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Interview: Dennis Prager, radio host and publisher of "Ultimate Issues" discusses his view that the issue of we humans not hurting each other is the most important issue, and how it relates to the O.J. Simpson case 06/30/94 SNYDER: And you seem to be a rather conservative man, but you don't seem to have an agenda as does Mr. Limbaugh. Is--is that true, you don't have any political agenda?
Mr. PRAGER: It is--it is absolutely true. And this will sound so corny that I am almost afraid to say it publicly. I am preoccupied with one issue and that is good and evil--that people not hurt each other. Everything else in life is secondary. If people treated each other decently, we would live in heaven. The world would be heavenly.
SNYDER: Mm-hmm.
Mr. PRAGER: And it is, to me, one of the great riddles of life that goodness is not the preoccupation of everybody, since everybody wants to be treated good and yet it isn't. People have a 1,000 other agendas. Good is not the big one. ... Mr. PRAGER: ...Jimmy Breslin in an--in an editorial had a very good point on this and he said, `This is the best-known American to be accused of murder in the history of the United States.' And then I said, `Hey, yeah. Well, then it makes sense. It makes sense the preoccupation.'
SNYDER: Except to think about that quote and then to think of another one that I saw in Time magazine last week when they had the cover picture. The--the supposed--well, the doctored picture of O.J.--the enhanced picture, which, by the way, I thought flattered him more than--than dis--disflattered him. But here in the lead paragraph is--is a--Dennis--the quote, O.J. Simpson, quote, `the most notorious, double-murder defendant in the history of the world'--period. Shouldn't we see a footnote that documents that somewhere?
Mr. PRAGER: Well, the world...
SNYDER: I mean...
Mr. PRAGER: ...that's a large statement of the world.
SNYDER: In history--in history.
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah.
SNYDER: That goes back to Adam and Eve, doesn't it?
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah.
SNYDER: I mean, how--how about Cain? Didn't he do a couple of bad ones?
Mr. PRAGER: Where was that in Time?
SNYDER: It was in Time magazine.
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah, but there was no mag--there was no coverage at the time because the--only Abel existed.
SNYDER: Well, that--only he knew, right?
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah. Exactly.
SNYDER: Yeah.
Mr. PRAGER: So, it's hard to know who would cover--who would put him on the cover? And do you know who called me today, talking about that cover of Time?
SNYDER: I have--I have no idea?
Mr. PRAGER: Oh, it was a rhetorical question.
SNYDER: One that need not be answered.
Mr. PRAGER: That's correct. Thank you.
SNYDER: BS calls it.
Mr. PRAGER: The sister lives in Simi Valley here in Southern California--the sister of the guy who did the Time cover and she was saying you don't know how much my brother's being accused of racism. And--and it saddened me--and she said, you--my brother works with black artists all the time so--I mean, he doesn't have a racist bone in his body. But he darkened O.J. Simpson...
SNYDER: Yeah.
Mr. PRAGER: ...and now the guy is being smeared as a racist. And it's a fascinating thing. You don't get that, you know, the sister of somebody, you know?
SNYDER: Sure. Right. Right.
Mr. PRAGER: Having the effects of that sort of thing. But I will say this, I said to her, that's awful but doctoring a photo should never be done. That's the last thing people believe is real and now that is a photo...
SNYDER: That's correct.
Mr. PRAGER: That's not right. Newsday had Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding on the cover photo totally doctored. It was a digital photo. They had--they weren't on the same ice.
SNYDER: No, that's not cor--that's not--that's not allowable. That's not ethical.
Mr. PRAGER: That's right.
SNYDER: OK. Now we'll talk about ethics here. However, I have talked with the picture editor of Life magazine whose business it is to select pictures and she believes strongly in the integrity of a photograph and that you are not allowed...
Mr. PRAGER: Right.
SNYDER: ...to alter that photograph. This photograph, if you place them side by side, the photograph wasn't altered. His hue was deeper. The--the shadow around him was darker, but the basic integrity of the picture was... 50+2 Mr. PRAGER: No, I understand, but...
SNYDER: ...truly not viably.
Mr. PRAGER: ...even the hue and stuff.
SNYDER: Yeah.
Mr. PRAGER: Look, I think the--the...
SNYDER: Let's not...
