Fireside Chat Ep. 112 — Why Are Students so Depressed? | Fireside Chat

hey everybody dennis prager here in my home hi it's great to be with you these are known as the fireside chats and I have them every week that's how important they are to me just want you to know I obviously it's important to you or you wouldn't be watching but I want you to know it's obviously important to me this is Otto our a bulldog English bulldog Otto is not stuffed some of you who don't watch regularly may never have seen him move and may really wonder is it porcelain is it stuffed fur he's the real deal Otto but he's very calm so he doesn't get excited but she doesn't bark when the doorbell rings he's we love the guy all right great to be with you so I always open up with some thoughts and then I take your questions these are very valuable times none of this is scripted I'm not reading from a teleprompter and we don't even have any makeup on my face which may be obvious but really this is spontaneous as it gets by the way the are you the producer of the fireside chat is that a fair statement Megan does a magnificent magnificent job I just want to say that I don't think it would be as good without her so I just wanted that for the record having said that there is one boo boo you made in all 110 thus far the theme when I talked about wearing my jacket and tie I don't wear a jacket and tie in the house I wear it for that for this I am I only saying it I don't want you folks to think I walk around like this in my own house who wrote it anyway I want you all to know because I actually saw it in the prettier you brochure and I'm thinking that's a little idiosyncratic to wear a jacket and tie in your house I mean I don't mind being an idiosyncratic that's just not one of my idiosyncrasies anyway it doesn't take away from your greatness I just want people to know for the record yes I often have the time but I never have the jacket on that and I did explain why I do put it on though for the for the the chats that that I I devoted time through clothing is very important it's a very important issue okay that's that's that you're what are you looking up how it's listed well she's so self-conscious now I'm sorry someone put it in yes yes the one exactly correct okay that's life you got to live with this stuff it's fine anyway if it's the worst thing that's thought about me he wore a jacket tie in his house I could I think I could live with it but it isn't it is the case you should watch the episode I made a very important points about about clothing okay so I just read this week that if it was the Wall Street Journal or New York Times I don't remember and it was that the rates of depression among college students are the highest ever recorded that colleges don't have enough psychological counselors to to help kids with their depression now there are so many young people who watch these fireside chats so obviously this is a relevance to you it's obviously relevant to parents and to the rest of society why is this happening I have some thoughts and basically it goes as follows everything that can give you joy or just about everything that can give you joy and meaning and they are deeply related is gone in no order of importance the average college student and if I'm wrong I'm wrong you and if you correct me I'm wrong I will I will say it on the air here and on my radio show so the average college kid doesn't date they they may have hookups but they don't date they don't the average kid doesn't have religion / God the average kid doesn't have a community they may have friends or acquaintances or pals they have a dormitory but not really a community you know they they don't have let's see what else oh yes they they don't have a country any longer to believe in so what's left studying for tests when I when I was at college and graduate school I had all of the things that I just mentioned to you I would date which gave a lot of excitement and fun and meaning to to life and I had religion I believe deeply in my country I had hobbies I had what was the religion that's a lot if you don't have any of that what do you have to make you happy the pursuit of a profession that doesn't make that alone makes very few people if that makes anybody happy they're pretty empty and emptiness is not a vehicle to to great happiness it's a very depressing scene when I think about it I mean just let's take the dating issue a big part of of humans lives throughout history was the excitement of the of the opposite sex who will I meet how will I meet will I ask her out will I say yes if he asks me out this this added a lot to life and and now you know when I talk to girls at college you know so many are in awe why I'm not I know I'm not interested in you know if the right guy comes along you know years down the road but I'm focused on my on my studies and getting a great professional opportunity I mean and I think that's it that's it you must have been really indoctrinated to believe that that could bring you anywhere near the happiness of me being a wonderful guy and and making a home I mean the brainwash has been so powerful for the last 50 years since Betty Friedan's angry screen about how it awful it is for women because so many of them were primarily preoccupied with making a home poor things oh god what a what a curse um you know after all you could you could be teaching gender studies or you know head of sales for for some you know shoe shoe manufacturer that's really where meaning is I'm a head I'm head of sales at at so-and-so shoes I don't denigrate being the head of sales at a shoe company I don't denigrate it at all I think work is a beautiful part of life and an important part but that's it you you you think that's gonna bring you bring you meaning and and and it's it's it's a supplement to other and more important things in life anyway so people would date and they would look for a boyfriend or look for a girlfriend