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Aug. 21, 2023 - Dennis Prager Show

01:13:08

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	Dennis Prager here.
	Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast.
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	Hey everybody, Dennis Prager here in horrific tropical storm unseen since 1939. Dennis Prager here in horrific tropical storm unseen since 1939.
	I am lucky to have arrived safely in order to broadcast.
	It shows my commitment to you that I am in today, as is everybody else.
	You know what it's doing outside?
	Right, this studio in Los Angeles County?
	Nothing.
	Absolutely nothing.
	It is not even drizzling.
	This is what you have heard on the news, so let me report to you from where I am in Los Angeles County.
	Nothing is happening.
	Nothing happened yesterday.
	It rained.
	It rained.
	The only odd thing is that it doesn't rain in August in Los Angeles County as a general rule.
	That's why Dodger games and Angel games are almost never rained out.
	Or Padre games, but that's San Diego.
	This is extremely significant.
	Extremely significant.
	And I want to tell you why.
	Last night, my wife and I attended a wedding.
	And I spoke to the groom, and he told me that about 40 people did not show up because of, not the storm, because of the hysteria over the storm.
	Pure, undiluted, false, fake hysteria.
	My heart broke for the guy.
	He has no victim sense about him.
	He just mentioned it in passing to me.
	I would say that was about a third of the people.
	Many of them, by the way, flew in from cities across the country to go to the wedding.
	And they didn't go.
	Imagine that.
	Hey, honey, did you see the news?
	Did you read that the governor of this state has declared a state of emergency?
	Governor Newsom, in whom I don't believe there is an authentic bone, declared a state of emergency for the county of Los Angeles and maybe others.
	Is what I'm saying getting clear to you?
	Oh, my God.
	Nothing happened.
	Now, there was flooding.
	You've seen pictures.
	I looked at the Daily Mail printed or published in England, and it made where I live look like a national disaster.
	How many photos does it take of some flooding to cause it?
	There was a guy knee-deep in water.
	With his car stuck in Palm Springs.
	Palm Springs?
	What county is Palm Springs in?
	I don't think it's L.A. County.
	It's way east.
	Okay.
	I feel bad for the guy.
	Hasn't been a tropical storm in this area in Southern California since 1939. By the way, will they blame it on climate change?
	This, of course, is the inevitable, obviously.
	What?
	It's in Riverside County.
	Okay, thank you.
	That means a lot to my listeners across the country.
	So I'm trying to be privy to the discussion that a couple who had planned on coming to the wedding last night, the discussion they had, Goes, I assume it went something like this.
	Honey, they'd really feel bad if we didn't go.
	Yeah, but...
	Did you see the news?
	Oh, not just the news.
	Let me share with you, my dear friends.
	Here is taken from my phone.
	This came up, I would say, just about every hour.
	You know an emergency alert you get on your phone?
	Emergency alert severe.
	I'm reading to you from my phone.
	I'm sure you got the same thing.
	And you took it as seriously as I did.
	National Weather Service.
	A flash flood warning is in effect for this area until 3 a.m.
	Pacific Daylight Time.
	This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation.
	Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding under an evacuation order or attending a wedding.
	That was beautiful that they added that.
	That's how personalized these messages are.
	They knew we had said yes to a wedding invitation.
	Life-threatening situation.
	So back to our couple.
	Hey, honey, you know, we came in from Cleveland.
	They're really expecting us.
	Yeah, but darling, we can't risk our lives to attend a wedding in the long run of life.
	I mean, you know.
	Yeah, but honey, look outside the window.
	It's just raining.
	There's nothing.
	There's no wind.
	It's not even a particular downpour.
	Yeah, but did you see what the governor of the state said?
	Did you see what the National Weather Service said?
	Did you see what NBC News said?
	Yeah, but honey, look out the window.
	That was my first urge.
	By the way, I'm not...
	Saying it's the husband or the wife.
	I learned from the panic during COVID that it was just as likely to be the man panicking as the woman.
	Foolishness doesn't know sex.
	Or even gender.
	I want you to understand, though, this does not...
	It doesn't bode well for the country.
	It really doesn't bode well.
	Let me see here.
	I wrote about this in 1999. And I'm trying to find it.
	Because you could actually see it in my book of essays, Think a Second Time.
	If you want to introduce yourself or me, or someone else to me, get my book of essays, 44 essays on 44 subjects.
	And I wrote an essay at the time on this very issue.
	Let's see if I can...
	Yeah, no, I'm going to have to find it.
	I wrote about a story.
	It happened to me about 25, oh no, 30 years ago.
	Let me see, what's 25 years ago?
	Yeah, no, about 25, 28 years.
	It's irrelevant.
	25 or 30. I had a speech in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia.
	I was in Manhattan.
	I slept in Manhattan the night before, Thursday night.
	I had an evening.
	I don't know if it was Thursday night.
	That's not true.
	I don't know what night of the week I was going to speak.
	But the night before, I slept in Manhattan.
	The whole night, all I hear is major blizzard, major storm.
	Do not go out.
	Do not drive unless it is an emergency.
	I planned, instead of taking, let's see, what would it be?
	What is it, the Philly from New York?
	An hour and a half?
	So instead of leaving an hour and a half before, I left four hours before.
	But I looked out the window of my hotel room, and nothing was happening.
