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March 14, 2023 - Dennis Prager Show
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Hello everybody and welcome.
A sincere, heartfelt welcome to the Dennis Prager Show.
Welcome.
If I could, I would embrace you all.
Actually, I have embraced many of you.
I'm a big hugger, unlike my colleague Hugh Hewitt, who only hugs women.
I like hugging members of both sexes.
Welcome to the show indeed.
Taking a vacation for a moment from politics, because there is a lot more to life, as you know, which is why I talk about everything here.
This one...
I have, let me preface it this way.
I have theories on a lot of things.
If I didn't, you wouldn't tune in.
I mean, that's, I think, being honest, right?
Right.
On the following ubiquitous issue, I have no theory, only a question.
Why has it happened?
It's not about politics, and it's not about religion.
It's not about morality.
It's not about any of these large subjects, but it's got to represent something.
Why are nearly all cars today black, silver, or white?
This is a first in my lifetime.
What was the old phrase in the very beginning?
Of cars, I think with Henry Ford, you can have any color so long as it's black.
That was Henry Ford, yeah.
We are almost, you can have any color as long as it's black, silver, or white.
So, here, mine's black for the first time in my life, incidentally.
I've never owned a black car.
The living martyr has two cars.
He's very wealthy.
And they're both, what, silver?
Triple G. He was dead broke when he left the White House.
That's a good point.
But that's good.
That was very good.
We're keeping you again.
We're renewing your contract this week.
Triple G. What is the color of your car?
Silver.
Silver.
Or even more exciting, gray.
And I asked Tabar, our intern.
Hers is black.
It's...
Now, I have owed in my life green, red, blue, brown.
I'm sorry to say it didn't work out.
Brown, I don't know why I did that.
I was in a crisis mode in my life.
No, no, you never saw my brown colors before I ever knew you.
Not only was it brown, it was an Oldsmobile.
Okay, all right.
You know, we all have to answer to our maker.
So I've owned, I think I have owned every color.
You can't count yellow and orange.
That's taxi cabs and for the blind.
I'm sorry?
You had an orange car?
Your first car was orange?
It's good I didn't meet you then.
It just is.
I would have thought, you would have had to overcome an initial impression.
Oh yes, my first car was a 10. They don't make tan cars anymore.
Well, they do.
Now they're not making anything except variations on silver.
Oh, lime green with fake wood paneling.
That was your first car.
You should have met Triple G. You, Triple G, and the Living Martyrs should have gotten together on a freeway.
Why is that?
These things represent something in society.
It's not just taste.
And even taste needs an explanation.
Why does taste change?
What is your theory on why this has happened?
Never would have predicted it.
1-8 Prager, 776-877-243-7776.
It's absolutely a phenomenon.
You go into a certain...
I can't...
Is it true for all models, even the cheapest models?
It runs from luxury down to bargain basement.
877-243-7776.
What would be the reason for that?
I have thought about it, and I don't know.
Is it better for the maker?
Is it like they save money by not having colors?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Do people want it?
I think it's a first in my lifetime because when advertisers advertise cars, they would always show it in some color even.
So they would show off a beautiful model of their car in some color.
And nothing now.
Worcester, Ohio.
Josh.
Hello, Josh of Worcester.
Yeah, hi.
How are you?
Good, thanks.
A couple of theories about the white ones.
I can't talk for the grays and the blacks.
But two things.
First of all, you know, cops and the like that sit in their car a lot during the day, if you notice, are always white.
Because the air conditioning just has to work less to cool the car down in the winter and the summer.
No, no, I agree.
White is very, very practical.
I agree.
In that regard, white is practical.
But I don't think there are more white cars than black and silver.
Although, I mean, it depends.
I'm sure you've been to Israel and other countries in the East.
I tell you, like 80 to 90 percent of the cars are white.
Yeah, that's correct.
Are you right?
But I'm asking about America, where Americans have had a love affair with the car, and that has included colors.
So that's my question.
You're right about the heat, but you live in Worcester, Ohio.
