Dennis Prager Show - Dennis and Julie - Airplanes Hold The Dregs Of Humanity Aired: 2023-11-10 Duration: 17:32 === Planes and People Watching (09:19) === [00:00:00] It is endlessly fascinating to me to people watch on planes. [00:00:05] And my gosh, I'm just going to say it. [00:00:07] There are some dregs of humanity on airplanes these days. [00:00:13] Like, creepy, unkempt... [00:00:15] The airplane today is essentially a flying Greyhound bus. [00:00:20] It is really... [00:00:21] It's gotten like... [00:00:23] Do you know what a Greyhound bus is? [00:00:24] No, I don't. [00:00:26] I didn't think so. [00:00:27] You don't miss a beat. [00:00:29] That's true. [00:00:30] You don't miss a beat. [00:00:30] Yeah, I don't know what it is. [00:00:32] Okay. [00:00:32] I tried to play it off like I totally knew. [00:00:34] Great, so... [00:00:35] I'm just 24. Correct. [00:00:38] Greyhound bus, though, still exists. [00:00:39] That is the cheapest mode of transportation. [00:00:44] I think it's the cheapest. [00:00:46] And it is... [00:00:48] So you don't have, generally, the highest class. [00:00:53] I don't mean economic class. [00:00:54] Just the highest class of people. [00:00:57] On those buses. [00:01:01] Greyhound has stations or depots in every city in the country. [00:01:06] I mean, if you want to go from Oklahoma City to, I don't know, Stillwater, Oklahoma, if there is such a place, you take a Greyhound bus. [00:01:17] What else are you going to take? [00:01:19] There's no train. [00:01:20] There's no plane. [00:01:22] So, right, train, plane, and bus, basically. [00:01:25] Okay, so that's all. [00:01:26] I feel like the crowd on planes has gotten worse. [00:01:31] I don't know why. [00:01:32] I have no data. [00:01:33] The reason is because they dress like they're going to the beach. [00:01:39] It's also just, it's dress, it's that, I'm sorry to get TMI, though all of us have been there. [00:01:45] A lot of people are very unkempt. [00:01:47] They seem dirty. [00:01:50] Like, they're not being sanitary. [00:01:52] I mean, I was next to a woman, and she was, like, eating a burger next to me, and the ketchup was dripping, and I was just like, oh, my God. [00:02:02] And sometimes you see these people, and they look really creepy, and some of them look kind of drugged out, and you're just like, I would love to go around with a pen and paper on the flight and go, where are you going? [00:02:14] Or, sorry, well, we know where you're going. [00:02:16] Why are you flying to New York? [00:02:20] What do you do for a living? [00:02:21] Are you married? [00:02:22] Do you have children? [00:02:24] If you could distill your life motto into a sentence, what would it be? [00:02:28] I just want to get a profile. [00:02:31] Who are these people? [00:02:33] Just weird, weird people on these planes. [00:02:36] Has society gotten more weird? [00:02:38] By the way, were you reading a book about that? [00:02:40] About weirdness? [00:02:42] Oh, no, no, no. [00:02:43] I was, but that was a serious book. [00:02:45] It's about how Westerners are weird in the best sense. [00:02:49] That we morphed to a different drummer. [00:02:51] No, that was not about weird people. [00:02:53] I feel like society, this is either going to land totally or not land at all. [00:02:58] I feel like people have gotten more weird. [00:03:01] And more delinquent. [00:03:03] That's probably true. [00:03:05] And what I think about, remember, this is back to my old question to you. [00:03:12] Who has it worse? [00:03:14] You who didn't know America as I knew America. [00:03:19] Or me, who knew America like I knew America. [00:03:25] When I flew at your age, people didn't show up in shorts and t-shirts. [00:03:34] I sit in first class at 6'4 and traveling every single week of the year. [00:03:42] You don't need to explain it. [00:03:43] Don't worry. [00:03:44] Anyway, I sit in first class so I see everybody who comes on board. [00:03:49] And I think the next flight I am going to count the number of men, it's more with men, wearing t-shirts. [00:03:59] You know what? [00:04:00] You and I disagree on this. [00:04:01] I don't have a problem with comfortable clothes on a plane. [00:04:05] I agree with you, society in general. [00:04:08] And a big reason is because you didn't see society when it didn't just wear comfortable. [00:04:13] That's totally fair. [00:04:14] I think on planes, especially, you're so cramped, they're freezing. [00:04:18] You probably think they're wonderful. [00:04:19] I think they're freezing. [00:04:20] You think planes are