and of course most of the time mate so they go out for a year or six months or two years they break up and but they had something at least something important with the opposite sex I know there are gays I'm well aware they're there in my life and in everybody's life but the vast majority of human beings a heterosexual so I'm making reference to that it's it's mind-blowing but there is sex we could have a sex week in every college that's that's really important that that's it it blows my mind when I go to campuses all the ads for sex week all it does is make people more lonely that's the irony that doesn't fill your desire for a human it fills your biological desire for a human but not your psychological desire for a human or emotional or spiritual how's that for a a rare word that now then there's no religion for you no and I would say half of college kids today have no religion or they may they may tangentially have one but but it's not an important part of their life that's a big loss to that's a huge loss and you lose community because very many people got their community at their church or synagogue and that's that's lost as well when religion religion has been for all of recorded history the primary meaning filler in humans life getting rid of it is a big deal then in America as I've talked about often there's no more belief in the country as a symbol of Liberty to humanity as the the land of the free and the home of the brave' is the national anthem of the United States puts it that's Thanksgiving has been denigrated to to oblivion in in in in many colleges because hey that's what are we gonna do celebrate genocide it's been reduced to genocide somebody is gonna be a question because I look at the questions right before the the broadcast here somebody's gonna ask about you know Americans taking in a whale and there's no country on earth no nation on earth that didn't supplant a nation before it I'm not I'm not justifying and I'm just staying there would be no no nations that's that's that's the sad history of humanity this Indian tribes have planted this Indian tribe which was ultimately supplanted by another Indian tribe ultimately supplanted by Europeans and and it just goes on and on you think the French were always in France right or or or and anybody was always anywhere it's very rare maybe Koreans were always in Korea it's an eye you know it's a peninsula I mean it may well be but in overwhelmingly that's been it tribes in Africa did the same thing so there's no America there's no religion there's no no boyfriend or girlfriend no seeking one no dating hobbies to fulfill life I've talked about hobbies video games is not a hobby it's it's it's a pastime but I wouldn't call it a hobby maybe for some it might constitute it if you know how to program one or something like that so so what do you have you'll get into a good graduate school that you think that's all that meaningful who let me tell you it isn't and I went to a prestigious graduate school so what I knew then so what I didn't think oh I'm at Columbia University School of International Affairs that's meaningful never occurred to me so it's just getting worse there's less religion less patriotism less male/female bonding so what is there no wonder so many people are depressed and then with the ubiquity of the legalization of marijuana one of the on my opinion one of the more destructive ideas in our society people that's it's a really amazing they went after a tobacco but but they're they're keen on legalizing marijuana and nobody says anything about alcohol at least one thing you could say about cigarettes and I know cigarettes kill I'm totally aware of that about 1/3 of smokers will die prematurely according to the Lung Association but it doesn't play with your brain alcohol and drugs do so I'm sorry if you're if you're a young person listening you should pursue all the things I said you should date you should look into religion you should celebrate your country people listening all over the world I think I want you to celebrate your country it's a good thing that's I mean you deny bad things that have happened in your country it's like we celebrate the friends no friend is perfect we understand that our friend has flaws but we still celebrate them ok let's let's go to your questions and the first one from Nigeria okey-dokey hi good monster my name is Jiri first and foremost I want to say thank you mr. dennis prager G for all you do teach wisdom you embody wisdom my first question is I want to know what keeps you going you've gone through a lot reg is going through a lot and it's enough for one to just wake up on this you know okay I've tried it why can't I see that fighting spirit and you keep going and you keep encouraging others to do it little we can so I don't know what keeps you going secondly yes this joke you told about something that happened to you in Israel when the robot said there is a chance there is no object so there is no chance don't leave the is really a future for conservative ideas in this world thank you thank you what a pleasure alright so that was Tokyo LOI and in Legos taupey it's a pleasure to hear from you okay so your first question is what keeps you going I've been through a lot that is correct I see that finding spirit in you and you keep going I keep going for many reasons and I'm just trying to isolate the the best way to put this since it's this gonna sound corny I don't know if all of you around the world will know the word corny but I can't think of a great way to explain it sound almost like too sweet to be believable that's what corny is no corner somewhat sweet so when I was in high school I knew what I wanted to do with my life I was very lucky because most people in that age don't know what they want to do with their life I was very lucky and it's never wavered for a day in my life I wrote in diary I want to influence people to the good that's the way I