America 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.160 was founded to reduce the power of the state. There 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.880 is no other country in the world founded on the 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:29.520 basis of limited government. How this alone ran against human nature. 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.880 People want power. That's why the America is divided into 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:38.080 three co equal branches, the Presidency, the Congress, and the 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:43.320 Supreme Court, because they didn't trust humans with power. Power corrupts, 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.959 and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It's a famous statement by 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:54.720 the British Lord acton So that alone, it is astonishing 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:59.400 how much freedom we made in America, not we Americans 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:03.800 before me. Given the yearning for power number two, I 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.600 could just spend time on that, the yearning for fame 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:12.640 and recognition. So many people want to be famous, and 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:16.720 so many people want recognition. That's a reason so many 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.240 people want to be politicians. Some politicians are in it 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:24.280 for idealistic reasons. Most are in it because you know, 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.240 you got a lot of fame if you're a senator, 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:34.880 just to give an example, and recognition. People ache for recognition. People. 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.280 Half the people in Hollywood didn't enter it just because 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:40.760 they love acting. If they just loved acting, they'd have 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:45.240 joined a Shakespeare group in Boise, Idaho. But they want 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.880 to have their name on a movie theater. They want 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:53.360 to get an Academy award. Remember, why do they so 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:58.080 often say when they do get an Academy award everything. Okay, Feller, 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:05.400 See when I talk about fame and recognition, he perkscept, Okay, 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:10.120 you know what, little humility? Never heard of dog. So 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:14.920 this is a massive desire. I want to be known. 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:18.120 When I talk to kids, and I mean kids, I 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.080 mean eighth graders, what do you want to be when 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:25.200 you grow up? So many answer famous. That's what you 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:29.280 want to be is famous. That's depressing to me because then, 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:31.800 by the way, I ask them, why would you like 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.520 to be famous for? Now, if the kids said a 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:40.560 cure for cancer, okay, sounds good to me, they just 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.720 want to be famous, So they say for anything. So 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:47.160 I say anything. You want to be famous for most 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:51.720 hamburgers eaten in a day or in two hours. Yeah. 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.439 And by the way, that's what we do have, the 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:58.480 yearning for people. What is Instagram if not a desire 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:03.600 for recognition and fame. This is a huge thing in 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:09.760 the human condition, another terribly flawed aspect. Now, look, everybody 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.680 wants recognition for the good and the achievements they've had. 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:16.280 That's normal, that's good, there's no I have no issue 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:22.160 with that. But to but to seek recognition, to seek 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:26.000 fame as an end that's a very big problem, and 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:30.600 it leads to corruption in government because the people are 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.240 not there to serve you. They are there to serve 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:38.239 their fame and recognition. Number three a yearning to be important. 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:42.200 That's related to the other one. This is a or 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:45.800 I'll add to that, a yearning to think you are wonderful. 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.520 The whole woke thing is that, Oh, look at me. 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.440 Look at how anti racist I am. Look at how 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.760 I am fighting transphobia. Look at how I am fighting homophobia. 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.719 Look at how I am fighting islamophobia. Look at how 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.600 I am fighting. And then you name the evil that 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:08.840 you wish to fight, you feel great about yourself. But 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:14.679 what if, in fact, there just isn't that much to fight. 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.960 This country is the least racist multiracial country in the 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:21.240 history of the world. It's one thing to afford racism 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:26.640 and Jim Crow and when slavery, but in the early 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.320 part of the twenty first century, there's just not that 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.080 much in America. I proved it in an article. I 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:36.760 wrote proofs that there were so little racism in America. 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.760 And I'll give you just one because I don't want 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:45.440 to go through all of that list, And that is microaggressions. 