	There was about an inch or two of snow on the ground.
	This was my first introduction to do I believe my eyes or do I believe the news?
	And this was a revelation in my life.
	The power of media and panic is such that you can deny what you are experiencing and seeing because of the induced panic.
	Schools are closed in L.A. County.
	Gold dealers are a dime a dozen.
	They're everywhere.
	What sets these companies apart, and whom can you really trust?
	This is Dennis Prager for AmFedCoin and Bullion.
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	They appreciate more than gold and silver.
	What about hidden commissions and huge markups?
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	If you're interested in buying or selling, call Nick Grovich and his team at AmFed, Coin & Bullion, 800-221-7694, AmericanFederal.com, AmericanFederal.com.
	I'm going to read to you from my book published in 1998 or 1999.
	44 essays as relevant today as when they were published.
	So, And the essay is The Power of Television News.
	During an East Coast lecture tour, I became even more aware of the overwhelming influence of TV news, and to a lesser extent of radio.
	I realized that they shape viewers' perceptions not only of events happening far away, but even of those occurring, literally, in their own backyard.
	Awakening one morning in New York City, I looked out my window and saw snow falling.
	Television and radio newscasts led me to believe that I was in the middle of a terrible snowstorm that was virtually paralyzing America's largest city.
	They repeatedly warned of an emergency situation in the city and told the public to avoid driving unless absolutely necessary.
	Since I intended to drive all the way to a Philadelphia suburb to deliver a lecture, I feared for my safety.
	When I walked outside, I found a light snow falling and about two to three inches of snow on the ground.
	Although I worried greatly about driving all the way through New Jersey, which reports warned was even worse off than New York, I decided to brave the roads.
	I left three hours.
	Oh, I thought four hours.
	Okay.
	I left three hours ahead of time.
	Not knowing what havoc the emergency situation might be causing on the New Jersey Turnpike.
	Much to my surprise, getting out of Manhattan was effortless.
	So I could only imagine that it was New Jersey that had been really hit.
	But in New Jersey I found identically safe, utterly unremarkable conditions of light snow and clear roads.
	Apparently most everybody else The New Jersey Turnpike was virtually empty on a Friday afternoon.
	So it was Friday.
	And I drove at a constant 60 miles per hour, arriving three hours early.
	When I arrived in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, I found a city that had reacted to a few inches of snow as if it were next door to the Chernobyl reactor.
	Many stores were closed, and the open ones had few customers.
	When another person and I purchased books at a bookstore, the cashier noted that it was the first time that day that two customers had been in the store at the same time.
	Television and radio scared everybody into staying home, the woman behind the counter explained.
	Isn't it incredible?
	Look at how powerful the media are.
	People are influenced by them, even when they can see for themselves that the situation isn't that bad.
	Although I had long realized that television's national news Gave people distorted impressions of world events.
	I had assumed that local news was less distorted.
	This experience disabused me of that belief.
	From the media reports of the snowstorm, I drew some conclusions.
	First, the impact of television news and to a lesser extent radio news is awesome, even frightening.
	What became apparent in this situation, Was the medium's ability to influence people's perceptions and conduct more than reality itself?
	I italicized that.
	That's right.
	The media influence people more than reality does.
	I wrote this 30 years ago.
	People were more affected by what television told them than by what they could see happening right outside their windows.
	Over the years I have come to understand that for many Americans, unless an event is reported on television or radio, it has not really happened.
	I get a sense of this at a baseball game when I see fans listening to the game on the radio.
	Merely seeing the game without hearing it on the radio is not enough.
	This also explains why so many Americans have a deep need to appear on television, even if in a degrading manner, as a guest on the many TV talk shows that specialize in humiliating their guests.
	Life un-televised is life unlived.
	The need for media hype, likewise, reflects a deep boredom that many Americans evidently feel in their lives.
	I do not know whether the need for constant excitement has nourished media excitement, or whether the diet of constant media excitement, news reports that hype reality, larger-than-life advertisements, and violent horror movies have produced an addiction to excitement.
	Whichever the cause for many Americans, actual life is not exciting enough.
	And this is before the Internet.
	This is before TikTok and YouTube.
	Interesting.
	Americans are drowning in hype.
	Wanting drama and excitement in their own lives, many people lead what may be called television lives.
	And since addictions lead to greater dependency, And since television is only interested in greater profits, which come about through the creation of more addicts, the problem of TV hype won't solve itself.
	The best solution is for millions of Americans to tear themselves away from television.
	Substitute today, the Internet.
	Social media.
	Unfortunately for most people, that is as difficult as it is.
	For an alcoholic to stop drinking.
	Wow.
	Well, I wrote about this a long time ago.
	And it just happened this weekend.
	A dear friend of mine in New York actually called me to see if I was all right.
	But the worst was 40 people didn't attend the wedding.
	And...
	Government offices are closed in Orange County today.
	So that means people won't be served whatever needs they had today for no reason.
	August is fundraising month for Prager University.
	Triple matchup.
	And today, till the end of the month, Whatever you give will be tripled.
	You give $50, it's $150.
	You give $5, it's $15.
	I have the CEO of PragerU on the line, Marissa Streit.
	Marissa is one of the five top arguments I have for God's existence.
	Is that fair?
