The other day George Carlin died. I just thought to myself, "well, that sucks."
To me, Carlin was the king of humor. He was a foul, filthy mouthed man. He interwove bitterness with controversy and polarization. He leaned toward offensive and insightful in the same paragraph. I guess I was drawn to him due to the fact that I pretty much love things that cause trouble.
George Carlin was just plain funny. I honestly feel that funny gets you into heaven. After all the stupid stuff we do, in the end, funny remains. This is an odd thing for me to think. It is even more off the wall to have written it down. But, it represents freedom of speech and liberation of the mind. It represents Carlin.
I have the deepest love for freedom of speech. In this country you can actually say what you think. The notion that you have to stand up for someone speaking at the top of their lungs, defending something you would oppose, at the top of your lungs. This is freedom of speech. This is the United States of America. I learned this from George Carlin.
Beyond the slapstick and punch lines, I fell in love with Carlin. When it was called for, he used brute force. Other times, punctilious, precision strikes were called for. Wrap your head around a few of the things he noted in "What I've Learned."
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- Censorship that comes from the outside assumes about people an inability to make reasoned choices.
- It is amazing to me that literacy isn't considered a right.
- I would die for the safety of the people I love.
- I don't like authority and regulation, and I do my best to disrespect it, but I do that for myself. It is self expression only.
- I love and treasure individuals as I meet them; I loathe and despise the groups they identify with and belong to.
- No one who has had "Taps" played for them has ever been able to hear it.
My background is media. I was on the radio for seven years -- seven Veterans Days. Every year I said something odd, a bit offensive and swore. In the next breath I thanked a veteran. I noted that without veterans, I may be killed by the government for speaking up. I never thought of it at the time, but, now that he's dead, I realize this respect for freedom of speech came from George Carlin.
I also found insight in other things he said. Not because they waxed philosophical. Just because they were funny and funny can get you into heaven.
- Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of them are stupider than that.
- I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.
- Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.
- The word bipartisan usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.
- What exactly do you do when the Dalai Lama appears on "Nightline," and you're not satisfied with his answers?
- I put a dollar in the change machine ... nothing happened.
You know, as I write this, I am coming to the conclusion that the whole thing is a big rip off. To honor George Carlin I am regurgitating what he said. And because of the whole freedom of speech thing, I just say he said it ... the Pioneer Journal prints it ... I get credit for honoring some dead guy.
"The very existence of flame throwers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but, I'm just not close enough.'"
-- George Carlin