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.480 Microaggressions proves how little racism there is. They have to 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.880 invent it. So if you say there's only one race 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:58.320 the human race, University of California's lists of microaggressions says, 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:03.920 that's a racist. There's only one race is racist. It's 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:08.920 the opposite of racism. So there's another reason that human 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:13.959 nature can lead to a disintegration of society. The yearning 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:18.280 to think you're terrific and important and famous and so on. 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.520 Next you know, you read about a Jeffrey Epstein, and 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:26.480 you read about all these people, all these men who 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:30.200 have sexually harassed or charged with sexual harassment, and all 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:34.960 the other aspects of people where sex is a very 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.280 powerful drive. According to Freud, it's the most powerful drive, 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.800 and that could lead and it does. It leads to 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.200 a lot of terrible stuff. It has to be kept 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.360 in check. But who teaches kids that you have to 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:54.120 keep yourself in check? For all of my adult life, 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.960 I have explained the difference between a religious education and 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:02.360 a secular education. When I had my religious Jewish education 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.880 through twelfth grade, half day in Hebrew, half day in English, 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:12.520 very rigorous education in Judaism, and kids with Christianity, the 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:15.880 same thing. You learn the biggest battle in your life 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:19.320 is with you, or as I always put it, I 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.840 was taught that the biggest problem in Dennis Prager's life 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:28.800 is Dennis Prager. But not in secular schools, you learn 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:33.120 that the biggest problem in your life is something outside 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:39.080 of you, like America. So while the religious are battling themselves, 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:44.280 the secular not all this is a generalization, are especially 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:52.040 on the left, They're battling America, not themselves. Mixed lack 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:58.040 of wisdom. We're not born wise and without wisdom, all 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.160 the good intentions in the world are useless. In fact, 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:05.400 good intentions without wisdom usually leads to evil. What is it? 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.640 The road to hell is paved with good intentions, that's it. 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:13.680 Why is that? Because those people don't have wisdom, they 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:18.400 just have good intentions. Good intentions without wisdom leads to hell. 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:24.320 And we're leading America to hell today. All these good intentions. Oh, 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:27.000 I'm here to fight racism. I'm here to fight all 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:33.280 these phobias. I'm here to fight capitalism. That's not wise. 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:40.920 Lack of courage is a very very normative part of 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.840 the human condition. Very few humans are born courageous. You 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:48.160 have to want to be courageous. To be courageous. It 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.840 doesn't come naturally to almost anybody. Some people have it naturally, 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:56.360 very few do. So therefore you have this herd mentality. 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:58.760 And I will admit I wrote about this in a 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:02.800 recent column The Good American. That's what it's called, and 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:07.840 how few Americans are exhibiting courage today. Oh, you want 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:11.360 to close down my business with a lockdown, Governor Newsom, 0:17:12.360 --> 0:17:17.920 go right ahead. We won't protest. Yes, I can no 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.240 longer feed my fan family properly, but I'm going to 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:23.760 let my restaurant die. I won't even open it up. 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:29.240 Or people wearing masks outdoors when they're walking their dog, 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.879 this is a herd mentality. I'm not telling you not 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.000 to wear a mask indoors when you go to a 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:39.359 restaurant or when you go to a store. No, but 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.720 it's a little scary to watch people walking pretty much 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:48.720 alone outdoors and wearing a mask. That's a herd mentality. 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:55.480 That's not science. Oh, how's this one. People don't yearn 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:58.080 to be free, People yearn to be taken care of. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.439 I've talked about that on occasion. Liberty is a value 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.480 not an instinct. I'm talking to you about all these 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:09.200 built in flaws in human nature, and we still built 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:14.600 America the way it is. The yearning for utopia. People 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:18.200 really believe that you could make a place where there's 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:24.240 no more inequality, and there's no more hatred, and there's 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.040 no more there's no such thing as no more. That 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:31.720 doesn't exist. We can lessen, we can improve, and we have, 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.320 but you can't have a place with none of these things. 