	And my fellow religious believer.
	Agrees with me.
	Marissa Streit, hello.
	Hi, Dennis.
	It's good to be here.
	You ever been introduced as an argument for God's existence?
	You humble me.
	I'm glad the video can't pipe in through because I'm very red right now.
	Is it true you have news?
	I have amazing news, Dennis.
	Are you ready?
	I am.
	So, our education initiative, which is making videos, magazines, and turnkey lesson plans for schools, we announced a few weeks ago that we were approved in Florida, and today it's my pleasure to announce that we are making it into Texas as well.
	And so we now have another state by our side.
	The great state of Texas is now going to introduce PragerU kids in schools.
	I have the chills.
	I really do.
	So you know what's going to be interesting to me?
	Well, the New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Chicago Papers, LA Times.
	NPR, CBS, CNN, will they all go on round two of the same attacks on PragerU?
	Probably.
	That's all they can do is these ad hominem attacks and lies on us because, you know, truth is not on their side.
	I don't know if you caught the New York Times op-ed from last week, but one of the...
	I did.
	One of the claims they make in there is how upset they are that PragerU is undoing all the supposed great work of Howard Zinn in teaching American history.
	So, I'll take that as a compliment.
	Right, Howard Zinn, for those who don't know, Howard Zinn wrote Popular History of the United States, and all of my life I have characterized it as a proctologist's view of America.
	America Seen Through the Anal Cavity.
	It's a despicable work.
	He hated the country.
	I had him on my show.
	To his credit, he came on.
	People can actually hear of this interview.
	Marissa, I'm just letting all of my listeners know this.
	And I asked him, did America ever enter a justified war?
	And he wouldn't answer.
	He just, you know, something to the effect that's difficult to say.
	He said, what about World War II? He said, I'm not even certain about that.
	How's that?
	That's the left's hero.
	He couldn't even say that the war against the Nazis was a moral war.
	Yeah, I mean, the sad thing is that people believe this stuff.
	And so the attacks against us...
	I mean, I want to use the word unfair, but that would be an understatement.
	It is unbelievable what we went through since we announced Florida.
	And I do anticipate that it's not going to get any easier with Texas.
	But, you know, we're here to help save America's mind.
	And we're here to keep going no matter what attacks we experience.
	You know, Dennis, I'll just share with you a little from my heart.
	I truly believe that this is a spiritual battle.
	It's been an emotional and spiritual battle over the last two weeks.
	I've seen attacks come from all directions.
	And I know that many of your listeners have been very supportive of us.
	They've been writing in, you know, telling us to keep strong.
	And it's thanks to the support that we've received that we're just going to keep going.
	It's a real battle.
	It's a real battle.
	And I want to also take a moment to thank the folks who are involved in the triple match because it's thanks to the triple matchers that we're able to do what we're able to do and raise money this month to keep this big, important operation going.
	It's a new initiative.
	We have to make new types of curriculum and hire more good teachers, the teachers that are fleeing from...
	All right, let me tell everybody, prageru.com, 833-PRAGER-U, whatever you give, will be tripled.
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	Call 800-761-6302, or go to MyPillow.com, spent the entire first hour of the show.
	Welcome to the Dennis Prager Show.
	The entire first hour reading to you the panic-stricken alerts that every one of us in Southern California has been receiving on our phone about every other hour.
	This is a life-threatening situation.
	Stay home unless you absolutely must drive for some emergency.
	Schools are shut down.
	There's a state of emergency declared by the governor of California.
	I am broadcasting to you from Los Angeles County, California.
	There's nothing happening today.
	Nothing.
	It is not even, or at least it wasn't even drizzling.
	There is no wind.
	In other words, there is no storm.
	It's not a mild storm.
	There is no storm.
	Last night I drove an hour each way to a wedding.
	There was rain.
	That was it.
	It was rain.
	It wasn't even a particularly ferocious rain.
	That was it.
	And the schools are closed today, and the government office buildings are closed today, and people were stocking up, apparently, panic buying on Friday because of the lies.
	Now, I can't use the word lies.
	I take that back.
	Because of the fake panic of the authorities in our county and our state and in our country, people have learned nothing from the lies about COVID. Nothing.
	They were okay with their kids being ruined with two years of no school.
	They were okay with masking themselves and their two-year-olds.
	Yeah.
	They were okay with forcing people to get a non-vaccine vaccine.
	Forcing them.
	Or they would be fired.
	Or they can't go to school.
	They can't go to college.
	They were okay with it.
	And you know what?
	I learned a lot of Americans will be okay with it again this fall if they do the same thing again.
	And today, right this moment, as I talk to you, is proof.
	No schools are open in Los Angeles County where nothing is happening.
	I'm here.
	Most of you listening are not.
	I just drove here.
	My windshield wipers, which are on automatic, didn't move.
	In fact, I got a message on my dashboard.
	Wipers board.
	That's right.
	That's the way, that's what it is.
	They were bored.
	They had nothing to do.
	40 people out of, I don't know, my wife thinks, I don't agree, I don't think that there were 200 people there last night.
	Or 160. I would say, I still, I would say a quarter.
	I'll compromise.
	About a quarter of the people invited to a wedding I attended last night did not show up.
	I know their number because the groom told me.
	40 people didn't show up.
