| 5-15-98
Dennis Prager mourned the passing of singer Frank Sinatra. Time
tests greatness and P believes Sinatra will last in popularity.
P would make no pronouncement on Frank's moral character.
Then Prager raised his concerns about the LA TIMES…He referred
to the front page of today's Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Willes, the 56-year-old chairman of Times Mirror Co., who
added the post of Times publisher last year, thinks the flagship
paper depends too much on white people, particularly men, as sources
in news stories. To better reflect the polyglot nature of Los Angeles
and other home cities of Times Mirror papers -- and, he hopes, to
lure more readers -- Mr. Willes intends to set specific goals for
increasing the number of women and minorities quoted in stories.
Editors will be paid based partly on how well their reporters meet
those goals.
He also wants more stories about minorities and women; to attract
women, he says, Times Mirror must offer stories that are "more emotional,
more personal, less analytical."
"When our readers read the paper, they don't see themselves in
the paper," Mr. Willes says in an interview at company headquarters
in Los Angeles. In addition to the Times, the company owns Newsday
of Long Island, N.Y., the Baltimore Sun and Connecticut's Hartford
Courant. "People want to feel like the paper's theirs," he says.
"They can't do that if it's a fundamentally white-male newspaper."
Almost all newspapers have been struggling with how to better
reflect their often increasingly diverse readerships and stem a
general decline in readership. Many minorities have long felt that
they are ignored by the people who run newspapers and are certain
to applaud most acts that force editors to look their way.
Prager's letter to the 5/14/98 Wall Street Journal:
Letters to the Editor
Justice for the Friendly Spy
In his May 6 editorial-page commentary "Ethnicity Is No Excuse
For Espionage," denouncing the activities on behalf of spy Jonathan
Pollard's release, E.V. Kontorovich calls me an "esteemed moralist,"
but doesn't much esteem my moral argument that spying for a friendly
democracy is morally (if not legally) quite different from spying
from an anti-democratic enemy. He asks rhetorically, would I not
think "adultery a less serious offense if committed with a close
family friend?" I love analogies, but this one doesn't work. In
adultery, the primary wrong is the hurt felt by the betrayed spouse--not
whether the person with whom the adulterous spouse slept was a family
friend or a stranger. If he really believes in his analogy, Mr.
Kontorovich presumably believes that the primary wrong in spying
is the hurt feeling of the country betrayed.
But feeling hurt is not a particularly strong argument for giving
a man a life sentence in prison, much of it in solitary confinement.
Furthermore, we are constantly told that the issue is entirely one
of "great damage" to American security, not betrayed feelings. And
here my moral argument remains unanswered: Would Americans--would
Mr. Kontorovich--really have considered an American who spied for
Britain against Nazi Germany before America entered World War II
to be as damaging and as immoral as an American spying for Nazi
Germany?
Mr. Kontorovich's comparison of Jonathan Pollard to convicted
cop killer Mumia Abau-Jamal is even odder, and easily answered.
If anyone shows that one American was killed or even harmed as the
result of Pollard's spying, I, and I would hope everyone else, would
abandon any campaign on behalf of his release.
Finally, with regard to Mr. Kontorovich's overriding charge that
"ethnic solidarity" is at the heart of all the appeals on Pollard's
behalf, I can only speak for myself in saying that Jonathan Pollard's
being Jewish plays no role whatsoever in my support of his release.
He spied on behalf of the only democracy in the world that is threatened
with extinction by many of its neighbors. That, not his ritual circumcision,
defines the issue for me.
Dennis Prager
Los Angeles
***
From the 5/15/98 Los Angeles Jewish Times:
Article by Ari Noonan, veteran Los Angeles Jewish journalist.
Headline: Prager Serves, And Crowd Goes Wild
By the eve of the 22nd anniversary of his arrival in Los Angeles,
the thinker Dennis Prager has molded thousands of the community's
Jews exactly to his liking, and it was noisily evident last week
at Shomrei Torah, a Conservative synagogue in Mr. Prager's neighborhood,
where West Hills begins to shinny up a northerly mountain. Some
400 came not only to cheer but to fawn, and they met scant resistance.
The applause began when he merely slanted through a doorway from
dinner, continued through ten minutes of opening patter, and it's
probably still ringing somewhere among the surrounding hills.
When emcee Barry Wolfe mentioned Mr. Prager's resume on the internet
spans 18 pages, they applauded. When Mr. Prager asked how many non-Jews
were in the audience, they applauded.
When Mr. Prager flashed his well-known, ahem, self-confidence
and said, gee, he must really have made it now because he was billed
as a speaker without having a topic listed, they applauded more.
However, those who came to be cerebrally challenged were not disappointed,
since that, amazingly in an anti-intellectual age, is how Mr. Prager
has forged his unique and populist reputation.
After all, he is more thinker/moral interpreter than raconteur,
although, when you are wildly popular, the temptation to switch
must bring a fever.
A few weeks before his 50th birthday, his former boyish appearance
has blossomed into Mature Matinee Idol, handsomely graying at 6-4,
250.
Gazing down on his loyal subjects, he knows every pronouncement
will only cement their fealty.