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:42.520 It doesn't exist except in the imagination of PhDs. Ingratitude, 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.880 Oh God, that alone explains what's going on in America. 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:48.679 Human beings are not grateful by nature. I have a 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.880 simple proof. How many times have you been told when 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:53.720 you were a kid, or did you tell your kids 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.880 say thank you? If we were naturally grateful, why would 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.679 we have to be told ten thousand times say thank you? 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:06.119 Because it doesn't come naturally. Gratitude is a value, not 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:12.520 an instinct. Ingratitude is normal, and that's what the left 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:18.439 has for America. They are not only ungrateful, they teach 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:22.199 others to be ungrateful. I would say that if I 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:26.720 had to define the average BA masters or PhD, it's 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:31.520 a degree in ingratitude. That's what you get at our 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:37.200 schools today. How can we produce ungrateful people? And ungrateful 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:42.200 people are miserable human beings, both in both senses of 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:47.760 miserable unhappy and the way they treat other people. Ungrateful 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:53.040 people are awful people, and our schools produce them in 0:19:53.080 --> 0:20:01.760 the millions. Oh, finally, the psychological impediments to being a 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:05.520 decent person, even all the built in then there's other 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:11.040 stuff that the person who just has physiological issues, you know, 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:19.199 psychological physiological issues, which prevents them from appreciating what they have. 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:24.600 So it's incredibly hard to make a decent society with 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:30.640 this raw material. So America is divided between left and right. 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:35.760 The right knows how flawed human nature is and says, Wow, 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:41.440 what an achievement America is. The left doesn't acknowledge how 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.640 flawed human nature is and looks at it and goes, 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:51.560 what a miserable society. Okay, that's important stuff. If I'm 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:54.800 allowed to say that myself. We begin with your questions. 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:55.520 Take it away. 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:58.760 Hi, my name is Sophia dugl I'm seventeen years old 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.120 and I'm from Newport Beach, California. So at least half 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.959 of Americans, some seventy four plus million people, feel they 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:09.240 were robbed of their constitutionally granted voice in this past election. 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:12.160 How do you suggest or what do you suggest these 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:15.200 Americans do to cope with the fact that there appears 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:17.960 to be somewhat of a double standard and one party 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:19.000 seems to be above the. 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:28.200 Okay, Look, it's true tens of millions of Americans are 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:32.800 very suspicious with regard to the last election. But the 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.680 question if I may, if I if I may sophia 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:39.640 is even larger than that because people can dismiss it, Oh, 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:44.160 you're crazy, you're paranoid, you you you're hallucinating, You're you're 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:49.600 making up stuff. So let's talk about stuff. The division 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:54.439 in America that that can't be denied, the suppression of 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:59.200 free speech. Half of America thinks it's okay, and half 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:05.920 of America thinks it's evil to suppress free speech. That's 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:10.399 that's one we could all acknowledge that we have this 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:16.919 massive division on I want when I fight, I fight 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:23.240 using clarity. Clarity is my best weapon where I can 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:25.119 have it happens on my radio. So look, I have 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:28.600 thirty five years of practice of dialoguing and debating with 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:31.920 people who don't agree with me. And I've learned a lot, obviously, 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:36.080 And one of the things is, and it happens a lot, 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:38.280 and it's very touching where someone will call up and 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:41.840 disagree with me, and then I'll give an answer very calmly, 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:46.160 and then there's a little silence and they go, oh. 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:49.040 And I always commend them because they actually listened to 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:54.719 my answer and then took it in. So forty to 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:59.119 fifty percent of America's young people think it's okay to 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:03.720 suppress hate speech. They say, oh, we believe in free speech, 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:09.080 but not for hastepee hate speech. But of course they 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.240 don't realize then they're not for free speech. Free speech 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:16.200 includes hate speech, or what you define is hate speech. 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:21.200 Otherwise what is the point of speech? Otherwise free speech 0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:25.240 means there's only free speech for love speech. Then then 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:29.399 there isn't free speech. Who's against free speech for love speech? 