freezing? [00:04:22] You don't think planes are freezing? [00:04:24] The first thing I do is turn on the air vent on top. [00:04:28] The first thing I do is... [00:04:29] I just turn off the air vent. [00:04:30] I bring scarves and double... [00:04:32] It's a classic male-female difference. [00:04:34] I will wear two long-sleeved shirts and a sweatshirt and I'll have a scarf. [00:04:37] And I'm freezing. [00:04:38] Oh, gosh. [00:04:39] You are so wrong about this. [00:04:41] Wow. [00:04:41] Wrong is the word. [00:04:42] Go ahead. [00:04:43] Yes, it is the word. [00:04:45] I hear you, society in general, we have definitely just succumbed to the dregs with regard to dressing. [00:04:53] But on planes, because they pack you in like sardines and they're so... [00:04:59] And it's so freezing. [00:05:00] I get the comfortable. [00:05:03] But again, to me, it's more like the sloppiness, the unkemptness, the unsanitariness, just people who seem drugged out, who kind of smell bad. [00:05:20] That's the kind of stuff that I get very worried about. [00:05:25] Because if you look at footage... [00:05:27] I mean, you know, this is your whole... [00:05:29] I actually knew America. [00:05:30] I look at footage of 50 years ago, what people looked like walking down the street. [00:05:35] You just didn't see people who looked like delinquents. [00:05:40] I'm sorry. [00:05:41] Both in the dress, but also in the sanitariness. [00:05:45] You just didn't see people like that. [00:05:50] Have you seen... [00:05:51] We may have mentioned this in the past, but have you seen... [00:05:55] Pictures of the way people dressed up for baseball games? [00:05:59] Yes, it depresses me. [00:06:01] In the 1950s, and we're not talking about the 1850s. [00:06:04] I know, it depresses me. [00:06:05] In the 1950s, everybody watching this or listening to this should just look up pictures. [00:06:13] It's easily found. [00:06:14] Baseball game in the 1950s. [00:06:17] Just, I guess, Google that. [00:06:20] People dressed so much better for a baseball game than they do for church today. [00:06:26] Yep. [00:06:27] Let alone for an airplane. [00:06:29] And why does it matter? [00:06:31] We've talked about this. [00:06:33] It doesn't matter to me. [00:06:34] It matters because one has to ask the question, why did people dress up whenever they left the house? [00:06:42] That is an important question to ask. [00:06:45] Baseball game, restaurant, airplane. [00:06:49] Why? [00:06:50] Because the underlying thesis was, it's my way of showing respect. [00:06:58] To my fellow individual. [00:07:00] Yes. [00:07:01] Well, we have talked about this, how there's no sense of respect for society, respect for the other people around you. [00:07:08] And the thing I was just thinking about as you were speaking, and I was contemplating why it is that we see, as I call them, way more delinquents or delinquent behavior today than we did back then. [00:07:21] And it's because there's no shame anymore. [00:07:25] People don't have any shame if they're on a plane eating a burger and their ketchup's dripping and they're playing the video game. [00:07:31] There's just... [00:07:33] We live in a society where it's like, let your freak flag fly. [00:07:36] Well, it's particularly interesting given the high status of the self-esteem movement. [00:07:41] Right. [00:07:41] So you would think, doesn't self-esteem demand that I dress and act in a certain way, comporting with my self-image? [00:07:49] No, no. [00:07:50] The self-esteem movement means do what is authentic to you. [00:07:54] Yes, that's right. [00:07:55] Despite whatever people around you make. [00:07:57] Like, if I were, I don't care how hungry, and I eat on planes. [00:08:00] I'm not against people eating on planes. [00:08:02] Against the ketchup falling. [00:08:04] If I had a burger and I thought that it was going to make the person next to me my sopiness, I don't care how hungry I was. [00:08:13] I would never do it. [00:08:13] Out of dignity and self-respect, I would feel so ashamed, even if I didn't know the person. [00:08:21] I wouldn't want people around me looking and being like, thank God I'm not next to that girl. [00:08:26] It's amazing how I resonate to your statement. [00:08:32] So I'm a big fan of tuna salad. [00:08:34] I love egg salad. [00:08:35] I love tuna salad. [00:08:36] I love chicken salad. [00:08:38] I just like that food. [00:08:41] And I don't eat the tuna salad on the plane because a lot of people don't like the smell of fish. [00:08:46] Yes, yes. [00:08:47] Yes, I'm very careful with what I eat