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PragerU Loves The Picture of Dorian Gray (But Doesn't Understand It)

Anthony Gramuglia

196,277 views

Oscar Wilde is the famously gay author of The Portrait of Dorian Gray. The novel is one of the most iconic stories about the dangers a superficial, selfish light. And, somehow, Michael Knowles at PragerU doesn't understand this.

Joined by Will Witt of TPUSA, Michael Knowles blunders his way through this iconic novel, concluding it actually proves he's tortured and needs

Thumbnail and quote by ‪@thecrimsonender‬

Chapters:

0:00 PragerU Did a Video on The Picture of Dorian Gray and Oscar Wilde?
3:26 They Hate Gay People, But Love Their Art
6:41 What is the Functionality of Art?
9:04 Can a Book Be Immoral?
12:13 Lord Henry, the Queer Corrupter or LARPing Braggart?
16:56 The Aesthetics of Ethics (Marquis de Sade, Dante Aligheri The Inferno)
22:06 Indecent Homosexuality
25:09 What is the Value of Beauty?
31:46 Michael Knowles Cares What Goes on in the Bedroom
36:18 Why Even Read Oscar Wilde?
39:18 PragerU Thinks Oscar Wilde Justifies….Transphobia???
44:02 What Does Dorian Gray Think About God?
50:07 Physical Appearance is Not a Reflection of the Spirit
54:09 PragerU Thinks Having Fun Makes You a Bad Person
57:15 What Did We Learn?

20 Comments

@user-si4hl4wj5w 3 months ago

Absolutely disgusting that they seem to think Dorian Grey is Oscar Wilde's secret admission that his homosexuality was sinful and not a scathing commentary on the society that punished him for being a lover while elevating others for their hate.

@snowbeast4463 3 months ago

'Oscar Wilde pushes a right wing message' is chugging massive amounts of copium.

@cidevant002 3 months ago (edited)

Compare Oscar Wilde's censorship with their transphobic nonsense is VILE. As if Oscar Wilde wouldn't be the first guy to wax poetic about the trans body and how hot and beautiful it is, precisely to make them mad. The more mad they get, he would add another parragraph.

@spicewilliam9786 3 months ago (edited)

They seem to praise Oscar Wilde as if they were not the type of people who would have condemned his work and sent him to the labour camps at the time.

@CodeNameX001 3 months ago

Put simply: Oscar Wilde, a man who died as a result of trying to hide the fact he was gay in order to meet societal standards, wrote a book about a man who cared so much about how he appeared to others in high society that he eventually becomes a murderer and his portrait reflects the decaying monster he's become.

And PragerU wants you to believe it's about conforming to Christian morality, and wants to blame Trans people for stuff.

@DieNibelungenliad 3 months ago

Prageru is under the false impression that societies in the past had the same values as 21st century American Protestant MAGA conservatism

@aleksabanjevic8316 3 months ago

So.... Basically, they are arguing that Wilde "deep down knew" that him being gay was "bad" and thus wrote a book where a guy is a bit fruity at times, and that that is effectively a "gateway drug" for murder.... Like, am I nuts or is that effectively what they think?

@kingwing7952 3 months ago

They really think… Oscar Wilde… who dead as a result for being arrested for being gay in private… was against the concept of being gay in private…

@Ineedgames 3 months ago

Wait.
They read a book about a beautiful man in high society who's immortal because of an ugly painting that reflects his inner self. And they came to the conclusion that ugly people are also the problem?

What kind of Mental gymnastics did they have to do to get to that conclusion?

@arkhamftw6186 3 months ago

The notion that a young man’s villain origin story could begin with hurting a woman’s feelings just to impress his guy friends would ruin Knowles whole schtick. So he’s just gotta slide past and hope nobody notices

@anilehilated 3 months ago

I just love the idea of using ancient Rome as a contrast to hedonism. The idiocy is overwhelming.

@thewriter1008 3 months ago

Worth noting: after Sybil's death, Dorian freaks out and goes to Henry, who says outright "Dude, you just had a woman die for you, I can't think of anything more romantic or beautiful." So while PragerU likes to make the point that Henry says some bad stuff but never actually does it, but there's also a good argument to be made that Henry isn't harmless. Dorian is the one who actually buys into this stuff and acts on it, but Lord Henry still encourages it, even if he doesn't ever really act on it.

Also they keep saying that Henry is Wilde - and they're not wrong, but that's because Wilde has said that there's aspects of how he saw himself in Henry, Basil, and Dorian all at once. Of course, that's all predicated on how one feels about authorial intent, but to just say Henry represents Wilde is an incomplete statement.

@Antiomnis 3 months ago

When someone uses the terms 'hedonism' and 'nihilism' as simple pejoratives, you know they have no idea what they're talking about.

@idgarobingoodfellow 3 months ago

I never thought I would say this, but I agree with Michael Knowles, that he should be able to have a drink with Oscar Wilde and discuss this book. The only thing I would add to the situation is to have the conversation recorded, because the verbal beat down Wilde would put on this idiot would be a whole book of the most clever and devastating insults that no one had ever heard before, and it couldn't be targeted at a better person.

@bencebenedek2610 3 months ago (edited)

Funny how they love to control other people's bedrooms but when it comes to their favorite president and oligarchs they are suddenly become completely blind to the subject.

@Godsbane 3 months ago

It's like how the "Sin of Sodom" was identified as being gay, when the Bible clearly states that Sodom was destroyed for being selfish, uncharitable and turning away those in need. So, who sound most like "Sodomites" now-a-days?

@ironcladshade1 3 months ago

I...hate the way these people talk. So smugly and civily saying the grossest shit. The way they drop "degenerate" and 60's era gay bashing as though that's a normal thing is so fucking frustrating