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:38.280 Nobody's suppressing I love you. It's where people differ, and 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:41.240 you then have been taught to label what you differ 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:46.000 with hate speech. If somebody actually says, I don't think 0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:50.159 it's fair for biological men to compete against biological women, 0:23:50.400 --> 0:23:54.480 in sports. Why is that hatred. You may differ with them, 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:59.240 You may think it's fair. I think it's cheating, because 0:23:59.320 --> 0:24:05.000 if biological men can in fact compete against biological women 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:08.159 in sports, then there's no reason for women's teams to 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:12.000 begin with. If men don't have biological men. I'm not 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:14.000 denying that there are men who believe that they are women, 0:24:14.160 --> 0:24:17.560 and I honor that. That's fine. If your name is Cynthia, 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:19.840 now I will call you Cynthia. I'm not being cute. 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:23.800 That's a separate issue. But allowing you with your male 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:26.840 body that you can't get rid of, allowing you with 0:24:26.880 --> 0:24:30.280 your male muscles, your male bone structure, your greater height 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:36.040 in most instances to race against females, that's called cheating, 0:24:38.480 --> 0:24:44.080 anti cheating. Okay, but what I just said would be 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:50.320 labeled by Facebook as hate speech or the new term misinformation. 0:24:50.920 --> 0:24:54.440 It's misinformation that there's a need for women's teams and 0:24:54.520 --> 0:24:58.919 men's teams. If biological men can compete against biological women, 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:02.320 then let us end men's teams in women's team Because 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:06.000 you're denying that men have an advantage in sports. Okay, 0:25:07.280 --> 0:25:10.320 what I just said is so obvious that you have 0:25:10.400 --> 0:25:15.800 to have been brainwashed from early grades to believe otherwise, 0:25:16.320 --> 0:25:19.960 what I just said is not debatable. Now, I won't 0:25:19.960 --> 0:25:23.760 suppress your right to say something foolish, but I will 0:25:23.800 --> 0:25:29.320 acknowledge it is not the debatable. Men biological the biology 0:25:29.400 --> 0:25:33.080 of males is advantageous, which is the only reason we 0:25:33.200 --> 0:25:39.359 have female teams and female track right, That's the reason. 0:25:39.960 --> 0:25:43.800 Otherwise men and women would compete in every sport. But 0:25:43.920 --> 0:25:46.480 we know men have a physical advantage. They don't lose 0:25:46.480 --> 0:25:53.440 that advantage just because they say they're women. So, Sophia, 0:25:54.840 --> 0:25:58.879 it goes well beyond this election. The differences are so profound. 0:25:59.880 --> 0:26:01.520 So what did you want to know? How do you 0:26:01.560 --> 0:26:07.560 suggest what these Americans do? We have to articulate our position. 0:26:08.359 --> 0:26:11.320 There are tens of millions of us. We have to 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:16.440 articulate our position constantly and eloquently. Will they shut you down? 0:26:16.680 --> 0:26:20.520 Yes they will, But it's hard to shut down seventy 0:26:20.600 --> 0:26:25.000 million people who keep talking, then two million people who 0:26:25.080 --> 0:26:28.000 keep talking, and sixty eight million who are afraid to 0:26:28.040 --> 0:26:37.080 speak up. What's our timing? Good? Chris Rolling, North Carolina 0:26:37.280 --> 0:26:41.399 Prager Force member Hi Chris Hi, Dennis Otto, Snoopy in 0:26:41.440 --> 0:26:47.240 Megan's arm. Well, that is nice. I hope when I 0:26:47.280 --> 0:26:49.800 am your age, Dennis, I have experienced the full enough 0:26:49.840 --> 0:26:51.840 life to have an ounce of the wisdom you possess. 0:26:52.760 --> 0:26:54.760 The issue is not that I've had a full life. 0:26:54.760 --> 0:26:57.760 I've had a full life. The reason that I have 0:26:57.840 --> 0:27:01.679 wisdom is because I was steeped in religion from a 0:27:01.800 --> 0:27:05.760 very early age. And it's because and this I don't 0:27:05.760 --> 0:27:08.480 even take credit for, I wanted wisdom from a very 0:27:08.520 --> 0:27:13.399 early age. You have to whatevery goal you want. You 0:27:13.440 --> 0:27:17.199 have to want it. You don't become a decent person, 0:27:17.240 --> 0:27:22.159 a good person, even by being one. You have to 0:27:22.240 --> 0:27:25.159 want to become one. You have to want to be wise, 0:27:25.200 --> 0:27:27.679 and you could become wise. That's the reason I have 0:27:27.800 --> 0:27:31.280 read wiser thinkers than me. But you don't learn wiser 0:27:31.320 --> 0:27:35.040 thinkers than you any longer. In American schools they dropped 0:27:35.040 --> 0:27:39.719 Shakespeare because he's a white male. But who cares if 0:27:39.760 --> 0:27:41.480 he's a white male. I only care if he has 0:27:41.520 --> 0:27:46.920 wisdom to impart. But the unwise are now teaching our 0:27:47.040 --> 0:27:55.440 kids how to be unwise. So yes, So now that 0:27:56.880 --> 0:28:01.000 Chris's question continues. In a recent fireside chat, you mentioned 0:28:01.000 --> 0:28:03.879 a moral obligation to be happy. Can you expand on 0:28:03.920 --> 0:28:06.840 the idea of being and not acting happy, especially in 0:28:06.920 --> 0:28:09.560 hard times. Thank you for everything you do, You're welcome, 0:28:09.640 --> 0:28:15.520 Thank you for your thank you well. My whole thesis 0:28:15.560 --> 0:28:17.760 is we have a moral obligation to act happy. We 0:28:17.800 --> 0:28:21.000 cannot impose our bad moods on others anymore than people 0:28:21.080 --> 0:28:24.119 impose their bad breath or bad body odour on others. 0:28:24.800 --> 0:28:27.159 And just like we wash away our odors, we should 0:28:27.240 --> 0:28:31.800 wash away our moods. So I'm adamant about that. Even 0:28:31.840 --> 0:28:34.520 if you're feeling bad, you can't inflict your bad mood 0:28:34.600 --> 0:28:38.000 on me. Now, I'm not talking about people who have 0:28:38.200 --> 0:28:42.440 no capability of controlling themselves because of physiological problems, the manic, 0:28:42.480 --> 0:28:46.600 depressive or the schizophrenic, for example. I understand that. I 0:28:46.680 --> 0:28:49.160 understand that if you just lost your child, you're not 0:28:49.160 --> 0:28:52.360 going to be walking around smiling. I'm well aware of this. 0:28:52.440 --> 0:28:55.520 My dearest friend from high school just lost his child, 0:28:55.640 --> 0:29:01.320 and I'm going through this with him, and I don't 0:29:01.360 --> 0:29:04.840 expect him to sit there and act like nothing happened. 0:29:05.520 --> 0:29:10.080 But for most of us, most of the time, we 0:29:10.080 --> 0:29:13.360 should in fact try to act happy, by the way, 0:29:13.400 --> 0:29:16.120 for our sake as much as for others, because how 0:29:16.160 --> 0:29:20.000 you act will in fact affect your feelings. Act X, 0:29:20.280 --> 0:29:27.760