The business of Mr. Prager's life is public speaking - most else
is detail. His ability to make the known but not so obvious sound
as if he has just laboriously crafted this original moral lesson
especially for you, dear listener, remains his worthiest weapon.
Another powerful skill is changing oratorical speeds.
Uncharacteristically, his lengthy parrying with the audience at
the start was fast wearing down to the threads. Just as some began
to worry, is this why we came? Mr Prager faked out his listeners.
Ruminating casually, he wondered, vaguely, what subject he should
examine.
The fear was, he'd just thought one up. As despair was straightening
up to knock, he launched into a brilliantly stitched five-dimension
view of "What I'd Like to See for a Better America," reasoned, typically,
with sky-blue clarity and cogent logic.
He called bi-lingual education a tragedy. He wished families had
a free choice of schools, because ending a public school's monopoly
would force it to improve.
He said America mistakenly committed to multi-culturalism when
what it really wanted was multi-ethnicity. And he wishes for a secular
American Government with a religious society but the calibration
is way off there, too.
Saving the best for first, Mr. Prager, the noted anti-television
watcher, said if Americans subtracted two hours from their daily
average of seven hours watching, they could master any language
in a year.
If they exchanged the weekly average of 49 hours watching for
study, they could earn graduate degrees for the rest of their lives
- which is how long the audience wanted to hear him think.
From the monthly bulletin of Stephen S. Wise Temple:
5/98
Dennis speaks at SSW Friday night May 29.
The Saturday morning Minyan has been a fixture at Stephen S. Wise
for almost two decades. As of the first Shabbat in April, Dennis
Prager began giving the devar Torah (sermon) at the minyan almost
weekly. Dennis is well known as a daily talk show host on KABC radio.
But religion in general and Judaism specifically are his first loves.
Dennis, why speak every week?
WELL, I had very low ratings at my station and I've been looking
for a new job. Also, my wife thought I wasn't busy enough.
I love Judaism and I love this synagogue. So when the rabbis invited
me tot each Judaism here at the minyan, I was honored and delighted
to accept their invitation. Let me just say, the minyan is already
great. For Cantor Linda Kates' davening and singing alone, people
should come to the minyan. There is a combination of prayer, music,
religious seriousness and camaraderie that I have rarely found anywhere,
and I've been to Shabbat services in hundreds of synagogues. People
talk about this minyan outside of Los Angeles. I just hope to add
a dimension of learning that will make it even better.
What are you going to talk about?
Sometimes the parsha (weekly Torah portion), but more often about
Judaism, its relevance to our lives and to the world at large. In
the first weeks, I hope to discuss how a sophisticated, educated,
rational questioning individual can come to Jewish faith and to
God.
You have called this minyan "Chassidic reform." What does that
mean?
Many of the people at the minyan have the passion and the commmitment
that is associated with Chasidim. At the same time, they are Reform
in that they are free to experiment with non-Orthodox halachic modes
of expression. Religious passion and seriousness alongside religious
freedom make a very powerful combination. It's a great credit to
this synagogue that it fosters an environment where this can happen.
In modern society we have lots of choices - about a million of
them on a Saturday morning. Why attend a religious service?
You're right. People have choices. Shabbat competes with the mall,
the golf course, and all other forms of entertainment. But when
it's done right, there really is no competition - Shabbat wins decisively.
How many people have joyous, meaningful experiences at the mall?
You can have it every week at home and in Hershenson Hall. I have
never met anyone who regretted having Shabbat in their lives. I
have met a lot of people who are sorry they don't.
If a person has never been to a Shabbat service, it can be a little
intimidating. There's a lot of Hebrew in the service and so on.
How would you suggest people approach the minyan for the first time?
The question is a fair one. Coming from an Orthodox synagogue
and yeshiva background, I was comfortable with the Hebrew the first
time I came to the minyan. But many others will find the Hebrew
unfamiliar. To these people I have two suggestions.
First, close your eyes and just enjoy the beautiful Jewish music
and the beautiful voice of Cantor Kates.
Second, remember that for everything worthwhile there is a learning
curve. And this learning curve, with everything transliterated as
well as translated into English, isn't particularly steep. And,
God, is it worth it.
People work hard at a lot of things - from their physical fitness
to their profession. In order to bring Judaism into our lives, we
have to make some effort, too. Let me make this deal to my fellow
Stephen S. Wise members. Give us five Shabbats and then decide whether
you feel that you will have a richer life, or even a happier life,
if you don't come the sixth week. I'd wage the great majority will,
at the very least, be torn.
You have absolutely nothing to lose, and the deepest, most meaningful
joys to gain by taking up this offer. The mall, the TV, the ball
game will all be still there six weeks later.
Not everybody can make time to come to synagogue every Saturday.
What do you say to those people?
Come every Shabbat that you can. Eventually you may well find
that it becomes so important to you that you restructure your life
around it. I know that sounds incredible to some people, but many
of us minyan members do precisely that. That is why, for example,
I never broadcast on a Shabbat. I have found that the penalty for
missing a Shabbat is not a punishment from God; it is missing that
Shabbat. It is, literally, my link to sanity.
