Author: Dennis Prager

Since the scores of New Year’s Eve sexual attacks on German women by hundreds of men identified as Arab or North African, the left in Germany has faced a dilemma: which to fight for first — women’s human rights or multiculturalism? This was the same dilemma that faced British authorities between 1997 and 2013. During […]

Last week, an opinion piece appeared in The Washington Post that tells you much of what you need to know about the moral fabric and intellectual depth of the ACLU and much of the left. Written by Rana Elmir, deputy director of the Michigan chapter of the ACLU, the title says it all: “Stop asking […]

Part I in a series of widely held beliefs that are either untrue or meaningless: In every age, people say and believe things that aren’t true but somehow become accepted as “conventional wisdom.” The statement “I’m not ready to get married” is a current example. Said by more and more Americans between the ages of […]

The nearly universal change from wishing fellow Americans “Merry Christmas” to wishing them “Happy Holidays” is a very significant development in American life. Proponents of “Happy Holidays” argue that it’s no big deal at all, and that proponents of “Merry Christmas” are making a mountain out of a molehill, especially when proponents say that the […]

American conservatives are rightfully annoyed with the Obama administration, and Democrats generally, for refusing to name radical Islam or Islamism as the major source of terror. When Nidal Hasan murdered 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood ,the administration refused to label the mass murder — committed by a Muslim in the name of Islam — […]

  According to the father of the San Bernardino terrorist, Syed Rizwan Farook, his son was “obsessed with Israel.” In an interview in the Italian newspaper La Stampa, the senior Syed Farook said, “My son said that he shared [Islamic State leader] Al Baghdadi’s ideology and supported the creation of the Islamic State. He was […]

Two weeks ago, the Columbia University newspaper, the Spectator, published an article titled “Students, faculty address institutionalized racism at University Life event.” As described in the article, one example of the institutionalized racism that black Columbia students must endure is the university’s Core Curriculum. In the words of one of the panelists, fifth-year undergraduate student […]

For over half a century, American universities, with few exceptions, have ceased teaching and begun indoctrinating. In the last few weeks, this downhill spiral has accelerated. The university is now a caricature of an educational institution. It is difficult to come up with an idea or policy that is more absurd than the ideas and […]

The left’s reactions to the terror attack on Paris are in keeping with its tradition of getting almost everything wrong.   Take Bernie Sanders, for example. At the Democratic presidential debate, one day after the Paris attack, the democratic socialist candidate made this observation about al-Qaida: “I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, […]

JERUSALEM — I want to explain why I am in Israel. I am in here with 450 American (and a German and a Canadian) listeners to my radio show. About 400 are non-Jews. We are here on a “Stand with Israel” tour organized by the syndicator of my radio show, the Salem Radio Network, and […]

Last week, The New York Times published an article, “Sweeping Away Gender-Specific Toys and Labels,” that contained three sentences that explain one of the most important phenomena in American life. In discussing the increasing move to do away with gender-specific toys — something The New York Times approves of — the article quoted Tania Missad, […]

If you want to understand today’s Democratic Party, a word search of the Democrats’ debate last week provides a pretty clear picture. Here is how many times key words were spoken: Wall Street: 23 Tax: 20 Inequality: 9 Wealthy: 7 Now, compare the number of times other national concerns were mentioned: ISIS: 4 Terror/ists/ism: 2 […]

The invective against Dr. Ben Carson coming from the left is extraordinary, even for the left. Now that Carson, one of the pre-eminent brain surgeons in America, has become a viable candidate for president, the left has labelled him everything awful it can come up with. One left-wing columnist, Charles Blow of The New York […]

On the assumption that there are good and bad people on both the right and the left and that everyone is horrified by mass shootings, how is one to explain the great divide between right and left on the gun issue as it relates to these mass murders? Why does the left focus on more […]

In 2011, after 899 issues and 73 years of publication, Superman, the most famous American comic book character, announced that he was renouncing his American citizenship. “I intend to speak before the United Nations tomorrow and inform them that I am renouncing my U.S. citizenship,” Superman announces. He then adds, in reference to his famous […]

Allowing millions of Syrians and others from the Muslim Middle East into Europe will end up a catastrophe for Europe, and therefore for the West. This may be the most difficult sentence I have ever written. Little seems more obviously moral than to allow these benighted Syrians, Iraqis and others to flee from hell into […]

“We are the change that we seek.” “Hope and Change” These statements and campaign slogans of candidate Barack Obama in 2008 exemplified a basic difference between the Left and the Right. The further left one goes the greater the belief in change. Conservatives, on the other hand, as their name implies, wish to conserve unless […]

In the past week, two television reporters in Roanoke, Va. — Alison Parker and Adam Ward — were murdered by a black man who hated whites, and a white police officer in Houston — Darren Goforth — was murdered by a black man. Neither crime has been labeled a hate crime. And no mainstream media […]

The more one knows about the Iran deal, the more obvious it becomes that it is not a deal so much as it is a fraud. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of a fraud is “something that is meant to look like the real thing in order to trick people.” That precisely describes […]

How can we determine what is morally right? The answer to this question — the most important question human beings need to answer — is a major difference between Left and Right. For conservatives, the answer is, and has always been, that there are moral truths — objective moral standards — to which every person […]

At American University last week, President Barack Obama gave a vigorous defense of the Iran nuclear agreement. In the belief that every student who was present — indeed, all Americans — should hear the other side, here are responses to claims the president made. (For the information of my readers, I made a Prager University […]

The uproar over the killing of a lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe by an American dentist, Dr. Walter Palmer, is further proof that secular society inevitably produces moral confusion. In saying that, I do not in any way defend the killing of a protected animal. First, I do not hunt for sport (among other reasons, […]

This past week, one of the greatest differences between the Left and Right — both around the world and in America — once again came to light: how each views America. Every year for the past 67 years, the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner has been the major fundraising event for the Connecticut State Democratic Party. Not anymore. […]

We say that evil is dark. But this metaphor is imprecise. Evil is actually intensely bright, so painfully bright that people look away from it. Many even deny its existence. Why? Because once people acknowledge evil’s existence, they know they have to confront it. And most people prefer not to confront evil. That is what […]

Last week the Marxist quasi-dictator of Bolivia, Evo Morales, presented Pope Francis with a gift: a carved wooden hammer and sickle cross on which the figure of Christ is crucified. The Vatican announced that the pope had not been informed in advance about the gift. And some commentators said photos of the pope and Morales […]

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the redefinition of marriage seals the end of America as the Founders envisioned it. From well before 1776 until the second half of the 20th century, the moral values of the United States were rooted in the Bible and its God. Unlike Europe, which defined itself as exclusively Christian, […]

In an expression of extraordinary magnanimity, relatives of the black church members murdered in Charleston, S.C., arose one after the other to tell Dylann Roof, the murderer of their loved ones, that they forgive him. That I do not agree with what they did in no way diminishes my ability to be moved by their […]

Here’s a difference between Left and Right that is rarely noted despite the fact that it is at least as important as any other and even explains many of the other differences.   At the core of left-wing thought is a rejection of painful realities, the rejection of what the French call (SET ITAL) les […]

A fundamental difference between the left and right concerns how each assesses public policies. The right asks, “Does it do good?” The left asks a different question. One example is the minimum wage. In 1987, The New York Times editorialized against any minimum wage. The title of the editorial said it all — “The Right […]

The difference between Right and Left addressed in this column concerns a fundamentally different method that each utilizes in order to improve society. Conservatives believe that the way to a better world is almost always through moral improvement of the individual — by each person doing battle with his own moral defects. It is true […]