Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager on Dealing With the Left: Don’t Apologize
“ultimately what they want is an apology and they want you backpedaling”
Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager have been making rounds in media, promoting their film project “No Safe Spaces” which focuses on free speech and social justice warrior culture on college campuses.
They appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show last week and described a new method for dealing with the left. Simply don’t play their game. Don’t apologize.
Scott Morefield of the Daily Caller reports:
‘Don’t Apologize’ – Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla on Defending Free Speech Against the Left’s Attacks
Conservative commentator Dennis Prager and comedian Adam Carolla discussed combating the left’s attacks on freedom of speech during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson that aired Wednesday night.
“You can say whatever you want like you could say whatever you want 20 years ago but you won’t have a job on Monday,” said Carolla, responding to a question from Carlson about whether or not Americans are “less free” to so speak than 20 years ago.
“At a certain point you cannot let the left intimidate you,” added Prager. “And when you don’t they go crazy because they are so used to being able to intimidate. That’s his point and I second it.”
To Carolla, conceding to the left is like making deals with terrorists when they take hostages.
“Also, once you sort of put it out there like you’re a country who doesn’t negotiate with terrorists when they take hostages, they take less hostages,” said the comedian. “Once you put it out there like, ‘hey, I’m a comedian. I have a podcast. I say what I want and I won’t apologize,’ they leave you alone because ultimately what they want is an apology and they want you backpedaling. If you just sort of stand up like any bully, it’s not satisfying. I say outrageous things all day long on my podcast. People say to me, ‘how does that work?’ I say, ‘well, I don’t apologize so I’m not on their list of people who need to apologize.’”
Watch the segment below:
You’ll notice Prager used Trump as a nearly perfect example of this method.
Here’s more on that from the FOX News Insider:
‘The Ultimate Nemesis of the Left’: Dennis Prager Says Trump ‘Marches On’ Despite Any Backlash
Prager — who’s film “No Safe Spaces” with comedian Adam Carolla explores the suppression of free speech on college campuses — said to Tucker Carlson that Trump “marches on” despite any backlash from the left.
“[Trump] has said some ridiculous things, even some bad things. Fully acknowledged,” said Prager. “Nevertheless, he does not apologize to the left. He is the ultimate nemesis of the left because he doesn’t care what they say.”
He said that those on the left wish invoking fear to President Trump would work, and they then resort to more aggressive tactics.
Prager said that today, there’s more fear of those on the left than “the fear of God.”
“There’s a vicious cycle taking place on the part of — not of liberals — but of leftists,” said Prager, who is also the founder of nonprofit PragerU.
Carolla added that it’s “insane” that the left has talked people into thinking they need to preface every talking point with a defense.
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
Part of the problem is that conservatives just want to be left alone, so we rarely provoke. And wind up playing defense for 3 quarters.
Case in point is the NPC meme. It is devastating the Left, out of all proportion because they rarely are attacked so effectively.
Another theory I’m fleshing out is that conservativism imbues passivity. It’s a feature not a big that we tend to err on the side of caution. When is the last time we overplayed our hand?
“Not this hill. Failure Theater”
I’m not sure it’s a bad thing, but its something we should consider compensating for.
I think you’re conflating Conservatives and Republicans. Republicans, historically, would rather do anything than fight. Conservatives, on the other hand, are much more likely to stand up for what they believe in.
Conservatives are a minority, even on the Right.
Fair point. I’ll keep that in mind as I test my theory.
What I love about Trump is that which I loved about Howard Phillips. They were confrontational constitutionalists. Phillips more so than Trump, but I’ll take what we get.
Howard Phillips (1941-2013),
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Phillips_(politician)
Republicans, historically, would rather do anything than fight.
Historically? Like, in 1861? Or perhaps when Republican President Grant used federal troops to destroy the Klan? Or maybe 1919, when Republican Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge blocked Woodrow Wilson’s dreams of megalomania?
Historically, Republicans have been the essential American political party. And they had to fight to do it.
Modern Republicans are castrati in comparison. They won’t fight. But we can’t blame history for that.
Republicans were forced to fight in 1861. Although the South likes to style the Civil War “the War of Northern Aggression,” its attack on Ft. Sumter was not merely an act of rebellion but an act of war, to which the Union had to respond. I have to wonder what would have happened if the Confederacy and just quarantined the Union’s insular possessions, letting in nothing but food and medical supplies, and playing a long-term game instead of acting as aggressively as it did. The Confederacy did try to negotiate with the Union over the federal possessions, but the Union refused to negotiate with what it considered an illegitimate government. But the reality was that the Union’s possessions were sited within jurisdictions of a new nation, and long-term there was little they could have done save start a war themselves, something for which there was no stomach in the North, except among radical abolitionists and their allies, who were in a distinct minority.