Mr. PRAGER: ...not to crack a pun, but the hue and cry is too great over this. You know, people are picking up, I think, truly secondary issues. The fact is this is a major tragedy. It is.
SNYDER: I wanted you to speak here--you know, you talk often about good and evil on your program...
Mr. PRAGER: Mm-hmm.
SNYDER: ...and we are talking about something that has happened here that is truly evil.
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah.
SNYDER: This is not something to celebrate.
Mr. PRAGER: That's right. It's like somebody called me up and said, `You know, I'm an O.J. fan.' And I go, `OK, I'm a Nicole fan.' I mean--well, I'm the kids' fan. I'm a Ron Goldman fan. You know, what the problem is? It's that when we know someone or think we know someone--because in the media it's by and large you think you know...
SNYDER: Yes, sir.
Mr. PRAGER: ...someone. Then all of a sudden you get sympathetic. It's like the criminal in a movie. Who do you root for--the criminal?
SNYDER: No.
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah. No, no--in the movie, you do.
SNYDER: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Mr. PRAGER: Right. You end up rooting for the criminal because he--he's the focus of the film. The cops are not real. That's what has happened here. O.J. is real. Ron Goldman's a name. Nicole Simpson's a name. The children are names and this is what happens. People let their feelings, not their values dominate their reaction.
SNYDER: And so because they don't know Nicole...
Mr. PRAGER: Right.
SNYDER: They don't know the kids, they don't know Goldman...
Mr. PRAGER: They're abstractions.
SNYDER: But--but--and here is the other thing you mentioned. Think about the--the simplicity of the statement, Dennis, `I'm an O.J. fan.' That's OK. You can be an O.J. fan as...
Mr. PRAGER: That's right.
SNYDER: ...as a member of the Buffalo Bills or the USC Heisman Trophy winner to be an O.J.--there's nothing wrong with that and you can want O.J.
Mr. PRAGER: No, or even as a sportscaster.
SNYDER: And you can be an O.J. fan and say, `Jeez, I hope he's not'--that's OK to say, too...
Mr. PRAGER: Mm-hmm.
SNYDER: ...but let's not forget that a monstrous evil has been committed here.
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah. I--I know.
SNYDER: And--and somehow--how--how will justice be served here? I mean...
Mr. PRAGER: Well, don't get me started because I have done shows...
SNYDER: I'm going to get you started, but let me do a commercial. You know what steams me? If--you're going to do your own TV show, aren't you?
Mr. PRAGER: Yes.
SNYDER: See, and then he'll never come on as a guest anymore because he'll have his own te--you know, all these radio...
Mr. PRAGER: Oh, no. I will. I'm telling you right now.
SNYDER: Oh, OK. OK. Because most radio guys, they come on because they want to be on TV. But then when they get their own TV shows...
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah.
SNYDER: ...they don't come on anymore, you know?
Mr. PRAGER: No, no, no. We already shook.
SNYDER: OK. All right. Deal. Back with Dennis Prager and your phone calls after these messages.
(Theme music)
(Announcements)
Mr. PRAGER: You're so right.
SNYDER: Dennis Prager saying, `I'm so right. I'm so right.'
Here is Roseanne joining us from the wilds of Connecticut.
Hi, Roseanne. It's Tom. How you be?
ROSEANNE (Caller): Hi. I'm fine. How are you?
SNYDER: I'm well, thanks. Say hi to Dennis Prager . He's right here.
ROSEANNE: Hi, Dennis.
Mr. PRAGER: Hi, Roseanne.
SNYDER: You hear Dennis on WABC?
ROSEANNE: Sometimes.
SNYDER: Well, Roseanne, sometimes...
Mr. PRAGER: Only sometimes or are you being polite? Sometimes--sometimes that's worse. It's much better to say I didn't know he was on.
SNYDER: Sometimes--sometimes does not work here. Anyway.
Mr. PRAGER: Sometimes is the worse possible answer.
SNYDER: Go ahead--go ahead, Roseanne.
ROSEANNE: OK. I just had a comment about Ms. Clark and really, the whole DA's office. I think it was totally unprofessional of them. After O.J.'s arraignment at the press conference she got up there and said that he was the sole murderer. There was no mention of accused or suspected and I just wanted to know how far you think that they should go with the innocent until proven guilty issue?
