Episodes
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Dennis and Julie breakdown special treatment: extra time for tests, pre-boarding, and service animals. Compassion in the micro leads to cruelty in the macro. Dignity prevents Dennis and Julie from taking advantage of these special accommodations. They expose the self-esteem movement… high self-esteem is great if it is morally rooted. You must earn your self-esteem, or it is worthless. Other topics include: shame; pride in being real; and cheating.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie discuss being a character… looks can be deceiving. Dennis’ nature is to play… but his friendship with Allen keeps him accountable and therefore more productive. Dennis decided at a young age, after watching the Diary of Anne Frank, to channel his emotions into action. Dennis’ “sanity preserver” is his belief in an afterlife. How can you function without a belief in God? How does thinking about death change as you age? Do you have any regrets? Dennis recalls some experiences from Yeshiva. Monitor yourself… be interesting.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Missing episodes?
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Dennis and Julie tackle: can a thought be a sin; lust versus having an affair; Dennis talks about his “Christian envy” when was growing up… “guilt over thought” snapped him out of it; Julie talks about her curiosity/flirtation with Judaism… it’s powerful to have a religion centered on referring to God rather than Jesus; people have done evil with “good thoughts,” and conversely good things have come from “bad thoughts”; intentions versus actions; capitalism versus communism; can one “do good” without “good thoughts”; how does one know if their thoughts are “good or bad”; actions are far more important than thoughts; the thought that God judges you is infinitely more comforting than the thought that God loves you; does God punish people’s sinful thoughts; under what circumstances is lustful thought not “bad” or sinful?
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie discuss one of the benefits of having people in your life… it can help you to understand yourself. Asking interesting questions of people can help them to understand themselves. Are women more aware than men… what are the differences in the way the sexes pay attention. Dennis shares his love of street photography. Julie references a takeaway from: I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman's Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris - Glynnis MacNicol… don’t let the blows of your childhood hit you too hard as an adult. Other topics include: How much are we a product of our childhood; The “baggage” issue; Is your nature more powerful than your nurture; We are the stories we tell ourselves; There is liberation in giving your parents the benefit of the doubt; blame; The butterfly effect; Meeting Dr. Laura; punishment for sins; Julie asks Dennis if he believes in a “cosmic scaffolding”; there’s no such thing as “one” lie.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie dedicate this episode to prayer. Does prayer play a role in your life? What does prayer mean, and how does prayer in Judaism differ from Christianity? Define what it means to have a “relationship” with God? What does God want you to do? Do you talk to God? Does God talk to you? Is God difficult to love? Do you listen to God? They discuss the difference between praying for others versus praying for yourself. Are you “close” to God? Do you love God? Is obedience to God more important than loving God?
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie ask did you have trepidation on your wedding day? The famous are rarely significant, and the significant are rarely famous. Is fame significant? Is fame a uniquely American pursuit? Let’s say you do get into a good college… then what?! You need an “inner” life to be happy, the “outer” stuff won’t get you there. Once you get what you want, it may not be what you thought it would be. What role does God play as the engineer of your life? Other topics include: vehicular misadventures; acts of heroism that go unnoticed daily; Bridge of San Luis Rey - Thornton Wilder; cigar lounge experiences; and clown parties!
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Divorce, Dignity, and Demons
Dennis and Julie start with the decline of “Mrs.” Topics include: affinity groups; changing last names upon marriage or divorce; it is not the divorce that damages children… it is what happens after the divorce that damages children; how the parents treat each other matters; dignity matters… spreading dignity is contagious; everyone needs to develop “shock absorbers,” or else they’ll be crushed by life; people have demons; a painless life is not possible; Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina principle – “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”; “Giving it up to God” is misunderstood.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie analyze the power of the aural and the visual. Is it inauthentic to have a bookshelf full of books that you haven’t read? Social media has bred an increase in posturing, posing, and homogenization in humanity. What does it mean to be an individual? Is being authentic and being an individual synonymous? Where does individuality end and “being a nut” begin? Other topics include: Exacerbated Posturing; The Uniform of Nonconformity; Know Thyself; Wherever you go, there you are; Clothing matters; Dennis listens to some rap; Popular is the antidote to individuality; Dennis has bars?!
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie ponder whether it’s harder to come out as gay or as conservative in 2024. Conservatives are mischaracterized as racist and homophobic… but there is great diversity on the Right side of the aisle. Do you know the origin of Dennis and Julie’s unlikely and unique friendship? Conservatives are mischaracterized as simple-minded religious zealots… but the Right is more intellectually formidable than the Left. Other topics include: Jonathan Haidt’s study – conservatives know liberals better than liberals know conservatives; The Humanist Manifesto; Atheism versus Belief; Dennis’ question to Christopher Hitchens; Uncomfortable reality; Clarity, accuracy, and honesty are paramount; Lies are the root of evil; The writing process behind Prager U’s five minute videos; The definition of prayer in Hebrew.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie discuss smoking, micro versus macro topics, and what motivates people to have affairs? Is being shallow required in certain situations in life? “Being informed is a moral obligation,” - Aaron Prager. Should we judge people… if so, when and whom? Are you a decent and moral person in the micro and the macro? Other topics include: universalism vs relativism; generation values/morals… like sending thank you notes; gradations of sin; private versus public speech – humans beings are pressure cookers – private talk is a release of the pressure; the golden road – the middle between extremes – the extreme is so tempting; “the purity death spiral,” - Jeremy Boreing.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie begin with the topic of… not being full of yourself, and the rise of self-obsession and arrogance in society. What affect does being raised with a disabled or deceased sibling have on a one’s ego? “1. And yet I am convinced that man will never give up true suffering- that is, destruction and chaos. Why, suffering is the sole root of consciousness. 2. Suffering is part and parcel of extensive intelligence and a feeling heart. 3. To love is to suffer and there can be no love otherwise.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky. One should strive to be authentic and strengthen the core of who they are. Does having a healthy core negate the desire for fame or status? Can you develop a core, personality, or nature …or are they fixed at birth? Other topics include: Tyrannical parents; The miracle of “you”; Luck; Balaam’s Donkey; Are you a Dennis Prager Superfan?
