Why you should come out of the closet with your Conservative values
By: Dennis Prager
It is always good to stand up for what one believes as a conservative. We have solid outstanding Pro America views that place God, country, family in a very important place. There is nothing to hide or be ashamed about being a genuine America first conservative. We are right and we are proud of everything we stand for. Strong national defense, security vs Islamic terrorism, a strong economy with low taxes, fewer regulations, and fair trade, and traditional family values. The three legs of the conservative triad, national defense, economic, social, where all need each other and democrats win when we don’t have all three together. It’s time for conservatives to stand up and proudly express our beliefs to our liberal friends. They need to learn to tolerate us for what we are, to accept that our viewpoints are every bit as legitimate as theirs and when they show intolerance and name calling in response to double down on them and up the ante expressing our beliefs even more completely and thoroughly letting them know that there is no hate they express, no intolerance they show, or demands they make toward silencing or censorship they engage in, or complaints to powers that be will silence the free and open expression of all things conservative. The seeded author is right. We conservatives must speak up, speak out, and never let liberals have any say at all in the public expression of all of our beliefs.
#BigGovSucks
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
I received a phone call on my radio show from a man who said, “Dennis, I’m a gay conservative actor in Hollywood, and it is far easier to come out of the closet as gay than as a conservative.”
That call was in the 1980s.
While the current cancel culture — the firing, humiliation, disparagement and smearing — of conservatives is exponentially worse today than 30 years ago, it is not new.
As a result, the great majority of Americans who are conservative — that is, about half the country — hide their true beliefs. They fear saying anything that differs with the Left. This would include such reprehensible sentiments as:
With all its flaws, America is the finest country ever made.
Men do not give birth.
There are only two sexes.
A person’s color is the least important thing about them.
The greatest problem in black life is not whites but a lack of fathers.
A man who becomes a woman and then competes in women’s sports is cheating.
Posting to social media a video by a renowned epidemiologist, virologist or medical doctor who asserts that ivermectin and/or hydroxychloroquine with zinc, when used early enough, almost always prevents hospitalization for COVID-19.
The list is far longer than this. But if you think even this list overstates the problem, put any of these statements on any mainstream social media platform and see what happens. See if any relatives drop you from Facebook or even from their lives. See what your employer says or does. See what Twitter or Facebook does to your account.
There are valid reasons to fear publicly differing with the Left.
So, then, what arguments can be offered on behalf of coming out of the closet?
The first is this: For every person you alienate, you will likely bring at least one new, wonderful person into your life.
Putting aside issues of courage, of standing for what is right, of saving America from those working to destroy it, there is a great selfish reason to come out of the closet: kindred spirits, i.e., good people, will discover you.
In 2020, I received an email from a young woman in her second year at Harvard who told me that my book that explains the Left and America, “Still the Best Hope,” had changed her from liberal to conservative. Needless to say, I was intrigued to learn more about her and, as it happened, she lives — as I do — in Los Angeles. So, I invited her to sit in on my radio show.
While speaking to her during commercial breaks, I was impressed enough to ask if she would be willing to describe her political and moral metamorphosis on the radio. I warned her that appearing on “The Dennis Prager Show” and talking about her conservative views would likely lead to some lost friends, angry, if not alienated, relatives, and attacks back at Harvard. I made that case persuasively enough to give her pause and ask, “May I call my mother?”
She stepped out to make the call. When she returned to the studio, she announced, “I’m coming on.”
About half a year later, she made another appearance on my show, and I asked her what happened after her initial appearance.
“I went through two weeks of hell,” she responded.
As predicted, she lost friends she had had since elementary school, some relatives limited their contact with her, and some students back at Harvard regarded her as an indecipherable sellout.
“Then what happened?” I asked.
“Then I entered heaven,” she responded.
She offered two big reasons.
One was that she began to sleep better than she had in years. The other was the number of kindred spirits, all quality people, who reached out to her, some of whom became friends.