wrote it I still have that diary and that's what keeps me going that that is what I want to do I I know that I've been given a gift of communication so I sort of not sort of but I have to use it but try to use it for the good so that's what I knew even as early as as high school and it keeps me going is I want good to prevail over evil I hate evil I hate people hurting each other gratuitously and I I know that the battle is a very hard one there's that's the thing I never thought it would be easy I know that human nature is not basically good that piece of wisdom and that separates the wise from the foolish that that alone separated separates people you can't have wisdom if you don't believe human nature if you do believe human nature is basically good you cannot have wisdom you when you start out with the foolish premise you can only have foolish results I have I just decided I needed to do the right thing and fight for it I haven't wavered I I believe that my belief in God has helped but I don't believe that God I never took for granted God will protect me or bring me success I don't see God I never asked what will God do for me never ever ever I only ask what what can I do for God or what does God want me to do for him as it were that I do ask but I've never asked what God can do for me I that's that's a very strong part of my religiosity so I'll tell you another thing that me going normandy beach so i visited normandy beach many years ago normandy beaches where vast numbers of American and Allied troops especially America and also Canadian I'm not sure which other countries landed to liberate Europe from the Nazis if you go to Normandy Beach you will see thousands I or I think a thousand I I don't know what it looks like a thousand mostly crosses of guys who died at 19 20 21 22 storming Normandy Beach to fight the Nazis and I made a vow to myself I said you know these guys died died at 21 to fight for liberty and to fight in their case for America so nobody's asking me to die I might as well live for Liberty and for America I mean I I I don't have to make the sacrifice that these guys made so the least I could do is live for good ideals so and I'm a fighter my nature was to fight to fight the bad guys I don't like fighting I don't enjoy it but I I can't I sleep very well at night but I don't I wouldn't sleep well if I didn't fight if I if I took the easy way out all of that keeps me going secondly he spoke about meeting a rabbi in Israel saying there was no hope there is no chance okay that's not the way the phrase is so remember the story he told me the story in the early days of Israel it was a socialist country so he went to the Ministry of Communications to get a phone and he asked the clerk so when will I get the phone and the clerk says clerk said to him and about six months and my friend then said to the to the guy eh is there no hope that I can get it is there any hope that I can get it sooner and the guy said sir there's always hope there's no chance it's one of the funniest and greatest stories of my life I'll never forget it so it's not there's no hope there's no chance there's always hope there's no chance it's dark humor I love dark humor I want to know if there really is a future for conservative ideas in this world of course there's a future but I don't know that I will it will be in my lifetime that it will prevail I just know that there is no alternative to what is called conservative ideas conservative means you conserve what is best from the past overthrowing the great values of the past because you know they're dead white European males are just dead is childish in the extreme and utterly destructive so of course there's a future hey you know how many people I'm talking through right now almost a million and you're in Nigeria and I'm gonna say there isn't hope you got a kid me right Andrea twenty-two in Ravenna Italy see going from Nigerian Italy Denis I'm a proud Christian but what's wrong with saying happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas if it's more encompassing and makes people feel more comfortable than why be rude about it I don't get how this is a big deal well it is a big deal and I know it's a big deal because it's Christmas it was said to be Christmas and there's got to be a reason that people don't say it and you gave the reason make some people feel more comfortable to say holiday well those people are narcissists I don't give in to narcissists I'm a Jew Christmas is not my religious holiday I always say Merry Christmas any Jew or Buddhist or atheist or Muslim who doesn't feel comfortable with Merry Christmas is it narcissist and I don't give in to narcissism oh gee that's not my holiday so what it's the national holiday it's the holiday of like 90% of Americans hello white white white is your quote-unquote comfort more important than the comfort of 90% of your fellow citizens its beats beyond belief to me 1/5 of Israel is not Jewish they say shabbat shalom on the radio every Friday night in Israel shabbat shalom is sabbath peace right because the sabbath comes in at sunset on friday should they stop it no it's it's or whatever would with the majority unless the majority is evil then the majority should be allowed its celebration anyway it's a national holiday in America it's not just a Christian holiday it's a national holiday but of course there a lot on the Left who would like to remove it as a national holiday don't give in to justice somebody says I'm not comfortable why do you give in that's the amazing thing to me comfort is the new God well why aren't you comfortable what skin is it off your back to say Merry Christmas you narcissist ok say happy birthday to somebody on their birthday why it's not your birthday you should say happy holiday not happy birthday it's not your birthday Josh 28 Portland Oregon howdy mr. Prager howdy Josh how do I justify the goodness of America to people who say we live on