	Including people who had flown across the country to attend the wedding.
	Because they still believe the authorities.
	They don't believe their own eyes.
	It gives gaslighting a new name.
	You're going to believe me or your lying eyes?
	The famous Groucho Marx comment when his wife sees him, catches him in bed with another woman.
	You're going to believe me or your lying eyes?
	You're going to believe the health authorities?
	You're going to believe Gavin Newsom?
	Or are you going to believe your lying eyes?
	You know what it would have taken me to not go to the wedding last night?
	It would have taken truly, truly dangerous conditions because I owed it to this couple to be there.
	Did people not think that way?
	You know, we really owe it to them to show up.
	They're counting on us being there.
	Well, no, but did you see what they said on TV? Yeah, but it's just raining out.
	That's it.
	it, it's just raining.
	This is a warning to all of you across the country.
	I don't know what word to use.
	I can't say they lied.
	You can't lie about a prediction.
	But I knew what they said.
	As I said, had I been able to bet on it, I would have bet that nothing they predicted would happen.
	It happened in a few places.
	Yes, it did.
	A few.
	That's right.
	You know what?
	There's flooding every time there's a downpour.
	I can't speak for where you live, but for where we live.
	Where I live in Southern California, there's always some flooding.
	It doesn't mean a thing.
	I saw you with my own eyes.
	Well, who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?
	Oh, it's not your own lying eyes.
	It's your own eyes.
	That was the Groucho Marx...
	That was it, yes.
	Okay.
	Oh, by the way, are they blaming the Maui fires on...
	On global warming.
	They did from the beginning.
	Well, the woman who knocked the PragerU videos, this woman, this climate scientist, there was a picture of the Maui fires as an example of climate change.
	It had nothing to do with climate change.
	It had to do with disgusting green policies that are ruining Western society.
	I got a story for you.
	That is a sign of our times.
	It's all over the world press.
	The president of the Spanish Football Association got so excited when Spain defeated England in the Women's Championship in the World Cup.
	He got so excited, he kissed one of the players on the lips.
	It was a quick kiss.
	It was on the lips.
	Nobody claimed.
	A tongue was inserted.
	The man might as well have raped her for what he is enduring.
	Daily Mail, moment emotional president of Spanish FA. I assume that's Football Association.
	Kisses player on the mouth during trophy presentation after Spain's win against England in World Cup final.
	It's a headline.
	This is the moment the male president of Spain's FA grabs one of La Roja's World Cup winning players and kisses her on the mouth.
	Spanish star Yeni Hermoso and her teammates were congratulated by dignitaries, including Queen Leticia, or as they would say, Leticia.
	Also on the stage was Spanish Federation boss Luis Rubiales, who threw his arms around striker Yeni Hermoso and gave her a strong hug while whispering in her ear.
	He then put both hands on the back of her head and kissed her on the mouth.
	I've got to read to you some of the reactions.
	Okay.
	Hermosa was asked, the woman was asked, about the embrace after the match by Spanish TV station La Uno.
	And appearing somewhat uncomfortable, told them, yeah, I did not enjoy that.
	She said the same thing when asked on a live stream on her Instagram.
	Footage of the kiss has gone viral since it was seen on air with some supporters hugely critical of Rubiales' behavior.
	By the way, I don't support it either.
	I've never...
	To the best of my knowledge, initiated a kiss on the lips with a woman I was not involved with.
	I wouldn't even do it with women I was related to.
	I can't imagine it.
	But I just want you to understand that.
	I'm not defending behavior I've ever engaged in.
	But I wouldn't say it is worthy of world attention and condemnation.
	One infuriated fan said the behavior of Rubiales on that podium was absolutely grim.
	Another added, this is just awful.
	There's absolutely nothing justifying Rubiales' behavior.
	So listen to this.
	Senior figure in Spanish.
	Let's see.
	Oh, another person said, the concerning fact here is the nonchalant manner Rubiales' behavior toward Hermoso.
	He does this on the biggest stage.
	I just want you to know this.
	He was accused of sexual assault.
	Wow.
	So the guy, the president of the Spanish football team kissed one of the the president of the Spanish football team kissed one of the women He was so excited.
	And Hermoso is 33. She's one of the world's most famous players in women's football.
	Been in it for 20 years.
	And let's see.
	She currently plays for Pachuca, a Mexican team.
	Now, I wanted to read to you, though, let's see.
	I wanted to read to you the number of examples of his being, I guess it's not in this particular piece, not critical.
	Sexual assault, he kissed her on the lips.
	I'm not defending him, folks.
	I'm defending against hysteria.
	Like the hysteria over the unprecedented, or at least since 1939, tropical storm that's closed the schools in the county I live for no reason.
	They closed the schools because they could.
	They learned during COVID the vast majority of parents will shut up when their kids are deprived of school.
	That's what they have learned.
	It's a very interesting question in life.
	Are you measured by how you act or how you feel?
	This is a very serious question and it is not meant in any other way but serious.
	When parents say they love their children, there's no doubt that they do.
	Unless you're a truly, truly sick psychopath, you love your children.
	It is about as natural an instinct.
	As the human being has to love one's children.
	So how do you reconcile loving one's children and supporting what harms them?
	It's not an easy question to answer.
	Everyone who has given this five minutes thought knows that children were hurt badly.
