Black and white Quote by Dennis Prager
““One of the credos of my life is taken from Viktor Frankl, a Jewish survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who was a psychiatrist and author. In his highly influential book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he related that after the war someone asked him if he ‘hated the German race.’ He responded that he did not because in his view, ‘There are only two races, the decent and the indecent.’ That is how I divide the world. Not between Muslim and non-Muslim, black and white, or American and non-American, but between the decent and indecent. The issues I raise about Islam are not about the decency of Muslims, but about whether Islam in its traditional Islamist configuration is more or less likely than the American value system to produce good societies.””
About This Quote
Source Book: Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl, 1946
A moral framework based on decency versus indecency, not race or religion, guides judgments about societies.
In simple terms: Judge people by decency, not identity.
Key Takeaway
Focus on ethical behavior over labels.
Themes
ethics
identity
philosophy
Mood
thoughtful
critical
Type
philosophical
controversial
When to use this quote
- community building
- interfaith dialogue
- education
- policy analysis
Key Concepts
moral philosophy
human nature
social critique
Questions to Reflect On
- Is decency a sufficient metric?
- How to define “decent”?
A Different Perspective
Simplifies complex social issues to binary categories.
![“If they [liberals] didn't believe we were mean spirited they couldn't stay liberal. They have to believe they mean better than us, but we don't have to believe that we mean better than them. We have to believe that we do better than them. We measure morality by what happens not what is intended.” quote by Dennis Prager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/95d/dennis-prager-631_believe_if-they-liberals-didn-t-believe-we-were_111894.jpg)
