Get It On!: The Adam Carolla-Dennis Prager Story
There are three take-aways from the Hobbit-like tale you have just heard.
1) Civility
One often hears the following complaint: “Why can’t we all just get along?”
To which Dennis Prager might answer with two of his more famous axioms: “Clarity over unity” and “First tell the truth, then give your opinion.”
In other words, “if you are going to argue, make sure both sides even know where the disagreement lies” and “report the facts and then give the opinion we’re all entitled to have.”
The reason Adam respects Dennis, despite disagreeing on huge issues like the existence of God, abortion, and gay marriage, is because he knows above all else he will be getting the, for lack of a better term, God’s honest truth. There is power in knowledgeably articulating your position in an entertaining, civil way. Carolla is living, breathing proof that conservatives can get through to younger generations of Americans. People are hungry for substance and ready to laugh. Those of us on the center-right who care about such things need to be thinking about how to achieve both without watering down either.
Get yourself an audio copy of one of the Prager-Carolla performances to learn how.
2) Profitability
Making money is a good thing and it seems like a lot of conservative groups forget that. Generally speaking, the open marketplace of goods and ideas is an excellent identifier of what works and what doesn’t – what’s wanted and what isn’t. If we say we support the free enterprise system and then rely so top-heavily on others to pony up the cash for our pet projects, we’re in danger of becoming the PBS-loving, Big Bird-defending liberals we give such a hard time to.
Adam Carolla is an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He started his own podcasting network. He etched out a place for himself in the stand-up comedy world. He cultivated his talents, which led to bigger audiences, which resulted in advertisers and sponsors wanting to partner with and pay him enough to keep what he affectionately calls his “Pirate Ship” afloat. He – as well as the Prager-Carolla tour itself – embodies the entrepreneurial spirit defended by learned scholars at conservative and libertarian think-tanks.
We absolutely need both, but it’s important to remind ourselves from time to time that every dime spent by a charity or organization in this country came from the sweat of someone else’s brow. When Adam and Dennis go on the road, the event is financially self-sufficient. Their talents are in demand, so they supply them. We’d all do well to remember this basic economic concept.
3) Culturally
I hope you’re sitting down for the shock of what I’m about to reveal, but we conservatives – specifically religious conservatives – aren’t loved and revered by the creators of popular culture. To be fair, we don’t regularly do ourselves any favors in this department. Growing up the son of an Evangelical pastor, I saw first-hand how often American Christianity lamely attempted to mimic something much cooler that the secular entertainment industry was doing. No innovation, just oodles of poorly veiled imitation. Anytime a sentence describing a band or movie starts with “They’re the Christian version of…” I immediately tune out and begin thinking about what I’ll eat for lunch today.
So many talented people in this country embrace conservative values to one extent or another. And even if someone isn’t 100% onboard for every plank in Michele Bachmann’s political platform, we don’t have to reject them and rush to find “a conservative version of…”
While we will never appease everyone who might otherwise join our “side,” and although there will always be jerks among our ranks who turn people off to our worldview, we’re failing at the unavoidable (and critically important) task of making the case for the things we believe in the public square. If “politics” is downstream of culture, modern conservatism hasn’t been anywhere near a river of consequence since long before John Wayne died.
Granted, Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla doing a few dozen live shows around the country isn’t going to topple the Media-Hollywood Complex that has rebranded progressivism as the direct extension of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln for forty years. But it’s something. It’s more than something.
It’s really cool.
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Related at PJ Lifestyle on Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla:
A belated thank you for all you’ve done. I’m a Prager fan from way back, and a CarollaHead of more recent vintage. I’ve about to add the latest pair of their stage shows to my iPod for the plane trip to Israel. I couldn’t think of more appropriate listening!
Let’s just hope nobody’s service dog pees on me. (Carolla in-joke).
Cool is important. The good news is progressives are longer cool, really. They are out of ideas. Their bubbles are bursting. The risk is that progressivism is a progressive disease. Like someone with an addiction, progressives will come back and be worse than ever if they control the purse strings of government again. If we don’t get our financial house in order and put the blame squarely on progressives for pushing programs that don’t work and pile up debt, there is a real risk that we’ll see federal spending and regulation spin out of control more than it is now (like in CA and MI). I am looking forward to listening to some of the Prager-Carolla podcasts.