	By the school lockdowns.
	Those who've given it 10 minutes thought know that they were hurt badly by masking.
	Those who've thought it for 15 minutes knows that there was no reason on earth to give the vast majority of young people a vaccine.
	The COVID so-called vaccine.
	And yet they support it.
	Schools are closed again today and they're fine with it.
	How many parents will go, why did you close the school?
	Nothing happened.
	It wasn't even drizzling.
	Why did you deprive my child of yet another day at school?
	How many parents will write that to the school?
	I would say 1%.
	1 out of 100. Maybe 1 out of 100. Yes, okay.
	Wow.
	George in Pittsburgh.
	Hello.
	I like Pittsburgh.
	Hello.
	Yeah, hi, Dennis.
	Yes, I know you like Pittsburgh.
	We had seen you here when you were on your talker's tour.
	So I said hello briefly.
	Great, great.
	Thank you.
	But the reason I was calling is that when you talked about the groom who had...
	The number of no-shows, I could relate to that.
	We had a wedding for our daughter in August of 21. And right, you know, kind of near two-thirds of the way through COVID or so.
	But my wife would tell you we're the only ones who spent less money than anticipated, you know, because of COVID and the no-shows that we had.
	But we're expecting maybe $100.
	65 people, we had about 120. You know what?
	I'm actually, I'm pleasantly surprised that 120 people came.
	2021 was the worst.
	It was, and we were fortunate.
	Like I said, we're from Pittsburgh, but we have a place in Maryland, and it was a little less restrictive, especially in the county we were in.
	But the people who showed up hadn't been to a party in two years, had the time of their lives.
	And it makes you appreciate those people even more.
	It also kind of makes you evaluate the other people, especially the last minute, I can't come, when nothing had changed, you know, especially young, healthy people.
	Yeah, that's right.
	Well, I know this because someone I know well in my family, in his 30s, and he was told by a friend getting married, That he couldn't come to his wedding if he didn't get the COVID vaccine.
	Amazing.
	I don't quite understand that if you get vaccinated, why do you care if the next guy's vaccinated?
	Isn't that elementary logic?
	If the vaccine protected you against COVID, why did you care if the next guy got the vaccine?
	Well, reason versus hysteria.
	Hysteria always wins.
	Newport Beach, California.
	Peter, hello.
	Dennis, morning.
	Hi.
	Morning it is.
	Yes, it is.
	Well, not everywhere.
	But I, in large principle, agree with everything you've said, including COVID, this crazy, alarmist, ridiculous emergency that was declared.
	However, and by the way, I did go to the desert this weekend, and it was a complete nothing burger there, too.
	What would have happened if they were correct and an idiot Uncle Gavin hadn't have declared a state of emergency?
	I suspect you would have had a very different attitude, myself included.
	I wouldn't have had a different...
	I give you my word of honor.
	I would have said that he erred on the side of experience and credulity, and that I can assure you.
	To the extent that I know me, and I know me well, I believe, I would not have attacked him for that.
	Look, I lived my personal life ignoring the warnings.
	Thank you, gentlemen.
	Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for listening.
	I just want to take one more because I don't want to talk about this the entire hour, although it's very, very, very, very important.
	If they closed Los Angeles County for drizzle, then what's in store this fall with a new virus?
	Apparently, it is not possible for a large number of Americans, it is not possible for the government to cry wolf.
	Thank you.
	Thank you.
	They ruined the society with the COVID lockdowns and so much more.
	They're ruining society with the hormone blockers given to kids.
	And yet people trust the government.
	The statement that I've played maybe 50 times of the New Zealand Prime Minister saying, if you didn't hear it from the government, it is not true.
	I would say that half of Americans believe that.
	If you don't hear it from the government, It is not true.
	If you do hear it from the government, it is true.
	That's distressing.
	The wedding I went to last night, which 40 people did not attend, despite the fact that all they needed to do was walk out of their house or hotel room and see that there was just a rainfall.
	That's it.
	It was raining.
	Did they not drive in the rain?
	It was in Simi Valley, California.
	Here's a call from Simi Valley, California.
	Hello.
	Hi, Dennis.
	Yeah, I went to go to the gym yesterday, by the way, in my shorts and t-shirt, and there was a sign on the door that said, closed for the safety of our community.
	All right.
	And I wanted to take you back to...
	I hate speech memory lane.
	Don't worry, you don't need to hit the mute button.
	But remember when this was called Indian Summer?
	Yeah, yeah, I remember that term.
	You probably can't use it anymore.
	By the way, I'm very curious.
	Is your club open today?
	Yes, of course.
	So they were closed yesterday.
	Wait, you said of course?
	Yeah, because it's not raining anymore.
	Yeah, but they never close when it rains.
	No.
	So they didn't close because it was raining.
	They closed because they believed the government.
	Because they thought it was safer for the community.
	Yeah, but I don't understand why is that safer for the community.
	It's such an interesting point.
	So you see, this is what we have entered.
	You can't decide.
	We will tell you what is safe.
	Well, wait till the fall, my friends, and then we'll play this show for you.
	I won't even have to broadcast that day.
	We'll just play the show for you.
	Okay, let's see here.
	Oh, yes.
	A lot of reports coming out of China.
	About the downturn in its economy.
	And I must say that I don't see how that will be turned around.
