Prager University

I recently stumbled across a bastion of well made videos created by what appears to me as very well reasoned conservative thinkers. Prager University founded by Dennis Prager, a popular right wing radio host, columnist, speaker, intellectual, etc. They've apparently been around since 2011 and I had seen a few of their videos before but didn't clue in that they were united under one banner.

I have to say that it has been a pleasant find overall but I'm still figuring out what I think of some of them. On the one hand they serve as a counterbalance to the leftist narratives that the media and an overwhelming number of universities tell everyone to believe. On some issues they appear to as a voice of reason at a time when North American media and higher education have gone mad. They pose some critiques to some of the more outrageous things the left says. Feminism. Climate Change. Oil. Religion. Political Science. The Israeli / Palestinian conflict. PragerU hits all sorts of contentious issues, debunking the left's phony stats (1 in 5 women are raped on campus every year, 97% of scientists say we need to act now to stop climate change or we will all die, etc.) and provide an alternative narrative that corresponds more with reality.

For some of these videos I breathe a sigh of relief as what I have thought for a very long time comes back to me through the mouth of an expert in that field. This doesn't give them an automatic pass, but it is nice to hear someone speak some sense at least on the surface.

On the other hand I find their lack of references and the brevity of their videos suspicious. They would be very well served to put a list of 'recommended reading' at the bottom of every video page they produce, that way we can be sure that they aren't just making up crap that sounds good like they accuse the left of doing. A well made 5 minute video is great to get an idea across, and that is what these videos are designed to do, but aside from what sounds reasonable and a few names dropped there is no way for the viewer to dig deeper. I mean, if you're going to do the left vs right evidence weighing then the left has 90% of academics with papers stacked to the moon and Prager has a a bunch of of 5 minute videos. I'm not saying that the amount of papers or people in agreement is the basis of truth but if anyone wants further evidence there is none provided. I suppose their strategy is the get people started thinking, to ask questions, to take the initiative to look for themselves, and more likely to reassure the masses of uneducated right wingers that their opinions are valid in spite of the left's constant lecturing.

What I find a little disturbing is PragerU's nationalism. They keep bringing up Judeo-Christian values as their core but really it is also a certain kind of nationalism that doesn't sit well with me. If they could define how America was run then I don't think the rest of the world would enjoy it. A self serving superpower with the largest military the world has ever seen and an agenda to crack down on anyone they defined as 'evil' would be fine provided it was run by incorruptible human beings who could actually define between good and evil. Note: This is impossible. Yet, their simple argument caries some weight in my mind, "America has been the greatest force for global good in the history of the world. When we stay in a nation and enforce human rights that nation prospers and advances, (S. Korea, Germany) when we pull out and let them do their own thing it becomes a festering pothole of corruption. (N. Korea, Vietnam)"

In any case I would advise folks from both the left and the right to take a look at PragerU, they articulate conservative ideas clearly and even if you don't agree with what they are saying you often learn the most from the people you disagree with. I suspect the more conservative persons will thoroughly enjoy these videos.