Dennis Prager’s engineer Sean McConnell lost his home in the Eaton Canyon fire. Julie Hartman’s parents did not lose their home in the Pacific Palisades. Dennis is still paralyzed from the neck down.
Are people who know they will never own a home bad people for not feeling much empathy for those who recently lost their home in the LA fires? Asking for a friend who’s stunned at all the GoFundMes for people rich enough to own a home that burned in LA.
I have zero antagonism for people who are rich or successful, but I am surprised at GoFundMes for millionaires who were lucky enough to own a home in LA.
If I were a millionaire, I would be embarrassed to have a GoFundMe.
Sean McConnell: “Out of everything I’ve been through in life, this fire [that destroyed his home] was the most devastating.”
I have to work hard to empathize here. Out of all you have experienced, Sean, this loss was the most painful? You’ve led a blessed life. For everyone else I know, the loss of a friend or family member was the most painful.
Sean is in tears through this show. He lost his favorite guitars in the fire and lamps from his grandparents. “You can’t replace those lamps.”
Julie dissolved in tears watching her favorite grocery store burn down.
Suffering is relative. I can’t imagine feeling intense grief over the things that brought down Julie and Sean here but I have no doubt that their feelings are deep and raw. I am curious if they ever had a friend or family member die? Did they suffer a divorce or a crippling illness or attempt suicide? Compared to this type of loss, I don’t think the loss of a home would compare.
Sean appears to weigh about 400 pounds. He’s operating with a life-threatening load of morbid obesity that destroys his opportunities for normal human connection. He sounds like a great guy and my superior in many ways, but his priorities seem out of whack.
Sean: “I struggled with addiction. I resolved to lose weight this year.”
Sean organized his own GoFundMe: “I lost everything in the Eaton Canyon Fire and am currently staying in a hotel with my dogs, my mom, and my stepdad. Miraculously, while the fire scorched the perimeter, my mom’s house still stands, though it’s currently uninhabitable. As a routine-oriented person, this loss has been overwhelming—it’s not just “stuff,” and it’s a lot to process. Despite the challenges, I’m grateful for my life, family, pets, and what we managed to save. Your prayers and support mean the world to me as I navigate this difficult time and work to rebuild. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.”
So far he’s raised over $30,000.
Julie Hartman says about Prager’s fall: “It was his free will to get out of the shower and walk across a wet floor to get a razor and he slipped.”
Julie: “My uncle is a whip smart guy. He’s a devout Catholic. I said to him before the fires, “Why do you think this happened to Dennis?”
He said: “The Devil knew that Dennis was so formidable in his morality and his intellect, that they couldn’t corrupt his mind or his soul, so he came at Dennis physically. I told Dennis that and he was very touched. Dennis says he entertains that possibility.”
If Dennis truly entertained that possibility, he’s way outside of Judaism and way into his own religion of Pragerism.
Prager increasingly resembles the histrionic Jordan Peterson.
Latest update on @DennisPrager from his brother Dr. Kenneth Prager. @prageru pic.twitter.com/l3IpiyZ17s
— Marissa Streit (@marissastreit) December 20, 2024
In a video released Dec. 20, 2024, pulmonologist Dr. Kenneth Prager tells the CEO of PragerU, Marissa Streit: “I flew out to LA the day after he fell when he was in the ICU at Cedars-Sinai. He had just been transferred. He was on the ventilator. He has no recollection… In terms of a spinal cord injury of this nature, my son Joshua had the exact same spinal cord injury at C3-C4. He was in a motor vehicle accident in Israel in 1990 that almost killed him. When I flew out to see him, he was quadraplegic on a ventilator. He made a significant recovery and was able to walk again. He has been paralyzed on the left side of his body ever since.”
“Our father Max, the last two years of his life, had a spinal cord injury which left him paraplegic as the result of a medical procedure when he was 94.”
“Dennis, he’s awake, he’s alert, he has his sense of humor. The key goal now is to get him off the ventilator. When somebody has a spinal cord injury in the area Dennis has, it affects the nerves that do most of the work of breathing.”