	At least not under Xi and the stifling effect of communism.
	See, only capitalism builds wealth.
	So they flirted with some degree of capitalism Of free speech and anything that would challenge Communist Party rule.
	But a lot of people are disgusted with China.
	I try to buy anything that is not made in China.
	It's harder and harder to know where things are made.
	They now have this phony thing designed in.
	You notice that on boxes?
	Have you seen that?
	Designed in?
	They don't tell you where they're made?
	It's very common now to see that, designed in.
	So I know designed in generally means made in China.
	Designed in the United States, but I assume made there.
	So that's one thing.
	They're not reproducing.
	So the population is getting older and older.
	They have massive infrastructure that is not used.
	When I was in China a few years ago, The number of giant apartment buildings that had no tenants was something I had never seen before.
	back in a moment.
	Hello, everybody.
	Welcome to the Dennis Prager Show, coming to you from Tropical Storm Hillary.
	Ravaged, destroyed, flooded, hurricaned, stormed, flooded.
	All of that is nonsense.
	Nonsense.
	It is not even drizzling out.
	At least not.
	As of two hours ago when I arrived.
	I live in Los Angeles County where the schools are closed today.
	For as valid a reason as it was when they closed the schools during COVID. In other words, no valid reason.
	I have, however, I have a consolation in my life.
	I'm going to talk to Carol Swain.
	That is, it's a consolation.
	Carol Swain is one of my favorite people in the world.
	Simple as that.
	Carol Swain is a former, let me get it all right here, former professor of political science and law at Princeton and Vanderbilt.
	By the way, she has made some of the most popular videos at PragerU.
	Which we just learned.
	Texas has joined Florida in announcing that schools can use PragerU videos.
	Which is good news for the United States of America and terrible news for those who hate the country.
	The woke left.
	She has a brand new book out.
	Anything she writes is worth reading.
	The Adversity of Diversity.
	I want you to all say that five times.
	Adversity of diversity, adversity of diversity, adversity of diversity.
	I can.
	It's sort of like she sells seashells by the seashore.
	Carol Swain, my dear Carol, how are you?
	I am doing great, and it is such an honor to be on your show and to be part of the Prager family.
	And those videos have really changed my life.
	After I left academia, it gave me such a...
	It gave me the world as my platform.
	Like in academia, teaching at Princeton, at Vanderbilt, you know, I impacted a few people.
	Because of Prager, I impact the whole world.
	I'm going to tell Prager if I see him.
	Well, go.
	Well, that's exactly right.
	It's true.
	Yes, it is true.
	I couldn't agree.
	Look, it's over a billion views a year.
	Most of the people are under 35. It's a big deal.
	So, Carol, your book.
	First, let me begin with this.
	Do you know how, in dollar amount, how big the diversity industry is?
	It's a multi-billion dollar a year industry that after George Floyd's death, I mean, it was already huge.
	It just exploded.
	And his death was a very convenient event for people that were pushing that agenda.
	And this new book, The Adversity of Diversity, the idea of...
	Diversity training being all wrong.
	I held that in my head for some time, but when the Supreme Court took up the Harvard case and the North Carolina cases filed by Asian students who had been discriminated against in college and university admissions, I knew that the DEI CRT industry Had grown to the point that the only way to stop it would be for the Supreme Court to strike down affirmative action.
	And so 90% of my book was written in anticipation of the Supreme Court striking down race-based affirmative action.
	In fact, I had to wait for the decision to complete the book had they decided not to strike down race-based affirmative action.
	Which was a possibility because it took courage to do it.
	The book would have had to have been rewritten.
	Wow.
	Well, let me pursue this.
	So, as I have noted to my listeners, there are now more administrators at Stanford than students.
	And that is becoming typical.
	Is that correct?
	It is.
	And Dennis, what it's all about is counting numbers.
	All the schools want to look good.
	For rating agencies by showing how much diversity they have.
	And so they don't have real diversity on the faculty.
	They have a few token blacks or Hispanics in various departments, usually in the ethnic studies department.
	And they can count all those administrators as part of their diversity.
	And the diversity offices, they don't have real jobs.
	Their jobs are to stir up grievances, to keep the students riled up.
	And so it's very conflict rooted.
	It's a waste of resources.
	And I believe that by the Supreme Court eliminating the race-based college admissions, if the DEI programs are ended as well, and Florida and Texas both passed laws ending DEI in higher education.
	Those resources can be used for recruitment, for any remedial assistance that students might have, for strengthening the K-12 educational system.
	It will free up so many millions, if not billions of dollars that can be Redeploy it where it will make a difference.
	So, here's a question I am sure no interviewer has asked you.
	But I am sincerely interested.
	In an answer, I'm not sure you can answer it because it's a hypothetical.
	I can answer anything.
	Just throw it at me.
	I love it.
	Before we finish this interview, I want to talk about how that decision impacts DEI in corporate America.
	Yes, in corporate America.
	Okay, fine.
	Good.
	So, I wonder all the time if these DEI administrators on college campuses or at corporations lost their jobs.
	What would they do for a living?
	Oh, my, because they're not qualified to do much.
	Yes, exactly.
	Yes, they're not.
	That's right.
	Many of them majored in programs that ended in studies.
