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(COOLLIST) Prager on Ethics
I just finished reading the recent book _Think a Second Time_ by
Dennis Prager. The author's name may not be familiar to you. I first
encountered him when he hosted a daily talk show that aired at 1:30 in
the morning here in north Georgia. I saw a few episodes when I was
home for break and was hooked. His show had a similar format to many
others; he would give a monologue and have a panel of guests.
However, there was a major difference in content. While many of the
shows would focus on lurid pop culture or mindless political
infighting, his show was an involving dialogue on important issues of
ethics and basic issues. Topics included "are people born good?" and
"why are so many Americans lonely?"; the shallow nature of the mass
media rarely allows for such deep discussion.
I didn't know much else about Mr. Prager until I picked up his book,
found in the discounted book store at the local outlet mall. In
addition to his brief career as a television personality, he also is a
noted scholar of Judaism, a radio host, and an expert of international
affairs. The collection of essays in this book also qualify him, in
my opinion, as a much needed moralist for our society.
His preface to the book introduces him as a passionate moderate. Much
of the first half of the book is a critique of modern Liberalism. He
examines the civil rights movement and wonders why it seems to espouse
a black-against-white racism while black-on-black suffering continues
unabashed in Africa; for feminism, he argues that the film _Thelma and
Louise_ provides an important commentary on the status of women in
society, but a similarly clarifying work about the suffering of men
under women is needed. His breakdown of the evil of pacifism is
timely with its bifurcation of violence into that which is just and
that which is unjust.
Justice, good, evil, and values are central concepts of Prager's view.
He consistently stresses that a society without shared values that
stress the importance of being good is a society that is doomed.
Likewise, the elevation of compassion over justice devalues that which
is good. Early in the book, he asks a question: which is most
important, to be smart, successful, happy, or good? He believes
strongly that the correct answer is to be good, and that to good
requires an absolute moral standard.
The second half of the book is an elaboration on that standard. He
pulls from his own Jewish traditions and from the teachings of
Christianity and Islam to develop a concept of ethical monotheism.
Ethical because religious belief without an overwhelming interest in
doing good leads to much evil, and monotheism because only by having
one standard of morality can good be defined and attained. Prager
does not feel that all religions are one; he relishes his own
tradition, but also delights in the Christian celebration of
Christmas. He does think that intolerance leads to evil and that each
of the major monotheistic faiths can learn much from the others.
Dogma and ritual are much less important to Prager then the teaching
of values, anchored in a faith in something greater than creation.
Without that faith, he argues, ethics are absurd because they exist in
a void.
This book has greatly influenced my thoughts on many topics. As its
title suggests, it has caused me to think a second time. I'm not in
total agreement with him, but I find his clarity helpful in analyzing
what stands I will take. If you are interested in the future of our
culture and want to have a better feel for what should be done to put
us on the right track, then I would highly recommend Prager's book as
a primer on the importance of morality.
--
Benjamin L. Combee (combee@techwood.org) <URL:http://www.yak.net/combee/>
that public-access-TV-making, video-game-collecting, cryptography-pushing,
World-Wide-Web-explaining, fem-music-loving, bad-pun-creating guy in Austin
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