Pride

Dennis Prager has always been one of my favorite conservative commentators. Back when I had time, I used to love to listen to his radio show. He always seemed to know what he was talking about, and I was particularly impressed with the calm and rational way he handled hostile callers.

I am no longer able to listen to his show, but I still read Prager’s columns, and I found this recent one about pride to be especially illuminating.

I’ve never understood ethnic, race, gender or sex pride. Even as a kid.

For my bar mitzvah, someone gave me a book titled “Great Jews in Sports” or something like it.

.Aside from the usual jokes — it was not a long book; the print and the photos were very large — what I remember best was that I had little interest in the book. I loved sports. And I strongly identified as a Jew — I was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home and attended yeshivas until the age of 19. So, my disinterest in the book didn’t emanate from either disinterest in sports or disinterest in Jews. I was keenly interested in both.

But even at the age of 13, the idea of ethnic pride meant little to me.

As far as I could tell, my friends — and, of course, the relative who gave me the book — considered the book quite meaningful. They were proud of Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg, of the great Cleveland Indians third baseman Al Rosen, of the lightweight boxing champ Benny Leonard, and the other Jews who were featured.

I apparently marched to the beat of a quirky drummer. It turned out, however, that my attitude at 13 wasn’t a quirk. Though I didn’t realize it then, it was actually the dawning of a conviction — that maybe group pride wasn’t a great idea.

I agree with Mr. Prager. I don’t think group pride is a great idea either. I used to know a man who was heavily into White Pride. He often also posted on social media how proud he was to be White. Now, White people have accomplished quite a bit. In fact, it would be fair to say that White people largely created the modern world, including almost all of its science and technology. This is not to put down people of other races or even to elevate the White race. It is a simple historical fact. I have no doubt that the people who lived in the temperate climate of Europe with the same sort of cultural background would have invented the modern world, no matter what the color of their skin. Race had nothing to do with it.

Should I be proud that I am White? Well, the fact is that all those discoveries and inventions were made by other White people. I didn’t have anything to do with it. The only trait I share with those scientists and inventors is the color of my skin, a trait I did not choose for myself. Should I be proud of my German ancestors because Germans made many scientific discoveries? Why should I? Should I be proud to be an American? I love my country and think it is the greatest country in the world, but I have had little part in making America great.

But Dennis Prager is not writing about racial pride but Pride Month, the month of June when all things LGBTXYZ are celebrated.

The most recent incarnation of group pride is LGBTQ pride. Every company, every professional sports team, every Democratic politician, even the armed forces and American embassies around the world are expected to celebrate Pride Month, Pride Night and year-round LGBTQ Pride.

This is problematic for at least two reasons.

First, what exactly is one proud of? What accomplishment is involved in being gay, lesbian or bisexual? Even trans is allegedly built into one’s nature. Isn’t the entire premise of the LGBTQ movement that one does not choose one’s sexual orientation or sexual identity? Wasn’t anyone who argued that homosexuality is a choice declared a hater and a science denier? So, then, if no choice is involved, no effort on the part of the individual — let alone no moral accomplishment — what is there to be proud of? Maybe I couldn’t identify with Jewish pride over great Jewish athletes, but at least they all actually accomplished something.

The other problematic element has to do with why the LGBTQ movement does everything possible to bludgeon every institution into celebrating Pride Nights, Days, Weeks and Months. The reason is the totalitarian nature of all left-wing movements. Unlike liberal and conservative movements, every left-wing movement is totalitarian. Therefore, it is not enough for people to tolerate or even show respect to LGBTQ individuals. We must all celebrate lesbianism, male homosexuality, the transgendered and queers. No left-wing movement is a movement for tolerance. They are movements that demand celebration.

Pride month wouldn’t concern me at all if it weren’t for the coercive aspect of it all. I wouldn’t care if the LBGTABC crowd celebrated Pride Day or Pride Year so long as I was left out of it. I feel, however, that I am obliged to be part of it, with the corporate-sponsored rainbows showing up everywhere. I feel as if I am being made to celebrate something I don’t really approve of.

Not a good thing

But what’s wrong with pride? As I have said I share Dennis Prager’s wariness about group pride, but I would add one or two things. First, it is not clear to me that being a sexual deviant is anything to be proud of. Mr. Prager steers clear of the subject of homosexuality, but the scripture and traditions of both Judaism and Christianity (and really every other major religion) condemn homosexuality as sinful. The inclination is not, of course, a sin. Temptation is never sinful in itself. The action is a sin. If this is true, then being proud of committing acts that our creator disapproves of seems impudent at best.

Second, I am not sure where Judaism stands, but to Christians the greatest sin is pride. This is a sin worse than any sexual sin. As C. S. Lewis put it:

According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger,
greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the
devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

Now what you want to get clear it that Pride is essentially
competitive – is competitive by its very nature – while the other vices are competitive only, so to
speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of
it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but
they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If
someone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be
proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.
Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone. That is why I say that Pride is
essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not. The sexual impulse may drive two men
into competition if they both want the same girl. But that is only by accident; they might just as
likely have wanted two different girls. But a proud man will take your girl from you, not because
he wants her, but just to prove to himself that he is a better man than you. Greed may drive men
into competition if there is not enough to go round; but the proud man, even when he has got
more than he can possibly want, will try to get still more just to assert his power. Nearly all
those evils in the world which people put down to greed or selfishness are really far more the result of Pride.

The problem with group pride of any sort is that if you are proud of belonging to your group then it follows that you must look down on the people who don’t belong to your group. This is why the Pride movement is totalitarian in nature. The proud person must feel superior to and have contempt for anyone who is not an enthusiastic supporter of the cause. You can’t be tolerant towards others if you are proud because you are competing with them.

Maybe instead of Pride Month, we should have Humility Month, a month in which we all reflect on how we have not lived up to our promise. We should consider ways in which we can become better people. Maybe we should try to be more tolerant and compassionate towards people we don’t like or agree with. Humility Month would certainly be healthier than Pride Month.