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2-26-98 Dennis Prager attacked the US Hockey team for destroying their locker room in Winter Olympics in Japan. Prager says that the hockey players' actions is another sign that our society is in moral decline. P. points out that the hockey players were drunk when they did the destruction, not smoking cigarettes. A caller said Prager jumped to conclusions. He said Prager had his facts wrong. That most US players acted well. That the total damage was only $3000. That some of the damage came from the lousy construction of the chairs and other property. A teacher phoned: Parents aren't disciplining their kids and our society are not punishing criminals. Prager then endured a pounding from Mark. P. asked him why he bothered listening? Mark quoted Prager, "you have to know your enemy." Prager: "When I tell you what well educated people believe, is so stupid, this caller Mark…[spouts] such drivel. He can't even say that men are more physically aggressive. Even two feminist Stanford professors wrote that boys are more aggressive." Prager gave Mark abundant time to defend himself. A caller said that the hockey players' moral cowardice springs from Clinton. Prager said certain ideas at college influenced him until he grew up. He raised his first son without guns. Then he saw his gentle David make guns out of sticks and bread. And he realized that aggression in males is innate. P. described the US hockey players as pampered spoiled brats, and a refutation of the thesis that poverty causes crime. These players are rich, how come affluence does not lead to decency? P. castigated the Nike ad that said finishing second was worthless. He gave the example of the Buffalo Bills, who made it to the Super Bowl several times, and lost each time. The Bills came to be regarded as losers. P. says this attitude is unhealthy. A caller said a study of the poorest city in Israel found that it was also the least crime ridden, because it was so religious. P. said that just as many religious people believe things on faith, so too do many secularists - such as the liberals who believe that economics shapes moral behavior, that poverty causes crime. P. says this is why people get so angry with him when he debunks that poverty causes crime - he is debunking their religion. Virtually everyone, believes Prager, is a fundamentalist in his own way. Everyone has a set of fundamental beliefs that are not based on empirical evidence. The difference says Prager, is that the religious are more likely to admit that their beliefs have a large component of faith. Caller Robert says that Americans proud of American hockey victories should also be embarrassed at such behavior as the trashing. You can't only be proud of your country and not ashamed. P. feels ashamed of the American pilot who in Italy who snipped the line of a cable car, causing 20 deaths. A caller said crime causes poverty. He spent his summers in Tijuana on a Christian mission. He remembers how poor the people were, yet the area was safe to walk around at night. A caller took Prager to task for personally attacked callers. Prager said he never attacks persons, not the President, not callers. The caller disagreed. Prager said that if people did not understand the word "innate," they should not listen to the show. Listen to one of the other 98 stations. Innate means built in…born with… Prager said that he only attacks ideas, not people. If you can't understand that, then you should not listen to his show. Prager said he was debating whether to write his next book on why people do evil, or a book on sex. P. said fathers need to show their sons how to channel their aggression. A woman caller with three sons said how much she'd learned about her husband by raising boys. P. and a caller argued over the high rates of Jewish crime on the Lower East Side at the turn of the century, and the large number of Jews in organized crime. P. blamed social dislocation as opposed to poverty. P. said this was a social and moral problem common to first generation immigrants. P says every immigrant group turns frequently to crime, the Irish, the Jews, hispanics… What about Iranians? P. says they do not seem to be committing lots of crime because of their tight social and family structure. P. says that there is a relation between poverty and family break up. Caller and P. agreed that the rich and poor commit different types of crime…white collar vs. violent. P. would not say that junk bond trader Michael Milken did wrong, saying that the Wall Street Journal argues that Milken did not commit any crime. The Milken family donated millions of dollars to Prager's synagogue - Stephen S. Wise which named its high school the Milken High School. Prager defended the decision to name the school after the Milkens. A caller asked Prager which type of book would make more money - the one on sex or the one on evil? P. said money did not animate him. Prager said that there was a conspiracy today to drive him crazy. He certainly took a pounding, and gave back at least as strongly as he took. P. says he is reinforced in his views when those who disagree with him "are so irresponsible." P. says Larry Elder teases him every day about his, Prager's wearing of a tie, but now that Larry is on TV regularly, he wears a tie. Larry says he will stop, and return to an afro and a dashiki (sp?). Larry appeared on TV today with his KABC colleague Gloria All Ready To Sue (Allred). Gloria defended a man assaulted by Tommy Lee, the rock drummer husband of Pamela Lee Anderson, star of Baywatch. "Prager's favorite show," says Larry. "I never miss it." Dennis. "For Dennis, it is either Baywatch or Prokofiev [classical music composer]," says Larry. Larry talked on TV today with Allred about Pamela Lee Anderson charging her husband Tommy with abuse. Larry pointed out how 80% of women who initially charge their mates with abuse, later recant their charges. Prager and Elder were both astounded that they agreed with Allred - that the judge should've jailed Tommy for beating up Gloria's client. Prager felt uncomfortable with Larry's criticism of Gloria. "We all at the station like Gloria," says Prager. P. plans to talk about why men must listen to their wives if they want a good marriage.
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