Can't believe that it's necessary except for a couple of months a year.
Because remember, it's not even a heat issue, it's a sun issue as far as I understand it.
Because white reflects light and black absorbs light.
So I understand.
But I don't think Ohio has a surfeit of sunshine.
We've got a full line here, but I'm going to take your calls even if I don't know your name, so let's gamble.
Line two, where are you from?
What's your name?
Folsom, California, Frank.
Hi, Frank of Folsom.
The reasons you have the colors that we have today are because of the tints that require the colorants.
So you've got greens, you've got blues, and you've got reds.
Those are your three most expensive tints, all primary colors.
They need to be added to other colors to make other colors.
So it makes it less expensive for them.
So even in a luxury model, even in an $80,000 car, you think that the makers are saving money not going to colors?
Yeah.
Why not?
No, no.
I'm asking.
I don't have a theory.
I just find it interesting, and I find the roads much less colorful.
I like colored cars.
I don't lose sleep over this issue, but I have found it odd.
Something has happened.
And that's why I offered that possibility.
Maybe it is just cheaper.
You just have variations.
And there are variations.
Well, there are slight variations on white.
I don't think there are variations on black.
Certainly not with the same maker.
A black car is a black car, whatever the maker is.
So we have another guy who believes that, and that is Andy of Minneapolis.
Hello, Andy.
Dennis Prager.
Hello.
Hi.
Mostly the reason is cost.
The pigments are much cheaper.
Black pigments and white pigments are cheap.
And also if you get into an accident and have to repaint it, it's much easier to match.
Red is the most expensive color.
Is that right?
Why is that?
I think it's just the pigments.
I don't know if they're more expensive because they're more rare or harder to get them.
You know, crisp and clear, but I've been working on cars for 20-some years now, and whenever you buy paint, if you buy black or white paint, it's always 15% to 20% cheaper than a red.
Wow.
That's fascinating, if that's the reason.
I wonder if they charged a premium, would people pay?
I don't know.
As I say, I don't sleep over it, but I miss it.
To me, a gorgeous color on a car.
It's just it adds a little bit to the QOL, as I call it, quality of life.
There's just something happy.
Colors are happy.
I mean, my black car is gorgeous.
I keep it washed.
I've never owned a black car before.
I used to always think, I admit this, my wife thinks it's a little silly.
I always used to think that black, people chose black to make a statement, and I never liked making a statement.
I'm very, it's like, I never got initials on my clothing.
I just, I'm not judging it.
I'm just talking about my own nature.
And so, that might be, that just is what it is.
But I must say, when I, I owned my second car, actually my third car, my third car was a Burgundy Peugeot.
To say that I own...
I'm actually proud of it.
My first two cars were Saabs.
You know that now that I think of it, people should pay me not to buy their cars because so many went out of business.
My first two were Saabs, then a Peugeot, then a Buick.
Is Buick still made?
Yeah.
And then an Oldsmobile, which is not made.
But it was a gorgeous burgundy Peugeot.
Joe, back in a moment.
Yes, indeed.
A couple of more moments here on this subject, and then we'll move on.
But I am very curious what your theories are.
Thus far, I have gotten that it's more expensive to have a car with colors.
It's a first in my lifetime.
Virtually every new car is black, silver, or white.
On the other hand, the good news is you can get six variations on silver.
Don't you love the names they come out with?
They always have these names, Shadow Silver, Midnight Black, as opposed to what?
Daylight Black?
I love that.
There's Light Silver, Dark Silver, Silver with a Blue Tint.
There's another great question.
I have a great...
I'm serious.
This is a great one.
And that is, what color...
Including black, white, silver.
But what color of any type do you get sick of quickest?
Because we're all excited when we get the new car.
It doesn't matter what color it is, right?
Everybody's excited.
No, no, no.
It's a new topic, but we're going to stick with this.
But it just is a topic that just occurred to me.
It's a very interesting one.
I found, in my experience...
I found that I got tired fastest of silver.
But a lot of new silver, that was a long time ago.