Talk to minyan regulars. Most of them never though they'd ever
be spending their Saturdays in shul.
How does your five-year old like it?
He loves it - especially when he can chase the five-year old girls
there. He's made friends there - the minyan has a great child care
program for kids. And, on those occasions we can't come to the minyan,
he really misses it. One week recently I woke up late and decided
not to go to shul. He got dressed up and asked me to take him to
shul! To share the minyan with your spouse and your children is
a unique form of bonding. On Shabbat we don't listen tot he radio
in the car; instead we either talk or sing Jewish songs in the car
on the way to shul. It's life-changing stuff.
People who have Shabbat - who have this community, who have people
with whom to share their pain and their joys, who commune with God
every week in prayer and song - are happier people. If you don't
believe me, give yourself five shabbatot to find out.
Friday, May 15, 1998
From DennisPrager.com: Frank Sinatra died last night at the age
of 82. Throughout the three hour broadcast, Dennis substituted the
usual KABC "bumper" music with excerpts from Mr. Sinatra's greatest
hits. Dennis said he will miss him. He saw him live about 4 years
ago in Las Vegas and was impressed at the sincerity and clarity
of his singing. Dennis said that as opposed to "pop" music today
where it is difficult to understand the words being sung, most people
don't believe that the singers today believe the lyrics they are
singing. He said that one of the great attributes of Frank Sinatra
was that the listener believed that Frank Sinatra believed in what
he was singing. One caller told Dennis that what made Mr. Sinatra
great was that he appealed to women because his music was so romantic,
and he appealed to men because of his attitude. Dennis said that
in every generation, you can look at a few people and say "there
will never be another like him." Dennis said there will never be
another Frank Sinatra.
Dennis then changed the show topic to an important article on
the front page of today's Wall Street Journal. It discusses the
new policy that will be enacted at the Los Angeles Times to get
more quotes from women and minorities. Dennis said that although
he believes the Los Angeles Times to be one of the best papers one
can read and that he has been honored to be published on their opinion
page over a dozen times and has had 3 articles written on him, he
is none-the-less, ready to criticize a policy that he believes is
detrimental to the future quality of the paper. Dennis wanted to
know how reporters were supposed to do this. After getting a quote
from a source, is the reporter supposed to ask "oh by the way, before
I hang up, can you tell me what is your ethnic background?" Dennis
said that the article described how reporters will be harmed financially
for not getting equal amounts of quotes from women and minorities.
Dennis said that when he reads a quote in the paper, the last thing
he asks himself is does this person have "Asian" blood in them?
He's reading for their expertise on the issue at hand. Dennis said
that the paper should penalize its reporters for not getting quotes
from the most qualified sources, not because the most qualified
source just happened to be a white, male, Christian; which Dennis
said is the only group in America you are allowed to criticize these
days without fear of being stigmatized.
From
Prager's Web Site:
Thursday, May 14, 1998
Dennis began the show laughing at how "outside" he feels about
the last episode of the TV show Seinfeld. He called himself "an
American anthropologist." He is studying this interest in Seinfeld
much like an anthropologist studies different civilizations. He
has only seen the show once. Dennis said that this interest in the
last Seinfeld episode is what media sociologist, Todd Gitlen referred
to in yesterday's New York Times, as "The Seinfeld industrial complex."
Mr. Gitlen referenced the historian, Daniel Borstein, who more than
30 years ago wrote The Image, and talked about "pseudo events."
In reference to Seinfeld and pseudo events, Gitlen said that "this
is one in spades." Gitlen said that the pseudo events in the 90's
has become the "glue of the month that binds the nation together."
The article wonders what with satellite technology and the multitude
of cable channels, if this will be the last TV show, outside of
sporting events, that will bring the nation together. Dennis also
laughed because the ABC news reported on his station that the last
time a show's final episode had this magnitude it was the last episode
of MASH and the Department of Water and Power said that cities were
overwhelmed with water usage because most people used the bathroom
only during the commercials and as the final credits ran. Most people
called Dennis' show to say how much they enjoyed each Friday talking
with their co-workers about the night's previous episode and how
much they are going to miss it. Later on in the show Dennis brought
up the large salaries that the performers on Seinfeld bring in and
asked if people resented their earnings? Dennis said that someone
figured out that Jerry Seinfeld earns $55,000.00 every second. One
caller told Dennis that Jerry Seinfeld works more than just the
half hour episode that that figure is taken from and Dennis agreed.
Another caller told Dennis that at that rate, he would work about
a minute and then take off the rest of the year. Dennis wanted to
know why some people resent ball players making so much money but
not actors?
In the third hour, Dennis asked his listeners why there was so
little interest in yesterday's gubernatorial debate? This debate,
sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, featured all 4 candidates. The
debate took place at 10:00 AM. No one on talk radio is discussing
what was brought up in the debate. People on the streets and at
work are not discussing it. Dennis wanted to know why? It took a
while to even get callers to respond to Dennis' question. Not only
did Los Angelinos have little interest in the debate, they had little
interest in providing reasons why they had little interest.
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