Edit: it’s a feature not a BUG
The WHOLE discussion with Carlson MUST be watched…it’s great. When one becomes a hardened target the Left goes away. Seeing Kavansugh and Graham take it to the Left is a great example. Being a honey badger ups the ante.
Ewww…That racist Sonny Perdue has done it now. He said the C-P word and of course, CNN, the racist fake news station that it is, and proud of it, picked right up on it.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/04/politics/sonny-perdue-cotton-pickin-florida-governor-andrew-gillum-ron-desantis/index.html
It’s like we’re all in the third grade.
I picked cotton on our Texas farm every summer as a kid. We didn’t have any slaves either. And I’m told (to my shame) that my family fought for the Union.
Guess it’s not cultural appropriation when CNN does it.
Trump doesn’t apologize, he punches and then counter punches. He knows these ‘Democrats’ because he was one. He understands their breed and how to cut to the soft spots. What Obama had by comparison was just guile and a manner of speaking to cover it. Trump doesn’t bother.
Giving in to bullying has never worked for me, either. I learned a long time ago that, confronted by someone spoiling for a fight, the best thing to do pick a time and a place to wail on ’em.
Can you imagine a world without conservatives constantly apologizing to Leftists?
… ah for the days we used to respond “Want me to punch your TS card!?!”
I am not a big fan of Megyn Kelly, but her real mistake was making those apologies.
What she said, in context, was more of a question – when did the whole concept change so that what used to be acceptable at Halloween of dressing up as a favorite character (including painting your face) became “racist ™”? (paraphr.)
Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel did it in the late 1990’s or early 2000’s and it was NOT called out, not held against them. Many others, same thing. I also remember an incident when Whoopi Goldberg was dating Ted Danson and she encouraged him to dress up in blackface for some party…..and he was excoriated for his “racial insensitivity” and “racism ™”. Whoopi actually said it was HER idea-that she wrote it, and that she thought it was very funny, and never intended to be anything but that.
That was a LONG time ago (1993)……before he married Mary Steenburgen in 1996, but hey! it did happen with no real impact on Danson’s career!
(Note: read the link to the NYT article – what Whoopi says about the n-word…..very, VERY interesting, and different that what she and her fellow-travelers today say, showing how we have devolved so much in such a short time relating to racial equality in our society….)
Don’t apologize, unless there is cause. And, most important, don’t operate in the frame of reference they construct. More often than not, the little boxes are designed to paralyze and exploit their competing interests. For example, it’s not anti-abortion, it’s pro-life, evolution of human life from conception, always. It’s not anti-immigrant, it’s pro-native, emigration reform, not immigration reform, at both ends of the bridge, and throughout.
Yes, indeed. Stop apologizing for things you didn’t do, like imaginary “privilege.” Stop apologizing for things nobody can even see, like “microaggressions.” Stop apologizing for existing. But that’s only the first step.
For a half century, PC culture has been based on harassment aimed at apology, then retreat, and ultimately surrender. Finally—finally!—someone came along who wouldn’t do that. And that, obviously, was Donald Trump in 2016. It was clear very early in the campaign. It was what put him on the map, and what kept him there. Recall that Jeb! tried to pull that “apology” game, demanding that Trump fold up and retreat on “immigration” with the demand that he apologize to Mrs. Jeb. Trump blew him off without apology or retreat . . . and Jeb withered and blew away. He never recovered; he wasn’t a serious contender for the nomination after that.
But not all of them go away. Witness the liberals and progressives today. They become more hysterical about Trump by the hour, with no end in sight. The reward for sticking to your guns and not apolgizing or surrendering immediately is that you’re still standing and still in the game, not necessarily that the harpies will just go away. Trump could pull it off, because they can’t annoy his boss until he’s fired (he doesn’t have a boss), picket him until his neighbors get annoyed (he’ll just move to another of his estates), frighten his wife and threaten his kids (he has armed guards), kill his dog (what dog?). Most of us are not in such a position. We should stop apologizing anyway. But the benefits may not be immediate.
the left doesn’t blow away as you said because they’re energized and resurrected by the leftist media. The right doesn’t have that advantage.
And once Jeb became ineffective he was abandoned by the left which is why he faded away as he was only a straw man erected with the help of the media to counter Trump. Once ignored, everyone dropped him. Even his family.
The problem is that too many on the right wind up doing the job of the left by criticizing their own when they get a bit hyperbolic or perhaps impolite.
Look how they constantly side with the left about things Trump says. This only gives the left energy to continue their attacks because they think they can tip more on the right if they just keep screeching.