Silver today is a little, I think it's got more cachet, not cachet, but life to it than the old silvers did.
You have two silvers.
You're not tired of them, right?
But were you tired?
Come on, everybody gets a little tired of their color.
When you had your orange car.
Did you get tired of it in how long?
Three days.
Three days.
I would think so.
Why did you get an orange car?
It was actually...
I bought it from...
Oh, it got a used.
A used orange car.
I don't blame you.
Was it a chick magnet, that orange car?
No.
Or did they, like, run away?
Because it's sort of...
I mean, if a woman knows...
You're going to meet a guy, and one guy has an orange car...
And one guy has a black car.
Who do you think they would innately trust?
Okay, it's a rhetorical question.
Let's go to more of your calls here.
And Rebecca in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Hello, Rebecca.
Dennis Prager.
Hi, Dennis.
Well, I just have to say, I could care less about the make, model, color of a car.
It's a mode of transportation.
I think more women think that than men, yeah.
Yeah, but having said that, to conserve gas, we bought a Prius about a year ago.
And in driving this Prius, I have been flipped off a number of times, and it's always by drivers who are either in a Ford, like F-150, F-250, something like that, or a Dodge Ram.
But the pinnacle was when a Dodge Ram pulled up next to me, I had my twin 14-year-old boys in the car with me.
And he laid on his horn, and when I looked over, he had two pipes coming out of the side of his truck, and it said Prius repellent.
So at that point, I ordered a bumper sticker, and my bumper sticker says, Catholic, conservative, American.
And ever since I put that bumper sticker on my Prius, I have not had any foul gestures directed my way.
Let me just say that I find the story a little depressing.
It is!
Especially my fellow conservatives.
Exactly, exactly.
I can't believe it.
I mean, I understand the contempt, but one shouldn't show it.
Exactly, I know.
But now that I have the bumper sticker, I'm good to go.
Yeah, but it's sad.
You shouldn't have to do that.
No, but seriously, they actually flipped you off?
Yes, yes.
Okay, that's vile.
No, that is vile.
I have to say, these are lowlifes.
I've never said my side doesn't have lowlifes.
Why don't you play my pre-formulated thing about there are good people on both sides, alright?
So people will know how sincerely I believe this.
There are many wonderful people on the left, many wonderful people on the right, many lousy people on the left, many lousy people on the right.
Nothing that I have to say imputes the character of anybody on either side.
Okay, so there you go.
I'm well aware of that.
First of all, in general, people giving the finger to other people, I think it's disgusting on the road.
These are the things, this is what the QOL, the quality of life, it does, it diminishes it.
All right, let's go to Greenville, South Carolina, and Alex of Greenville.
Hi, Alex.
Hi, Dennis.
I actually work in automotive manufacturing down here at the BMW plants.
So I've got a couple of inside suggestions as to what the primary reasons behind this is.
And, well, to start off, the bright colors that you would see on a car are going to be the ones that are going to be most noticeable as they fade.
A car that's bright green or bright red after five years, it's not going to look so good.
And with the name brand still stamped on the car, it's going to make the company look...
That's fascinating.
Not bad, but less good.
That is interesting.
Have you...
Wait, forgive me one second.
Have you been told that by BMW? No, I haven't told that.
BMW, I mean, you look at the assembly line, you can see a multitude of very bright colors coming down, but they also use an extremely high-quality paint, and, well, I can't say too much, because automotive manufacturing is one of the most espionage in the industry.
All right, that's fine, but the point is it's more expensive.
Yeah, it is.
It's more expensive to make the colors laugh.
I understand.
I understand.
Also...
The top coats of, well, any paint is semi-transparent.
If you were to go to Home Depot and pick up paints to paint your wall, they're going to ask you what color you have, and then you would choose a different color primer to go underneath it.
So the top colors are going to be mostly similar on cars, so that they can use the same primer underneath.
So it's still going to give a lot of the same tones.
Also, going down the line, you know, to paint one car blue and then one car red, that's a drastic change in color.
They're going to have to clean out the paint lines that actually spray the cars.