	And so we know that those programs were set up by the aggressive affirmative action regime to just get people through quickly, to have an easy major.
	They are not qualified to do very much, and there was a time on university campuses that we joked about the fact that they were not going to be able to get jobs.
	Well, they became the DEI program officers, and they have influence over corporations and organizations that they don't deserve.
	They're not qualified to hold those positions, and they really have no sense of the law, no sense of the Civil Rights Act.
	Or the Equal Protection Clause.
	And they're much worse than your old-fashioned traditional affirmative action officers because back then they did know a little bit about the Civil Rights Act.
	They did know about the Constitution.
	Today's DEI CRT personnel, they totally disregard the laws of the land.
	They're all about pushing an agenda.
	It's conflict-based.
	It's rooted in Marxism.
	And it's dangerous.
	And what it has done is awaken white people to the fact that they have rights too, that they have civil rights, that they're protected by the Constitution.
	Consequently, more and more white people are filing lawsuits, I would say, and winning those lawsuits.
	More and more corporations are realizing that there's no value added.
	And so they have started quietly letting those people go.
	Really?
	Carol, you're the bringer of...
	You have to read my book to find out.
	I document all this.
	The Adversity of Diversity, folks.
	It is up at DennisPrager.com.
	That is interesting.
	So the woman who came up with the ingenious idea, how can I ruin Budweiser in a day by designing a Bud Light beer can with a transgender female on it?
	Was she one of these diversity people that you're referring to?
	Well, what it is is that the college and university environments are turning out people.
	They're turning out students in every field, and they're just focused on it.
	That's their mission.
	And they really believe that they're doing something positive.
	And I would say that she was educated in an environment that was very woke, and she took her values into the workplace.
	And all of the nonsense that we've seen on college and university campuses, the trigger warnings, the political correctness, the safe spaces, again, some of us laughed and said, well, wait till they join the real world.
	They're going to find out the real world doesn't work like that.
	What they did is that they went out into the job market, found positions, and they have sort of recreated the college environment in our corporations and organizations.
	And what has happened is that many workplaces have gotten away from the mission of the organization or the company.
	When I was in school and I took business courses, I learned that corporations were in the business of making profits, that they were supposed to pursue profits.
	They were supposed to protect the interests of shareholders.
	All of that's been lost because of social engineering.
	The book is The Adversity of Diversity.
	Carol Swain is the author.
	We'll return in a moment.
	The book is up at tennisprager.com.
	I'm talking with Carol Swain, former professor at Princeton and Vanderbilt.
	And she is as good a human as she is as bright a human and strong a human.
	I know her well.
	And she has made five videos for PragerU.
	I want you to know, Carol, that Julie Hartman, with whom I do the Dennis and Julie podcast each week, is in studio with me.
	She comes in often on third hours.
	And I'd like you to tell Carol...
	What you told me about her videos.
	Well, first of all, hi, Carol.
	It's nice to meet you over the radio.
	You are one of the people who influenced me the most in my journey to conservatism.
	When I discovered PragerU, your video on why the Democratic South became Republican was, I think, maybe the second or third that I watched.
	And in five minutes, you upended my entire understanding of American history before that moment.
	And from there, I watched your three-fifths.
	Thank you so much.
	And Dennis and Julie, I want to tell you that when I'm traveling, Young kids come up to me and they recognize me and they are introducing me and I'm meeting their parents.
	And I have met many young people who say they watch those videos, they were impacted by them.
	And in the Black community, there's sort of been a movement where people have been posting the videos and sharing the videos and commenting on the videos.
	And so that was going on.
	A couple of months ago, I learned about it, and I actually commented on some of those sites.
	So, I mean, I'm involved with an organization that is about changing the world, and I do believe that, you know, God has called me, he's equipped me, he's positioned me, and that everything that's happened in my life, it was not by chance, and that leaving academia was one of the best decisions I ever made.
	I bet.
	Yeah, I would...
	Well, it's so funny.
	Yes, I guess you officially left academia.
	You now teach millions instead of 40. Right.
	Yes.
	What a loss.
	My classroom is the world.
	My classroom is the world.
	Yes, your classroom is the world.
	That is exactly how we feel.
	So, you taught at Princeton.
	Julie was at Harvard.
	And I just...
	I only mention it because everybody knows I don't even care if a kid went to college, let alone where they went.
	I told that to my own kids.
	But I want people to understand, for those who go, well, PragerU is not accredited.
	I want them to understand the people who are affected and who affect people.
	So let's now go to, I asked you, it was a very important question, dear listeners.
	I asked Carol Swain.
	And her book, by the way, I've got to say it again, because I know as an author, I get so annoyed at interviewers who don't mention the name of the book, so I don't want to fall into that sin.
	The Adversity of Diversity.
	It's a great name, and that is exactly what it is.
	And it is about this whole diversity thing.
	So, you said...
	Billions of dollars are given over to all these people in diversity.
	And I was thinking of universities, but you're right.
	Virtually every corporation now has this.
	Some of that's because of ESG. Go ahead, explain that.
	The environmental social governance movement that rates corporations based on how diverse they are, and that Dylan Mulvaney and all of that is connected to DEI, I mean,
	ESG pressures, because just like China has a social credit system where they rate individuals and rate businesses, they're doing that in America through ESG, and so that is part of what has taken place.