I’ve seen it here and other places when a commenter goes over the ‘politeness’ threshold. Doesn’t matter that what they’re saying or the gist of it was correct, what was important is that it was impolite or crude or whatever effete adjective is applied.
We see nevertrumpers doing this all the time. In fact it seems to be their major argument against Trump is that he’s crude and rude to our enemies.
We played that polite game for too long and the left/Dems stomped all over us. We still have an icon of that (Mitt Romney) wandering around trying to be/stay relevant even tho we’re way past where we’ll listen much to him. He’s not even an effective nevertrumper. Can’t bring himself to really attack Trump yet has no response to the physical attacks from the left. It’s one reason why he lost. He was too meek and mild and so was spewed from our mouths as the tepid elite snob that he is.
This fight is going to take some dirty fighting. We shouldn’t be proud of doing so but we shouldn’t shrink from doing so or we’ll be steamrolled over and never recover.
And that will affect your children and your children’s children.
Keep that in mind when you want to see the right play by some imaginary Marquis deQueensbury rules of politics that the left ignores.
It’s called honesty, and if we need to lose it in order to win elections then we shouldn’t win elections. If we dump honesty, how are we better than them?
If we dump honesty, how are we better than them?
1. Not Big Brother control freaks.
2. Not socialists.
3. Not racists.
4. Not sexists.
Just for starters.
I say this as a Christian. The kind of Christian who will pick up a whip and beat the blasphemers out of the temple, Don’t we too often forget that part?
Never offer them even the whiff of what we in good faith would consider a good will gesture. God commands us to be gentle as doves, but wise as serpents. Again, don’t we too often forget that part? We have to understand that we are not dealing with people who are dealing with us in good faith.
I learned this by observing Al “Tawana Brawley” Sharpton and Rev. “Hymie Town” Jackson when they’d shake down companies for their supposedly racist schemes. The companies would usually settled, and the agreement would typically involve NO ADMISSION OF WRONGDOING, but they’d agree to pay compensation and retrain their employees in some sort of wrongthink reeducation blather.
And then Sharpton and/or Jackson and/or surrogate would get on TV and shout at the top of their lungs they were right all along and that Cracker Barrel or Ivory Soap or whatever is a deeply racist company. Why else did they agree to this settlement?
Never agree to the settlement. Always go scorched earth, total victory, total destruction of your enemy. There were companies that Sharpton et al tried to shake down but were headed by men who had exactly that kind of spine. It’s rare, but it happens. And the Al Sharptons will crawl away when slapped down.
Forgive me, but I need to expand on this point. The same goes on a global scale. It applies to the al Qaedas, the Hamas types, the Tehran Mullahs, whatever. We either act in strength or pathetic weakness. And they take their cues. They’re not stupid.
The real question isn’t why did Rome fall, but why did the empire last as long as it did? The answer is her legions. The common man. Historians it seems are invested in the “Great Man” theory. To some extent that’s true. At the end of empire two great men fought each other. Alaric, the Visigoth, and Stilicho, the half Vandal (I love that) master of Rome’s armed forces. Stilicho didn’t come from the cream, so to speak, of Roman society. He was a fighting man who rose through the ranks. And he knew how to lead his troops because he was one of them. Really if you go back to Julius Caesar you see the same connection. Marius’ mules, anyone? Paetus was a putz.
The point is, if you’re mistaken that I’ve forgotten there should be one, is that even in the late empire a well led legion could still fight as well as any legion ever. And a well led legion was something to be feared. Just ask Queen Boudica about the 14th. Or the Iazyge Germans who lost their lives on the ice covered Danube. This is why the Visigothic tribal counsel advised Alaric not to try to sack Rome. “Do not fear the gods,” they told Alaric, “but fear the power of Stilicho.”
They were right. As long as Stilicho led the legions Rome was unbeatable. But Rome executed Stilicho. They did it to themselves. They had been doing to themselves for centuries. And all their stupidity, corruption, treachery, what have you, could be covered up by legions of men who simply refused to be defeated.
A situation that can only last so long. But from my perch, it lasted a damn sight longer than could otherwise be humanly explained. Sheer grit delivered by what the ruling class usually despised kept the empire going for as long as it did. The ruling class slit their own throats. If we’re not careful they’ll do it again.
So what is your advice for a conservative engineer who works at Twitter?
Keep a Pearl Harbor file off-site.
Ah Andy poses a good question for those of us who live and work in enemy territory. In Silicon Valley, my diminutive 15 year old granddaughter told me that if anyone at her school knew she supports President Trump she would be physically hurt. When it is you alone against everyone else sometimes it is better to be silent and live. And vote.
Never apologize to someone who wants you dead and your children replaced. Never get defensive. Go on the attack. Punch back twice as hard.