So there's a lot of things at play there as far as...
There certainly are.
I would not have thought of all of them.
Thank you.
That's a terrifically informative call.
So the question then becomes...
If indeed this is really driven by the dealers...
See, it is a fascinating subject.
Huh?
I'm sorry, you're right.
The manufacturers.
If this is driven by the manufacturers, are people happy with it?
Are you folks happy to basically have a silver, white, and black choice?
Would you choose a color or you're quite satisfied?
Or you're a female who simply wants a mode of transportation?
Back in a moment, I'm Dennis Prager.
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Hello, everybody.
Welcome to or back to the Dennis Prager Show.
One of Europe's leading thinkers is Leon DeVinter.
He has been on the show a number of times, and his latest piece I covered last week was in Politico.
He's a Dutch novelist, major Dutch novelist and political commentator.
Leon de Winter, welcome back to the Dennis Prager Show.
Thank you, Dennis.
Are you right now in Holland?
I am at this very moment in Holland.
I've been spending most of my time in the last two weeks in Brussels, but at the moment I'm in Holland, yes.
Okay, so you've been in Brussels for a lot of the last two weeks, but you're now, just to give people an image so they'll know where you are, so you're Dutch and you're in Dutchland.
It makes a great deal of sense, yes.
Correct.
By the way, just out of curiosity, is the Flemish of Belgium in any way significantly different from the Dutch of Holland?
Not significantly.
We hear differences in pronunciation, and slowly it is not converging, but there are more and more differences suddenly showing up.
But basically, in its essence, it is the same language.
It is Dutch.
Right, right.
Okay.
But they would say, if you would ask a Belgian, he would say, I speak Flemish, not Dutch.
Yes, but it is Dutch.
Right, yes, I know, I know.
One of the world's most beautiful languages, I might add.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
Yes, if you get used to these strange sounds, firework in the throat, yes, it's a great language.
Oh yeah, by the way, don't we have, hey, we have a recording of you, Leon.
Really?
Yes.
Een klop van de molen.
And Klopp van de Molen.
It's such a beautiful expression.
What is it?
Hit the head with the windmill?
Yes!
And Klopp van de Molen.
Yes, we have kept it.
You didn't know that.
I just thought you'd get it.
I forgot.
That's right.
Alright, well, as my listeners know, with the world situation as it is, I have two choices, to laugh or to cry, and I prefer to laugh.
I'm with you.
Yeah, I know you are.
I'm sure you are.
This piece you wrote for Politico is so important.
It is about this instinct in Europe, and certainly it is in America, but we'll talk about Europe for now.
this instinct among the European elites to blame the European country's treatment of its Muslim immigrants rather than the terrorists.
Yes.
Yes.
Cultural relativism.
That's what it is about.
Being afraid of cherishing your own values, your own culture, your own traditions.
Doubting everything that has been passed on to us from the past.
And because of that also, I mean, that's always the consequence, refusing to make up your mind, refusing to choose and to take a stand and refuse to sacrifice.
That's one big complex of phenomena connected to...
To cultural relativism.
And that's what we've seen in the last week in Europe.
Right.
So let's flesh this out.
So that it is, in other words, they are more interested in preserving the belief that no culture is morally greater than any other than they are even in assessing who is responsible for terror.
You're completely right.
And, of course, it is.
We know in reality it's different.
There are differences in traditions and in culture and in values.
But by refusing to accept this idea, it's also a refusal of defending who you are and defending the amazing legacy of the Jewish Christian tradition.
It's all one One group of developments.
Don't forget, I think at this very moment in Holland, I think 80% of the population is completely secular.
What percent?
I'm sorry, because you...
80%.
80%.
Completely secular.
Right, exactly.
That is what enabled the guys who wrote in Brussels, But they were from all over Europe, but they wrote the charter of the European Union just a few years ago, and the word Christianity did not appear.
No.
No.
But Christianity formed Europe.
It's not a matter of whether they believe or not.
They're denying history.
Absolutely.
That was one of my remarks at the time when they were discussing a European constitution.
