Special to WorldTribune.com
I am writing this column in Burlington, Vermont. It is my seventh city in eight days. From my hometown of Los Angeles, I flew to Orlando, followed by Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago and now Burlington.
My Salem radio talk-show host colleagues and I went from city to city in “battleground” states to speak on the forthcoming elections — specifically about how vital it is for the survival of America that the Left and its political party be defeated. (I went to Chicago and Burlington for other reasons.)
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Two reflections: One from Philadelphia and the other from Chicago:
In Philadelphia, prior to the evening event, I did what I do in virtually every city in which I speak: smoked a cigar at a local cigar lounge. I would not be surprised if I have visited more cigar bars than anyone outside the cigar industry.
I then took an Uber to the venue.
My driver was a black man, and as I almost always do with strangers, I engaged in conversation with him.
He turned out to be particularly inquisitive about me and why I was headed to the Fuge, a major event venue in the Philly area.
“Why are you headed to the Fuge?” he asked.
“I am going to give a speech,” I answered.
“What is your line of work?”
“I give speeches.”
“About what?”
I should note here that, most of the time when I tell a stranger I give speeches or write books, the person does not ask, “About what?” While I have become used to this lack of curiosity, I am still amazed whenever it happens. If I said I was the manager of a Major League Baseball team, wouldn’t most Americans ask me, “Which team?”
So, I was impressed — and admittedly a bit apprehensive — at my driver’s curiosity. Should I reveal my political and ideological preferences and risk a tense drive? He was, after all, a black man, and the vast majority of American-born (as opposed to Caribbean-born and African-born) blacks are Democrats.
As I consider lying a sin, I had to tell the truth. So, I answered in a way that was true but not necessarily revealing of my political ideology and abstract enough to perhaps end his line of inquiry.
“About the collapse of Western civilization,” I said.
“Oh, man, do I ever agree with you! This wokeness, this censorship of speech is destroying us.”
He went on and on about the woke threat to America and the West so eloquently, I thought about inviting him to speak alongside me and my colleagues.
As that wasn’t realistic, I did the next best thing.
“The evening is sold out,” I told him, “But I can certainly get you in. And if you come, I will introduce you to 1,200 people, and I promise you a standing ovation!”
He thought about it, and finally agreed to come, was given a front-row seat, and, just as I predicted, when I told the audience about him, the spotlight was shone on him, and virtually all 1,200 people rose and gave him a standing ovation.
In fact, they gave him two.
Some reflections:
On generalizations:
Many people oppose generalizations. “You’re generalizing,” is a common objection to an argument using a generalization. The objecting person assumes that charge alone defeats the generalizer’s argument.
There are three key points to be made about generalizations:
First, if you cannot make any generalizations, you cannot think clearly. When you make a valid generalization, it means that you can see a pattern in life.
Therefore, second, the only question that a generalization should provoke is, “Is the generalization valid?”
And third, any time you make a generalization, you must be prepared to back it up with examples and/or facts.
My assuming that a black man — in Philadelphia, no less — was a Democrat was completely valid.
On outliers:
That my black Uber driver turned out to be a conservative meant not that my generalization was wrong, but that I had encountered an outlier. And as I have written in the past, while not every outlier does good, virtually all good is achieved by outliers. Conversely, virtually all bad is done by the herd.
One final observation: As I have often said on the radio, if you are a black man or woman and feeling unloved, I have a suggestion: Just attend any conservative event.
Dennis Prager is a columnist for WorldTribune.com. He is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His second volume of Bible commentary, “The Rational Bible — Genesis: God, Creation, Destruction,” is published by Regnery. He is the founder of PragerUniversity.com and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.