Regarding reason one — sleeping better — staying in the closet exacts a serious mental price on a person. One should not think only coming out of the closet exacts a price.
As for the second reason, virtually no price paid for coming out of the closet is comparable to the rewards of doing so. There is little as happiness-inducing as having kindred spirits in your life.
Now, is that worth losing one’s job? If you are sure you will lose your job and no other job paying a comparable salary will be available, only you can answer that question. Similarly, if one of your children will stop talking to you because you are not “woke,” it is not for me to advise you what to do. But there are no other compelling arguments not to come out of the closet.
And there are at least two other arguments for coming out.
One is that you will respect yourself more. And so will others — including, quite possibly, one or more of your children (and your grandchildren, if you have any).
And two: You will help save this country from tyranny. For some, that should suffice.
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is “The Rational Bible,” a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, “No Safe Spaces,” was released to home entertainment nationwide on September 15, 2020. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com .
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[Deleted]
Come out! Come out! Come out with those values!
[deleted]
With reason. Look at what seems to be on the mind of conservatives. The biggest thing that they’re focused on is other people’s sexuality. It’s not about governing or the economy or justice or even liberty. It’s all about other people’s business and justifying discriminating against them based on them being personally different. We hear all the time about the terrors of the “gay agenda.” It makes conservatives sound like Nazis. Honestly.
But if someone wants conservatives to take steps to avoid spreading disease, then they scream bloody murder. My body! My rights! Don’t discriminate against me!
Being gay or trans is not contagious. But Covid is.
Just look at the topics this article raises. It’s all about the conservative perception of other people’s sex and morality. Shit that is none of their business and doesn’t impact them.
When conservatives learn to actually respect other people’s differences, be genuinely tolerant, and get back to focusing on conservative solutions for government and the economy, maybe people will stop giving them shit for the things they say.
But there was one other topic mentioned:
Science is not done - nor does it gain respect - via a single person publishing his personal opinions or anecdotes on social media. Real science - the kind intelligent people can respect - involves blind studies with lots of people, is peer reviewed, and subject to scrutiny by other scientists. That’s the kind of science that got us vaccines and monoclonal antibodies.
I am now and have always been conservative. I am proud of that fact and proudly share my views with anyone and everyone. I live near Pyongyang on the Willamette and in a state with the most disliked governor in the nation. I will not change and will anounce my views and values.
BTW JBB I may be conservative but am not racist or sexist. I am not nearly as intolerant as the average liberal is. I am not homophobic or trans phobic because I don't fear either group. In fact I have sympathy for them [Deleted]
No adult cares.
Do so at your own risk.
TMI, no one should care.
Sorry but too many self evaluating people of the worst kind have also been exceptionally wrong in their self evaluations
often quite publically, so you are not unique in that self evaluation.
One of the grossest and offensive sweeping generalizations ever.
Sometimes it is better to be silent rather than...
OMG, here it comes...
please post your medical degrees in order to convince us of your expertise in humanity.issues,
We won't hold our breath.
What makes you think that I give a damn of what your opinion of me or my comment says.
Just as I don't needs degree in veterinary medicine to know dog shit when I see it, I don't need a medical degree [Deleted]
You seem to care so what does that say about you?
It is if we you are a conservative it seems according to some….
Well said. I certainly never ever do in such circumstances as above…
And you called it exactly right! Well done.
You beat me to it! Great question!
One of the least accurate claims ever made considering two sentences later you call homosexuality and transgender Americans mentally ill.
Perhaps your parents and other conservatives desperate to validate their backwards stubborn belief system care.
Expressing ones opinions is every Americans right but is often rife with potential ridicule. Everyone has freedom of speech, but no one has freedom from ridicule. If your neighbor proclaims their belief in a flat earth, are you still obligated to invite them to a holiday party?
Conservative: adjective - averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values.
So is it that you're not as "conservative" as you'd like to believe, or that you're changing the definition of conservative to mean "one that is accepting of diversity, gender identities, sexual orientation, other races, faiths and lack thereof" even though traditionally those communities have been attacked, minimized and discriminated against by so-called conservatives?