	This book really is saying that the same grounds that were used to strike down Race-based affirmative action in higher education dooms or should doom every DEI program in the world, well, in America.
	And it creates a conundrum for corporations.
	And they already see the ill effects of it.
	It's never been effective.
	It's never done what it purported to do.
	And so they know this.
	And one of the chapters that we have in the book, Chapter 4, a not-so-inconvenient death, The martyrdom of George Floyd.
	George Floyd's death was really, he was made a martyr because the left needed him.
	They needed him to take all of this to a whole new level.
	That's right.
	Well, one day, maybe, I'm not even sure, maybe one day it will be recognized.
	That he's not, he is not a saint to say, I mean, very few of us are saints, so I'm really understating it.
	If anybody saw the video, and I've been attacked relentlessly for noting this, but it's either true or not true, the issue isn't to attack, the issue is to ask, is it true?
	The police tried for, I don't know, a half hour, I don't remember.
	But if people watched the whole video with George Floyd, They kindly, literally kindly tried to get him into a police car.
	Well, there's something else.
	The first autopsy, it did not give the cause of death as suffocation.
	He had COVID. Well, I mean, they said he had COVID. They said everybody that died had COVID. But he was one of the ones they listed with COVID. He had heart disease.
	Fentanyl in the system.
	I think they said like a huge quantity that he may have been in the grips of dying when he asked to be taken out of the police car.
	The family did two additional autopsies.
	And I just briefly mentioned that in the chapter.
	They just used his death to advance their agenda.
	And we know that whenever the left needs an incident like that, they can find it.
	That's correct.
	The book, The Adversity of Diversity.
	Carol Swain up at DennisPrager.com.
	Final segment with a great woman.
	Just final segment this time.
	God willing, not our final segment.
	Carol Swain, who has gone from the little worlds of Princeton and Vanderbilt, To the gigantic world of her writing and her PragerU videos.
	Thank God for that.
	So, Julie was just reading to me that when you were at Vanderbilt, is it true, 1,500 students signed a petition against you?
	After I wrote an op-ed piece criticizing Islam, and it was the...
	Two weeks after the Chalet helped do attack.
	In fact, it was seven days.
	It created a firestorm and there was a protest of LGBTQ students.
	I'd never had a problem with any of them.
	They joined forces with, you know, the Muslim students and other students.
	And so I went through a tough period of time and I returned to teaching and then The BLM in 2016, after the five police officers were slain in Dallas, I was on CNN debating Areva Martin.
	She's a Los Angeles attorney.
	And I stated that Black Lives Matter was a Marxist group.
	They were a destructive force in our society and that people needed to go to their website.
	And I repeated the website on air.
	And after that, I had the Blacks on campus.
	Also opposing me.
	And I reflected on my situation and I decided to take early retirement.
	Best decision ever made in my life.
	That is an amazing story.
	They called me a hater.
	Yeah, a hater, yeah.
	Right.
	It has never been as misapplied as it is to you.
	So I was going to say Ayaan Hirsi Ali, that great black woman from Somalia, has done some PragerU videos.
	And we are called Islamophobic because we have her speak.
	Because she cites issues she has growing up as a Muslim girl in Somalia with the way Islam is practiced.
	In many countries, not in all by any means.
	She never uses the word all Muslims.
	Nobody does.
	But you can't say anything.
	You can say all whites are racist.
	But you can't say some Islamic countries are doing evil.
	Okay?
	That's the sick world of the left.
	What I argued was that the Obama administration needed to do a better job of vetting.
	The Muslims that they were bringing into this country and that they did not share our values when it came to free speech and all of the things about the Constitution that we once took for granted and now we don't know where it stands.
	But that was my point in the op-ed piece.
	I did make a statement that Islam was not like other religions, that it posed a danger and they used that to say that I had painted all Muslims as dangerous.
	Yep, I know.
	1,500 students.
	Did any faculty come to your defense?
	The faculty later passed a free speech resolution, and there was a student from California that did his own Change.org petition in favor of my free speech, and his petition got far more signatures than the one that...
	Those were not Vandy students.
	The whole movement were...
	Students across the country that were leftists, they targeted five conservative professors that were tenured.
	They didn't go for low-hanging fruit.
	And so it was not 1,500 Vanderbilt students.
	It was a change.org petition that anyone could sign.
	And they kept changing the petition.
	First, they wanted me fired, and they figured out they couldn't have me fired.
	Then they wanted me suspended.
	They couldn't have me suspended.
	Then they wanted me to go through mandatory sensitivity training.
	And so, you know, they couldn't do any of that.
	And when I left academia, I left on my own terms.
	I left early because it was a cushy position.
	And the thing about academia, if you're a professor, you know, you can teach, you're qualified to do research, but there's not a high demand for professors.
	Ex-professors when they leave academia, especially if there's some controversy.
	So I gave up my tenure.
	I walked away not knowing what I would do.
	And I have never really looked back.
	Yeah.
	Folks, the book is The Adversity of Diversity.
	Carol Swain, watch her videos at PragerU.
	Carol, God bless you.
	Thank you so much.
	My honor.
	The adversity of diversity.
	Dennis Prager here.
	Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast.
	To hear the entire three hours of my radio show, commercial-free, every single day, become a member of PragerTopia.
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