Dennis Prager Show - Why was the Debate Viewership Down?
Aired: 2020-10-01
Duration: 04:54


=== Why People Stop Voting (04:54) ===

[00:00:00]  Worst president ever.
[00:00:02]  Not smart.
[00:00:04]  A fool.
[00:00:06]  That's just the stuff I remember.
[00:00:08]  It was more.
[00:00:11]  Oh, that's it?
[00:00:12]  27 million?
[00:00:17]  Really?
[00:00:18]  Down 36% from Trump-Clinton?
[00:00:21]  Do you have an explanation for that?
[00:00:24]  People just tired of politics?
[00:00:27]  I don't know what other explanation there might be.
[00:00:31]  Of course, you know, in a certain sense, I don't dismiss those people at all.
[00:00:39]  See, I often ask about my own life, if I did not have the professional and moral obligation to comment on major items in the news, would I be following all those major items in the news?
[00:00:56]  The answer is no.
[00:00:59]  If you're new to my show, you should understand that I am not animated by politics.
[00:01:08]  One of the many reasons I am sort of the opposite of the left.
[00:01:12]  Politics does not give my life meaning.
[00:01:17]  If it weren't for my belief, my certitude, that the left is an utterly destructive force in our society, I would be much more preoccupied with the things that I think people should be preoccupied.
[00:01:34]  Great question.
[00:01:35]  How do you make good people?
[00:01:37]  The most important question any society can ask.
[00:01:41]  At its best, that is what America would ask.
[00:01:44]  So kids were raised with character education.
[00:01:48]  There were obvious flaws, like in many cases, not all by any means, but in many cases, just an acceptance.
[00:01:57]  Of racist ideas which were universal.
[00:02:02]  It's not a defense of the ideas, it's a defense of the people.
[00:02:07]  I hope that's clear.
[00:02:09]  As I've given the example of vegetarianism, I would not be surprised if in 50 years a vast number of people are vegetarian.
[00:02:18]  Will they look upon those of us who ate meat the way people look upon Racist.
[00:02:25]  And if so, would that be fair?
[00:02:28]  Well, you can't take anybody seriously or virtually anybody morally seriously from the early 21st century.
[00:02:39]  They were meat-eaters.
[00:02:42]  I'm not being cute.
[00:02:43]  I believe that that is a perfect analogy.
[00:02:48]  I'm not analogizing racism to meat-eating.
[00:02:51]  I'm analogizing...
[00:02:54]  present-day ethical sensitivities to earlier-day ethical sensitivity.
[00:03:00]  So I'm merely commenting on the low number, relatively speaking, of people who watched it.
[00:03:11]  That's why I've never argued, oh, everybody has an obligation to vote.
[00:03:16]  I know that there are a lot of people who say that.
[00:03:22]  I have...
[00:03:23]  Generally understood that in a free society, the fact that a lot of people aren't voting is sort of, you know, they're just not involved politically because they have other concerns in life.
[00:03:38]  Now, I vote.
[00:03:41]  I've always voted.
[00:03:43]  But I'm animated.
[00:03:44]  I understand the issues.
[00:03:47]  I don't want people who don't understand the issues to vote.
[00:03:51]  Why is that good?
[00:03:54]  Well, I have an answer to that, because people who don't understand the issues tend to vote in certain directions.
[00:04:04]  I have another point to make in regard to the debate.
[00:04:13]  I was thinking about debates that I heard when I was a very young kid, 12 years old, when...
[00:04:23]  Kennedy and Nixon debated.
[00:04:27]  No, I wasn't 12. I was 11. 11 years old, and the seriousness of that debate versus last night, it makes me sort of feel sad for young people.
[00:04:48]  I feel sad for young people in many arenas.
[00:04:51]  The irrational fears that are implanted in them.