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah. Well, it seems to be--I didn't happen to hear that, but trusting that that's what she said, remember his lawyers are saying, he's innocent, not we think so or--or we tend to think so. That is the job. The prosecutor declares what the prosecutor believes; the defense attorney declares what the defense attorney believes.
ROSEANNE: Oh.
Mr. PRAGER: I'm--it--it--and that's--that's natural.
ROSEANNE: Mm-hmm. I think...
Mr. PRAGER: OK?
ROSEANNE: I thought it was unprofessional. I don't know.
Mr. PRAGER: I don't know what the professional ethic on this is, you know.
SNYDER: Well, I--I mean, would you have liked it better, Roseanne, if she had, for example, said, by the way, even though we have O.J. Simpson here in this hearing, we are considering some other suspects. I mean, to--to me that would have been equally unprofessional.
Mr. PRAGER: Well, it would have been a lie. They're not.
SNYDER: Yeah. Yeah. And--and, I mean, I think she was stating that just as a matter of fact.
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah, I mean--and, you know, you see, they're almost damned if they do; damned if they don't.
SNYDER: Yeah.
Mr. PRAGER: Because if she said--what if she's supposed to say, in effect, gee, you know, it--it looks 70-30 like we got our guy, you know. What do you say?
SNYDER: By the way, Roseanne, the great one I found in all this was that the LAPD lost O.J. Simpson. You know what I mean? We're not talking about Eddie the caddy. We're talking O.J.--like, fellas, you know, the guy that did the Hertz rent-a-car walk through in the airport--that's the guy we're looking for.
Mr. PRAGER: Yes. Yes. Actually, I felt bad for the LAPD then. LA--it was the perfect situation. If the LAPD gets him, really guards him, then they're either accused of racism.
SNYDER: Right.
Mr. PRAGER: If they don't guard him, then they're accused of laxity.
SNYDER: Right. So now it's laxity.
Mr. PRAGER: Yeah.
SNYDER: And if they'd been on him, the other--yeah. It's called lose-lose.
Mr. PRAGER: That's correct.
SNYDER: Roseanne, thanks for calling.
ROSEANNE: Thank you.
SNYDER: Let me ask you here about something we cherish in this country called the presumption of innocence. As I understand it, and--and if I'm wrong you'll correct me, counselor. If I'm sworn as a juror in a case, I must presume that that defendant is innocent until proven guilty by the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mr. PRAGER: Yes, if you're a sworn juror, but the rest...
SNYDER: But if I'm a citizen of this country...
Mr. PRAGER: But the rest of the citizen--exactly. You're allowed to read...
SNYDER: I don't have to presume he's innocent just because I live in--it's not a constitutional guarantee.
Mr. PRAGER: That is correct. That is correct and that is a common misconception. I am allowed to use common sense alone.
SNYDER: Yes.
Mr. PRAGER: I cannot say the man has been convicted until he's convicted.
SNYDER: Right.
Mr. PRAGER: But I can say, based on my common sense and the reading that I have done, I make the following conclusion. If the court sees it other way--in another way, then it sees it in another way.
SNYDER: That is right.
Mr. PRAGER: We do not have to make that presumption.
SNYDER: Let me get you started here on justice being served in this case. You know, whatever happens, O.J. Simpson is going to be a pauper when this thing is over. The--the--the legal fees here are going to go into--into the millions...
Mr. PRAGER: Oh, yeah.
SNYDER: ...and millions and millions of dollars.
Mr. PRAGER: Mm-hmm.
SNYDER: I mean, his children will have to work at some point.
Mr. PRAGER: Mm-hmm.
SNYDER: And had he--would he not--had he not been able to pay for this kind of legal defense, would he receive the same justice, had he...
Mr. PRAGER: No, he wouldn't, and by the way, this is a very important issue because it gives the lie to a very common misconception that blacks are served worse in the criminal justice system than whites. That is not the case. The case is that the poor are served worse than the rich. That's being taught--that is the distinction. But the distinction is not that the poor get bad justice. It's that the rich get unfair justice by getting acquitted more easily. The poor do get served well because they get punished when they do something. But rich don't always get punished when they do something.
SNYDER: Right.
Mr. PRAGER: This is the problem and I'll tell you, if they throw out the stuff because the--the detectives showed up, saw evidence and took it six hours before a--a warrant for search was issued. |
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