I would pay money to hear Dennis explain to Adam why he is a stereo buff and have Adam explain to Dennis about his passion for cars. I suppose they could do it on Dennis’ show but his producers won’t let him talk about audio gear on the air.
Kathy, Thanks for the kind words and glad you are enjoying the shows! And Steve, I very much agree with your assessment of where things are at. You won’t regret taking the time to purchase/listen to the Prager-Carolla shows! (And no, I don’t get a cut of the profit, so that’s a a genuine endorsement to spend your hard-earned money!).
Carolla is so fantastic when he’s not cussing. Combining him with Prager tames him without losing an ounce of that which differentiates him and makes him good to hear.
First I should tell you that I am agnostic, leaning toward atheist. That said, as a huge Adam Carolla fan, it was he who got me listening to Dennis Prager. I’d like to thank you for a great article and a great message. The nice thing about the pairing of the two is that it just re-affirms what we’ve known all along, which is that anyone can get along and prosper as long as we can be honest with each other. I don’t have to agree with you and you don’t have to agree with me, but if there is a basic intellectual dishonesty then can will be no common ground. It’s why I get frustrated when I hear the trite phrase, “…this country really needs to have an honest discussion about race…”. The statement is true, the problem is that most people that say it have no interest in an “honest discussion” about race, they are interested in a lecture about race. What we have with Prager and Carolla is an honest discussion about any and all topics. Why? Because they each come at the topic with intellectual honesty. It’s amazing how, when each side is truly honest, even though people can come at things from different ideologies, they tend to share more in common than one might think possible.
So thanks again, first for getting Adam and Dennis together, and also for a great message.
Higgs-
Great to hear from you, man! Thank you for reading the piece and I’m thrilled you enjoyed it. I have many non-believing friends and we get along famously, same as Dennis and Adam…same as friends all over the country in similar situations. The important thing in the public square isn’t uniformity of thought/belief, but respect for your opponent and a certain degree of comprehension regarding your own convictions. People think we have to “get along” for getting along’s sake, or pretend that every idea is equally valid. Not the case. It’s our duty to defend what we believe, but to do it respectfully and civilly.
Intellectual honesty is SO important!
You are guilty of being a bit of a Utopian here when you say each side must have respect for other’s position but that both sides must be intellectually honest. Ideologues and people trying to gain advantage usually can fake the former for the first few exchanges but generally can not ever achieve the latter.
The real problem is not that people cannot have civil discussions about how we should be collectively governed. Rather it is the overreach of government that allows one side to massively execute on their point of view without getting any agreements at all from other affected parties.
My neighbor may feel that we need a drainage ditch running between our properties while I feel that it isn’t so bad to simply deal with occasional flooding of the terrain. While neither can command the other, the conversation has a good chance of being civil and intelligent with perhaps a good compromise as an outcome. But when he petitions the city to force me into this expenditure, you can throw civility out the window.
When I meet an Obama supporter I immediately see someone who is complicit in the degradation of our standard of living and the stealing of wealth and opportunity from coming generations. We can discuss the weather or the Lakers with civility – but not politics or culture.
Yeah…..Maybe..We shall see how long Adam can keep tippy toeing around the snakes of the Hollywood pool. Kissing Sarah Silverman’s ass AND going on anti government rants in one podcast is quite a feat. So far, he’s managed to pull it off to some extent, although the powers that be on the left coast probably don’t sweat him so much because it’s a podacast which they most likely reguard as less than radio. I would think that if he got much bigger, he would be swat down for going against the company grain. I’m sure being Kimmels pal doesn’t hurt either. Good luck to him.
Great story, Geat example of effective action. Now, we all need to do our own and obviously need to take it to the next level since the Obama-Reid-Pelosi machine is accelerating and is aimed at destroying our country fast.
I love listening to these two together. Thanks for your role in making it happen.
I have been a Loveline fan since 15 years ago. Two to three years ago I picked up Prager. Under his guidance I went from a lifelong (at 25 then) atheist, angry and foolish, to exploring my Jewish roots and challenging myself to find God. I can’t speak highly enough of Dennis. Check out his book Happiness Is A Serious Problem, easy, yet life changing read.