And one of my criticisms was, in what language are you going to write this constitution?
And that's the crazy thing.
There's no original language in which this constitution is really...
It exists only in translation, because there could have been only one language, or two maybe, Latin or Greek.
Then you have an understanding what this continent is about.
But of course, it was totally unacceptable.
So we have a constitution.
In 28 languages, with tiny differences, but the Constitution is also an expression of a culture, of a civilization, of a period in which the right words were found for a certain ambition.
That's why still the American Constitution is bringing tears to my eyes.
It is an amazing cultural and civilizational document.
Try to read the European Constitution.
It's about 500 pages.
500 pages of bureaucratic nonsense.
It's terrible.
It's dead language.
And there's still no original.
There's Dutch.
There's Portuguese.
But the original expression of what these European founding fathers wanted to establish doesn't exist.
And that's in one image.
You get the whole problem of what Europe fails and what it should have had.
A real core, a soul.
It's not there.
Wow, it's amazing you use that word because I've been to Europe so many times.
I studied in Europe in college.
And whenever I go back, I just feel the biggest word that I use to describe it to Americans is soulless.
Yes.
Yes.
And it has to do with, of course...
It ended up in a welfare state.
And this is the cultural price that we're paying for living in a welfare state.
So let me ask you this.
What do you think?
Now, I generally don't psychoanalyze people, but I'm willing to allow it here.
And it may not be a psychoanalytic answer.
It may be a philosophic answer.
But what do you think is animating the people in Europe who say, oh, it's Belgium's fault for mistreating its immigrants.
It's not really the fault of the terrorists.
Is it this belief in multiculturalism as deep as a Muslim believes in Islam?
Is it something else?
What is it?
Yeah, of course, I wish I had a clear answer.
but at the same time you feel, and it's in between the lines always, It's in between the words.
You feel there's something suicidal in it.
Oh, interesting.
There is civilization heading for the cliff.
There's something apocalyptic in it.
And it's very hard, really very hard to put a finger on it and say, yes, there is it.
But behaving like this...
Well, the facts are clear.
The trends are there.
The developments are there.
We all see it.
And at the same time, although you see it, you don't want to see it.
What is going on there?
Is it maybe still an echo of the shame of the 20th century to disastrous world wars, the continent where the Holocaust happened?
Is there this...
And that's what I felt.
I mean, at the same time, I admire her to a certain degree with Angela Merkel.
But with her as well, it seems like she wants to basically end this Germany.
It must change.
Maybe that's the ultimate consequence of the Shoah, that this continent, and at least it's...
That is absolutely fascinating.
There may be a desire of Europe, elite at least, to kill itself.
I hadn't thought about that.
I know they're killing it, but I didn't know that they actually may welcome that.
I'm speaking to Leon DeVinter, one of Europe's great thinkers.
We'll be back in a moment.
1-8 Prager 776. One of the major thinkers in Europe, Leon de Vinter, Dutch political writer and novelist, is on.
He's in Holland right now, and we're talking about Europe.
His article that was in Politico last week is up at DennisPrager.com.
You should read it and send it on to people.
And it is essentially, but you have to read it.
I'm doing a brief synopsis here.
It is essentially about Europe's reaction, certainly its elites, is to be angrier, for example, in Brussels, to be angrier at the Belgians for the ghetto area, so-called ghetto area, where it's predominantly Muslim and a higher unemployment rate.
So they're angrier at Belgium than they are at the terrorists, that ultimately it's Europe's fault.
Just as, by the way, in the United States there were voices.
What did America do to create the conditions that made 9-11?
We have that in the United States, too.
It's still dominant in Europe, and here there's still a fight for the soul of America.
We're losing, but at least if there's a fight in Europe, it's been lost.
Did you write anything in Dutch?
Analogous to what you have in English and Politico?
Sure, sure.
What was the reaction?
Usually, of course, my readers are happy that I'm writing this type of columns.
I get a lot of reactions usually here in Holland.
But still, it doesn't change the situation.
I'm just reflecting on it.
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