1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:08,800 If what I am about to tell you is true, almost everything we most treasure – freedom, beauty, 2 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:15,720 reason, the family, economic well-being, and even goodness – is in jeopardy. 3 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,160 Who or what poses this threat? 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:24,340 The answer is the most powerful ideology of the last hundred years: leftism. 5 00:00:24,340 --> 00:00:29,860 Not liberalism; leftism – or, if you prefer, “progressivism.” 6 00:00:29,860 --> 00:00:33,520 Leftism destroys everything it touches. 7 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:35,760 Here are a just a few examples: 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:37,000 1. 9 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,620 The universities Perhaps the most obvious example – one that 10 00:00:40,620 --> 00:00:45,870 many liberals acknowledge – is the left’s near destruction of most universities as places 11 00:00:45,870 --> 00:00:47,060 of learning. 12 00:00:47,060 --> 00:00:52,460 In the words of Harvard professor Steven Pinker – an atheist and a liberal – because of 13 00:00:52,460 --> 00:00:58,620 the left, “universities are becoming laughing stocks of intolerance.” 14 00:00:58,620 --> 00:01:04,530 At almost every university – and now high schools and even elementary schools – students 15 00:01:04,530 --> 00:01:08,820 are taught to shut down – not debate – those who differ with them. 16 00:01:08,820 --> 00:01:13,240 And to rely on feelings rather than reason. 17 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:13,940 2. 18 00:01:13,940 --> 00:01:17,700 The arts Throughout history, the primary purpose of 19 00:01:17,700 --> 00:01:25,430 art was to elevate people – through beauty, artistic excellence, and emotional depth. 20 00:01:25,430 --> 00:01:30,060 To the left, the primary purpose of art, sculpture, and music is to shock. 21 00:01:30,060 --> 00:01:35,160 That’s why so much contemporary art is meaningless, and involves the scatological, 22 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,160 meaning urine and feces. 23 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:39,460 Yes, urine and feces. 24 00:01:39,460 --> 00:01:44,549 To give one of countless examples, in 2016, the Guggenheim Museum in New York featured 25 00:01:44,549 --> 00:01:49,609 a pure-gold working toilet, which visitors were invited to use. 26 00:01:49,609 --> 00:01:57,439 The name of the exhibit was “America" – so one could literally relieve oneself on America. 27 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:58,160 3. 28 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,279 Literature The English department at the University of 29 00:02:01,279 --> 00:02:06,290 Pennsylvania replaced the portrait of the greatest English-language writer who ever 30 00:02:06,290 --> 00:02:11,040 lived, William Shakespeare, with a picture of a black lesbian poet. 31 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:12,160 Why? 32 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,720 Because he was a white European male. 33 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:21,380 Leftist professors have replaced the pursuit of excellence with the pursuit of diversity. 34 00:02:21,380 --> 00:02:22,000 4. 35 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,440 Late-night television In America, late-night television shows were 36 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,970 completely apolitical. 37 00:02:28,970 --> 00:02:35,420 The hosts believed their role was to entertain viewers and offer them relief and laughter 38 00:02:35,420 --> 00:02:37,620 after a difficult day. 39 00:02:37,620 --> 00:02:38,900 No longer. 40 00:02:38,900 --> 00:02:43,540 You cannot watch late-night television if you just want to be entertained. 41 00:02:43,540 --> 00:02:48,480 Late-night TV is now left-night TV. 42 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:49,360 5. 43 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:50,480 Religion 44 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:57,160 The left has ruined much of mainstream Protestantism and Catholicism, and non-Orthodox Judaism, 45 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:01,460 which are now little more than left-wing organizations with religious symbols. 46 00:03:01,460 --> 00:03:06,460 In many churches and synagogues, one is more likely to hear the clergy talk about political 47 00:03:06,460 --> 00:03:11,360 issues than about any other subject, including even the Bible. 48 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:12,220 6. 49 00:03:12,230 --> 00:03:16,500 Free Speech If there was anything virtually every American 50 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:21,280 considered a bedrock value, it was freedom of speech. 51 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:25,520 Yet, the left is destroying even this unique American achievement. 52 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:30,620 Almost half of America’s young people say they believe in free speech – but not for 53 00:03:30,620 --> 00:03:31,740 “hate speech.” 54 00:03:31,740 --> 00:03:36,660 Yet, the whole point of free speech is that it allows people to express any political 55 00:03:36,660 --> 00:03:41,940 or social position, including what any one of us considers “hate speech.” 56 00:03:41,940 --> 00:03:47,100 And “hate speech” now means “any position the left differs with.” 57 00:03:47,100 --> 00:03:48,180 7. 58 00:03:48,180 --> 00:03:52,700 Race America has become the least racist multi-racial 59 00:03:52,700 --> 00:03:55,600 society in world history. 60 00:03:55,600 --> 00:04:00,000 On a daily basis, Americans of every race and ethnicity get along superbly. 61 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:06,280 But the left constantly poisons young minds with angry diatribes about “systemic racism,” 62 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,620 “micro aggressions,” and “white privilege.” 63 00:04:09,620 --> 00:04:10,520 8. 64 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:15,020 The Boy Scouts The left is destroying the Boy Scouts. 65 00:04:15,020 --> 00:04:18,680 They're not even the Boy Scouts anymore; they’re just the Scouts. 66 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:20,980 The left forced them to admit girls. 67 00:04:20,980 --> 00:04:24,540 Here's the thing about the left: it only destroys. 68 00:04:24,540 --> 00:04:26,200 It doesn’t build. 69 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:32,260 The Boy Scouts have helped shape tens of millions of boys into independent, strong, good men. 70 00:04:32,260 --> 00:04:35,080 So where is the left-wing version of the Boy Scouts? 71 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:36,920 It doesn't exist. 72 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:38,440 There is none. 73 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:39,520 9. 74 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:44,080 Male-female In some ways scariest of all, the left is 75 00:04:44,090 --> 00:04:49,090 committed to ending male and female as distinct categories. 76 00:04:49,090 --> 00:04:54,260 Children are increasingly raised not to think of themselves as a boy or a girl. 77 00:04:54,260 --> 00:04:59,140 Teachers are told not to refer to their students as “boys” or “girls,” just “students.” 78 00:04:59,140 --> 00:05:06,300 In New York City, parents do not have to check off male or female on their newborn’s birth certificate. 79 00:05:06,300 --> 00:05:09,140 They can check off “x.” 80 00:05:09,140 --> 00:05:15,400 All this imposed gender confusion can only end up producing confused people 81 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,760 and a confused society. 82 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,520 So why does the left engage in so much destruction? 83 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,680 Because it thinks America is essentially a bad country. 84 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,880 But America is only bad compared to Utopia. 85 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,900 And the left is utopian. 86 00:05:32,900 --> 00:05:35,320 I’m Dennis Prager.