stolen land thank you for all you do you truly compensate for the lack of male role models in our modern age let me take that last part first that's No tragedy I know that I had plenty of male role models as a kid but the my generation the baby boomers had a lot of us truly destructive ideas one of them was don't trust anyone over 30 never trust anyone over 30 so that they had contempt for adults they thought because they went to college and their parents didn't they knew more oh god is that a joke so the male models they look in the movies even now the men men real honest-to-goodness men who were in movies and honest-to-goodness women who were in movies the last you know prior to the 70s oh my god it was a joy to watch them who do you have now these are these are men boys man boys boy men what does somebody what is it they had - oh this is a term that somebody told me what is that a mommy in English you know the soy soy boys that's the GEMA hear that term soy boys yeah that's at 50 so what do you say to people say we live on stolen land yes we live on stolen land now what what are we supposed to do about it what is your point yes it's correct every country lives on stolen land what would you like the country to do about it leave people make the point as if that ends the discussion it doesn't end the discussion at all correct much of the land was stolen not all much but why did they own it because they were here before us who was here before them if anybody was here before them did the aztecs steal it from another probably did from another tribe or another another nation it doesn't it's it's not a point it's not even a bit it's a point that doesn't mean anything not and not all the land was on there were not that many Indians that the entire North American continent belonged through to Native Americans is a little absurd right I mean let's be let's be honest it's a very gigantic continent not that many people what's our time let's see here hmm all right there I'll end up with this one hmm gotta lay all the good ones all we can get from another time Andrew 18 in Los Angeles hello Andrew what is the secret of longevity to longevity PS give Otto some good belly rubs for me no prob you're the man so you see his reaction it's it's he's so excited that's the thing about Otto yeah okay he is breathing sometimes I check so android gave him the rub what's the secret to longevity well my favorite answer are you ready actually there are secrets and interestingly but the there was a guy asked the oldest World War two veteran just died in the last year or two and the Dallas Morning News had an interview with him I think it was 107 so when he was 106 they asked him which everybody asks anybody over a hundred you know what's the secret to longevity so he said and I love this he said that the secret is God and cigars that's my man so I I think I got a good shot then about 106 here I got and cigars are pretty central to my life I don't know I think I'll tell you there are a lot of Secrets here's one is one secret luck okay let's be honest get pancreatic cancer okay did you do anything to create it no right I'm gonna get a brain tumor it's it's that's I I believe in God but I know there's luck in life of course there is you hit by a drunk driver it's it's terrible what what everybody gonna do so luck is a factor but I I do believe that putting the lock part aside friends are apparently a huge of a huge benefit by the way dogs apparently help but people live longer the elderly who live alone and have a pet like a dog or a cat apparently do live longer and make sense we're meant to relate ideally the people but if this is a this is a good second best but friends are huge religion is huge I mean the environment the issue was not because I'm religious the issue is just true people whoever religious life in a religious community live longer inner peace inner peace because I I remember in high school some you know health book or some things that stress kills and I and I took it very seriously I've always always wanted inner peace not to live longer I just want inner peace I have inner peace so that's why I write a book I've written a book on happiness and I did was show unhappiness so there are a lot of a lot of secrets to it and there are physical things I have to believe believe it or not I do workout three days a week and I also I I case I fast about 18 hours a day because I read so much compelling arguments that the less you eat the better it is for longevity and I don't happen I don't have frankly give a hoot about for I eat because I have to I don't live for food I live for cigars but I do not live for food I eat food this you know eventually I do get hungry but it doesn't mean much to me but oh there are so many factors here that but I'll tell you if you're eating yourself up if you're constantly aggravated you know I think you're gonna live a shorter period of time my dad died at 96 smoked about four cigars a day had a big martini or a scotch on the rocks but God he had inner peace that man very little bother that guy he was in World War two on an attack transport exactly the type of ship that the kamikazes tried to destroy by having Japanese planes commit suicide attacks on ships guy slept like like a lamb he just he just that was his nature he never worried about being being hit and he said if I'm hit im hit nothing I can do about it so you're blessed if you have a calm nature I do have a con nature I also work on it but I have one anyway it's been fun this this time with you it's always fun that's why I do it well something you only recently do it do it because it's important I mean obviously a lot of you think that way and that means a lot to tell people about it so others can share in this and until next week from my home to yours thank you for watching I'm Dennis Prager thank you for watching if you'd like to keep these fireside chats free please do by donating to Prager you