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie discuss appreciating the United States from abroad. They review the news events of the past month – the Trump shooting, Biden stepping down, and Kamala being anointed. How would the media have acted if the assassination attempt had been on President Biden? What would have happened if the assassination attempt had been successful? Julie speculates if it was a deep state conspiracy. Julie was attending Eva Vlaardingerbroek’s wedding when the assassination attempt occurred. If you become aware of bad news… do you share it at a happy occasion? Other topics include: Julie’s travel in Europe; Scootering with Amala; Waterslides in Hungary; Meeting James Orr; Traveling abroad alone provides a different experience than travelling with family and friends; “Uber-ing” from Bucharest to Transylvania; Dennis’ reflections on Eastern Europe; Living under Communism; Not all pain comes from evil.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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We apologize for missing this week... thank you for being a listener. We'll have a new episode next Sunday.
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Dennis and Julie lament that technology is deadening the human experience. This tech revolution is unprecedented… and its effects on the younger generations have yet to be determined. Relations between people have shifted from person to person… to screen to screen. Relations between the sexes have become marred. Genesis 2:18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” We have become dependent on our cell phones, and there are generational differences in the way that we use our cell phones. Do personality traits change from childhood to adulthood? When you are young do you think about how you will look back on your life when you are old? Other topics include: Gam zeh ya’avor… this too shall pass; Communism; and Israel versus Palestine.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis is in Los Angeles and Julie is still in Europe. Dennis shares a bit about his trip to the Artic circle, and the differences between Greenland and Iceland. Wherever you are is the center of the world. People should not think that life is more meaningful if they live in an important or popular place. People in Nashville know more about New York than New Yorkers know about Nashville. We are made to have a meaningful life no matter where we are. Did you know the word catholic means the whole, or more colloquially, "universal." Christianity is progressive in the truest most noble sense. Pope Francis put it this way in his apostolic exhortation from 2013, Evangelii Gaudium, section 247: We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked, for “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). The Church, which shares with Jews an important part of the sacred Scriptures, looks upon the people of the covenant and their faith as one of the sacred roots of her own Christian identity (cf. Rom 11:16-18). As Christians, we cannot consider Judaism as a foreign religion. Other topics include: Judeo-Christianity versus secularism; secularism is a faded copy of the old religious doctrine; the covenant God has with the Jews; your actions on earth determine your destination after death; universalist and particularist is the ideal; proselytizing; Jonah.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis is back from Greenland and Julie is in Italy as they discuss the benefits of travel. Travelling broadens your perspective on what a privilege it is to live in the United States. It also makes you realize the general ignorance of Americans, especially when it pertains to communism in eastern Europe. Americans don’t understand communism …like citizens of communist countries don’t understand freedom. Americans have an international reputation of being ignorant, and while the ignorance of communism is bad… the ignorance of evil is worse. Dennis’ mustard analogy applies for tradition and culture, but it doesn’t apply to values and morality. On the upside… the international view of Americans is that we are friendly, open, and trusting. Freedom produces trust… authoritarian states breed distrust. Do you ever consider the miracle of your existence? Americans are lucky that English is spoken around the world.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie share that without perspective happiness is impossible. Being a good person requires perspective. Life is not a bowl of cherries. Inspired by Abigail Schrier’s book Bad Therapy they discuss the gradations of therapy. Without perspective you can’t be grateful… without being grateful you can’t be happy. They explore the connection between happiness and being good. Awareness of evil and knowledge of suffering provides perspective, which oddly enough, can lead to happiness. Are you a crier? Dennis talks about his son Aaron Prager, and APUnfiltered. The role of the other spouse in marriage infidelity. In most cases… victimhood is a lack of perspective. The power of example… like Charles Krauthammer. Is victim culture the malignant outgrowth of a Judeo-Christian society? What produces better people… God’s judgement or God’s love?
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie react to some listener emails, topics include: one who listens during her chemo treatments; transgenderism; life is complex… you must seek truth; putting people into boxes is a mistake; people want reality to conform to their view… another mistake: addiction; are there good addictions; conservative and common sense are synonymous; crimes and punishments; the differences between men and women with regard to sexuality; and the truth is decent.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie ponder how much freewill people really have in life? They discuss the impulse to steal, reasons for not stealing, and cheating on tests. What are the five Commandments that people struggle with most? The bible is a divine life manual. If God gives people good individual natures… does God give people evil individual natures …or is it random/luck? Did God create evil… or did God create the possibility for evil?
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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Dennis and Julie discuss dignity and the pernicious nature of social media. They breakdown self-promotion versus the cancer of social media. There is too much needless posting and there are too many needless opinions. Parents, mostly mothers, are using their children on social media for fame and money… it’s child abuse. Pedophilia…. has social media exacerbated it? Polylogism is the belief that different people or groups have different forms of logic. Sharia law… is it all bad? Many value systems exist… moral clarity is paramount. The death of moral clarity will be the end of civilization. The media of the West are a bigger threat than any terrorist organization… they cause more damage. You must use reason and pursue truth at any cost. Cultural appropriation … is it all bad? Can you live an electronic-less life? The desire to be an “influencer” …does the yearning to be “important” drive the social media life? Being deep is more valuable than having fame.
Music: Straight to the Point c 2022
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