on planes. [00:08:50] It's a very good point. [00:08:51] No, no, you made the point. [00:08:52] Oh. [00:08:53] So it is a very good point. [00:08:53] It's a great point. [00:08:55] It's an excellent point. [00:08:56] It's a very good point. [00:08:58] Yes. [00:08:58] Someone needs to... [00:08:59] I'll watch the movie on airplanes because we have to do another movie on airplanes and how just utterly miserable. === Government Regulation Surprise (03:48) === [00:09:05] And you know another thing? [00:09:06] I'll say this one thing and then I really want to get to your judgment point. [00:09:09] There's no customer service anymore. [00:09:12] It's really in every area of life. [00:09:15] Right. [00:09:16] So here's... [00:09:17] Boy, this will blow your mind. [00:09:20] Do you know that there was only one time in my life... [00:09:24] That I was for government regulation rather than free enterprise? [00:09:29] Yes, airplanes. [00:09:30] Yes. [00:09:30] Under Jimmy Carter. [00:09:32] Yes. [00:09:32] Had I told you this? [00:09:34] No, I heard you say it on the radio. [00:09:35] Oh. [00:09:36] And I remember at the time thinking, am I embarrassing myself? [00:09:42] Because it so contradicts what I stand for. [00:09:45] Right. [00:09:46] But I strongly suspected that once airlines compete only on price, They won't give a damn about how they treat you. [00:09:56] And I was right. [00:09:58] They used to compete on comfort and service and on time dependability. [00:10:06] Wait, so I don't understand. [00:10:07] So you were for the deregulation? [00:10:10] No, I said it was the only time in my life I was for government control rather than deregulation. [00:10:16] The government controlled airfares. [00:10:19] That's what happened until Jimmy Carter. [00:10:23] And then it was decided, and it made perfect sense, especially those of us for pre-enterprise, etc. [00:10:31] They said, no, let the free market rule in airline travel. [00:10:38] But there's no such thing as the free market ruling in airline travel. [00:10:43] First of all, there's no free market, no matter what. [00:10:47] Because... [00:10:47] I mean, there is to a certain extent, but there isn't entirely because there's a limitation on the number of gates. [00:10:54] See, the argument, the free enterprise argument runs as follows. [00:11:01] You make, you sell frankfurters. [00:11:03] Well, in the free market, I'll sell better frankfurters at a cheaper price. [00:11:08] I'll win. [00:11:09] Because there's no limit to the number of Frankfurters you can sell. [00:11:13] But there's an inherent limit to how many flights you can schedule. [00:11:17] It's based on the number of gates at an airport. [00:11:20] End of issue. [00:11:21] So it was always limited. [00:11:24] It was never really fully free enterprise. [00:11:27] But even putting that aside, all I knew was, if the government regulates the fares, how will they compete? [00:11:35] On excellence. [00:11:37] When they stop competing on excellence and only compete on fairs, you don't get excellence. [00:11:43] Yes. [00:11:43] The seats got much tighter. [00:11:45] There's less legroom today than there was before. [00:11:49] They would even advertise, oh, Fly United, we have more legroom than American, or something to that effect. [00:11:58] This must blow your mind. [00:12:01] Do you even know that everybody, even in coach, got a meal? [00:12:04] No. [00:12:07] That's amazing. [00:12:08] It is amazing because this is not that long ago, but in your life, it would not have applied. [00:12:15] Everyone, if first class got a meal, economy got a meal. [00:12:20] That's equity. [00:12:20] That was equity. [00:12:21] Where's the equity? [00:12:22] That's right. [00:12:22] That's the joke. [00:12:23] It was equity. [00:12:24] It was inclusion. [00:12:25] Because they competed on food. [00:12:28] You'll have a better meal on Delta, but not anymore. [00:12:32] Wow. [00:12:33] Oh, okay. [00:12:34] Wow. [00:12:34] I'm starting to feel bad for myself that I didn't live in the old America. === Airline Glamour Lost (04:54) === [00:12:38] Oh, well, that is funny. [00:12:42] It's not funny, but it's funny. [00:12:45] I mean, the memories... [00:12:49] There was glamour to airline travel. [00:12:54] I'm sorry. [00:12:55] Come again? [00:12:56] There was glamour? [00:12:57] Yes, that's right. [00:12:57] Oh, wow. [00:12:59] That would take an athletic, vigorous imagination. [00:13:03] So this will really get me in trouble. [00:13:05] But that's fine. [00:13:07] You're already in trouble. [00:13:08] Exactly. [00:13:09] Anyway, the