Is that the same as treating others as equals?
Ah yes, mental illness. Do you consider those who imagine unproven superheroes or Wizards to be real and dress up like them and attend large gatherings of like minded people to be "mentally ill"? If so you may want to take another look at the entire Christian community and reassess what you consider 'mental illness'. The only real difference between a large Christian festival and Comicon is that most of those attending Comicon readily admit their superheroes aren't actually real but merely hero archetypes they celebrate and revere. On the other hand you have many conservative Christians who proclaim their invisible superheroes are actually real and care about who humans might sleep with and claim that if some aren't sleeping with the 'right' gender that their supernatural heroes and wizards told them was 'right', then they're the ones who are mentally ill. So if a 'real' human male falls in love with another 'real' human male, he's apparently mentally ill according to many evangelical Christians.
So the evangelical 'Christian who devotes his entire life to an unseen, unproven invisible super-being and attempts to force that unproven arbitrary sky wizards wishes and desires on others, this isn't really about religious freedom. It's about conservatives hesitating to coming "out of the closet" because they know they aren't much different than a child whose been told all their life that Santa is real but is now facing the other kids at school who have already learned that to keep a low profile and keep yourself from being ridiculed 's nothing but a convenient lie.
How so? I didn't say I tolerated everything, just that I was more tolerant than the average liberal.
No I am not obligated to invite them but I might anyway depending on other variables.
No I don't. I just think that they are people who believe differently from me and even there i question those that use snakes for worship some beliefs like those of the Westboro Baptist but I don't ridicule them as you do.
Arrogant subjective opinion. I love my country, but there is simply no objective evidence that we are "the finest".
True, and I don't know anyone arguing to the contrary.
Hermaphrodite: noun - a person or animal having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics, either abnormally or (in the case of some organisms) as the natural condition.
Parthenogenesis: noun - reproduction from an ovum without fertilization, especially as a normal process in some invertebrates and lower plants.
Clownfish, wrasses, moray eels, gobies and other fish species are known to change sex, including reproductive functions. A school of clownfish is always built into a hierarchy with a female fish at the top. When she dies, the most dominant male changes sex and takes her place.
There are also thousands of species who exhibit homosexual behavior, gender swapping and parthenogenesis. Apparently only the species Homoconservativises-Hydrocephalus is unable to grasp the intricacies of the natural world and are stuck in a singular world view that they are unable to escape from which often causes them to be ridiculed and their uninformed ignorant opinions ignored.
True, but does not reflect how human society for the last several thousand years or how the last several hundred years on the American continent have treated those with differing skin colors. Up until the last half century or so it was thought to be common sense among white Christian conservatives that people with different skin color than themselves were genetically and mentally inferior. Even today there is still an ongoing plague of this ridiculous belief still circulating among white Christian conservatives, most often the descendants of those who upheld such beliefs throughout their life times.
While a serious problem, the lack of black fathers in the lives of their children is merely a symptom of several hundreds years of white Conservative Christians treating those fathers as inferior and denying them the ability and opportunity to take care of their families and build wealth for their descendants. To claim that laws passed within the last half century have fixed all the damage done to black men, families and communities is woefully ignorant and just another convenient lie used by white conservative Christians to shirk any responsibility and guilt they might feel if they actually studied history and accepted the generational legacies that have been passed on to both white and black descendants.
I agree. A former male who wants to act and be treated as a woman because that's how he feels inside but whose body and muscles have been effected by testosterone that other women do not have should be treated just like a female athlete who injects such testosterone to build muscles which is considered 'doping' aka cheating in the sports world.
Put one foot in front of the other...
I’m proud to have come out of the closet as a real conservative to all the liberals here. Conservative, proud of it with apologies to no one for it. I am a conservative Republican! 🐘 🇺🇸
Hogwash! If you were you would have been excommunicated by now.