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Culture and Values in America

Dennis Prager

June 1994

Where does evil come from? It comes to the liberals from outside; it comes to non-liberals and according to the belief of our founding fathers from, the inside. That is why our founding fathers so believed in the separation of power. They didn't trust people. The less you trust people, the better society you will make, because you will always curb power. It's one of the biggest lessons I learned in my life, that's why I never call for unity. With all respect to those of you who love unity, I am scared witless about unity. I love disunity. Unity causes a lot of problems. I, in my own religion, in Judaism, I thank God for three denominations. I wish there were a dozen denominations. I love it. You know why this is a democracy? Because Protestantism did have so many denominations. God bless Catholicism, and listeners of mine know I mean that sincerely, Protestants founded this country, not Jews, not Catholics. Part of it was as a result of their disunity. You can't be totalitarian when you're not united. I love that fact.

That's why I am scared about governmental power. The government's ability to do evil is infinitely greater that it's ability to do good. That's the single greatest problem with the Republican party. The Republican party has a terrible dilemma. The Democrats promise everything. Republicans promise not to do everything. In and of itself, it's a terrible dilemma. "We Democrats will give you everything." "We Republicans will only enable you to do things, but you will have to do it." Who gets your vote? It's a serious problem that Republicans have, because constitutionally, we don't believe that government can solve your problems. Many Americans have come to believe, "Hey just take this card and bring it any where you want, you'll be taken care of." When our President did that it was quintessential democratic talk. Take this card and life's problems end. That's, in effect, what was being sold. And Americans are buying that more and more. This is a frightening development; this will be a calamity.

Therefore, number one, the great battle is the individual, the evil comes from within, not from outside. That's number one.

Number two. As a result of this belief in human goodness, there is, on the other side a tremendous emphasis on feelings. Feelings have become, in America, the most important thing. I talk to young people all over America; they are very big on feelings. I learned this when I asked the following question, and I have been asking it for fifteen years to high school seniors, ask your own if you know any. Would you save your dog or a stranger first if both were drowning. In every instance in fifteen years, every instance, one third vote for the dog, one third for the stranger, one third find the question too difficult. Now, in every single instance, what is most important is, I ask the ones who won't vote for the person, "Why not?" Either the ones who don't know, or the ones who actually would vote for their dog, and I get the following answer: "I feel for my dog. I love my dog. I don't feel for the stranger."

We have raised a generation of Americans to believe that all action emanates from feelings. Feelings are what matter. How do you feel about it?. That is the question left of center. How do you feel about it? And when you say "You're wrong," when I tell American youth, "You're wrong, that is wrong, it is a wrong position; human beings are more valuable than animals." They look at me as if a fascist has entered the room. "How dare you tell us our feelings are wrong." Feelings is the new American religion. But I tell them, "Hey kids (men and women, whatever I will call them) you know, I have two dogs and I love them more than I love anyone in this room." I tell you very straight out: I don't know you, I don't love you. I do love both my dogs more than any of you. But, if you should be so lucky as to have to drown, you should best do it around me. The reason being, I will save any of you before I will save the dog I love. I honor my feelings, but I don't live in accord with them.

The feeling-based America is a dangerous thing. Feelings are not noble. People feel for other spouses. That's fine. But to sleep with other spouses is not fine. That is the way of life. We don't teach that to kids, we teach feelings based. I'll give you my classic example. When my oldest son was two years old, he was in a park in Los Angeles. A five year old boy, total stranger, comes over and throws him on the ground. That's not the story, the story is the five year old's mother's reaction. She comes over, she's distraught. And what does she say to her five year old, who is practicing to be a Nazi? She says to him: "What's troubling you darling?"

Whenever I tell this story, I sight the following: I never met this woman in my life. I know nothing about her. But of one thing I am absolutely certain, she went to graduate school. The reason I am certain she went to graduate school, is because in graduate school in America, where the liberals have their temples, that is where you learn that feelings are more important than behavior. You honor the feelings. So yes, he threw a child on the ground. Those of us who didn't attend graduate school in psychology would actually yell at our child, would be furious at our child if he or she threw a baby on the floor. But if you go to Stanford, you learn differently. You learn something must be troubling the little boy. Now it may very well be that something is troubling the little boy. But only in an inverted moral world, do I care. I am certain something troubled Stalin. I have no doubt something troubled him. That is of very little interest to me. I was much more interested in shooting Stalin, than I was in understanding what troubled him. And I mean this utterly sincerely; there is a totally different world view. If people are basically good, if your kid is a bully, then clearly something is troubling him.

But I am not interested in what's troubling him. You may be, your parent may be. I am interested in stopping him. You don't care how I feel, you care how I act. I don't care how any of you feel, maybe your wives or husbands do, maybe your kids do and your shrink does. No one else in the world cares a damn how you feel. All we care is how you act. The primacy of behavior has been lost and everything is understanding. The LA Times, after the riots in my city, five days straight, whole section, "Understanding the Rage." Hey, you don't think white skin heads have rage? Ku Klux Klanners don't have rage. How come we don't understand their rage? Why is a white who burns down a Turkish home in Germany a fascist, but a black who burns down a Korean home in LA, a victim?