question is not whether it's politically correct. [00:13:13] The question is whether there's any truth to what I'm about to say. [00:13:16] So here's another interesting example. [00:13:19] And I'm torn. [00:13:20] I fully admit it, I'm torn. [00:13:22] But until I don't know what year, I assume the 80s. [00:13:29] The airlines hired, I don't remember any male flight attendants. [00:13:33] They were called stewardesses. [00:13:35] That's what they were. [00:13:36] They weren't flight attendants. [00:13:38] They were stewardesses because it was basically always female. [00:13:42] They were almost always young. [00:13:44] And they had to meet certain physical requirements in terms of weight, for example. [00:13:49] Oh, really? [00:13:51] Oh, totally. [00:13:51] In terms of weight? [00:13:52] Yes. [00:13:53] Because it was a glamorous position. [00:13:56] Wow. [00:13:57] And you had to retire at a certain age. [00:14:00] I don't know, was it 40? [00:14:01] I mean, it was clearly a young age. [00:14:04] Then, totally understandably, they said, no, no, no, no. [00:14:08] It's not fair. [00:14:09] We want to work as long as we want. [00:14:12] We don't want any weight requirement. [00:14:14] And now you have a fair number, and I'm hardly thin, but I'm not a flight attendant. [00:14:22] And for talk show hosts and writing, weight doesn't matter. [00:14:27] But in the airplane today, it is not glamorous, obviously, in terms of who is serving you, because weight doesn't matter and age doesn't matter. [00:14:41] Now, this sounds sexist, this sounds ageist and all of that stuff. [00:14:45] The issue is not, is it sexist or ageist? [00:14:48] The issue is, is it true? [00:14:51] And I totally get it that people don't want to retire at 40 and look for other work. [00:14:58] But if you know in advance that is the nature of this job, then I don't know that it's inherently wrong. [00:15:06] But all I'm saying is there was a sense of glamour. [00:15:10] Well, look at models. [00:15:12] I mean, models have... [00:15:13] I think they've kind of tried to move in a different direction now. [00:15:16] Yeah, though they're moving back now. [00:15:18] It's interesting. [00:15:18] I was just reading Victoria's Secret, I think, is going back to its... [00:15:22] But models... [00:15:22] I mean, my God, to be a model, they're ruthless with your weight and your age. [00:15:27] Yeah, well, they were... [00:15:28] They're crazy on the models. [00:15:29] The models are almost anorexic. [00:15:31] So don't even start me. [00:15:32] The models' world is not healthy. [00:15:35] But the... [00:15:37] Believe me, the stewardess is... [00:15:40] I mean, let me tell you something. [00:15:42] If I would say to a friend, you know, I'm going out, which I did. [00:15:45] I remember once I was saying, oh, I'm having dinner with this American Airlines stewardess. [00:15:50] The assumption was she was really beautiful and glamorous and so on. [00:15:56] And they were right. [00:15:57] That was the assumption. [00:15:59] So all I'm saying is that was a different time. [00:16:04] So is it a better time? [00:16:06] In that regard, well, it's certainly better for the women who enter a flight. [00:16:11] There's no question. [00:16:12] But I don't think people should argue that no price is paid. [00:16:17] But it's all of one. [00:16:20] The stewardess was special and the passenger was special because they dressed special. [00:16:26] And so it's all gone. [00:16:28] It's just amazing in general to learn that... [00:16:32] That there was that glamour. [00:16:35] Again, what you should do is Google airline stewardesses 1970s or 1960s. [00:16:45] And you know what? [00:16:45] I'm sure, like, look, and I think it's been, you know, there are some more strict things like weight, and I think that stuff was better to have been done away with. [00:16:56] You know, it must have been more fun for the stewardesses to show up every day to work. [00:17:02] I would think so. [00:17:03] And feel beautiful. [00:17:04] Yeah. [00:17:04] And maybe even, like, flirt with a... [00:17:06] You know, I feel like... [00:17:07] Yeah. [00:17:07] Well, it was a freer world in that way. [00:17:09] By the way, I want to... [00:17:11] I want to... [00:17:13] I'm really of two minds on this. [00:17:15] Because I fully understand that a flight attendant could do her job. [00:17:21] Talking about the women now. [00:17:23] Can do her job and be overweight. [00:17:25] That's clear. [00:17:26] Even in terms of if, God forbid, there's an emergency. [00:17:31] I totally get that.