George Carlin died. Heart failure. There's absolutely nothing funny that I want to say about that, 'cause he was a hero of mine and the earth is a much shittier place without him.
Instead, I'll just share a quote of Carlin's that I use all the time. He was talking about, I believe, one of the reasons why his outlook was as bleak as it was. He became quite the pessimist in his later years. Seriously.
Anyway, Carlin was of the opinion that we're--as a people--not intelligent enough to fix all the problems we cause. Here's how he put it:
"Think of how stupid the average person is. And then, realize that half of them are even dumber than that."
Jesus, I miss him already.
Nobody picked George Carlin, so there's 29 points down the crapper.
1 comment:
One my my big heroes too. Best piece written about him since his death is over at the nation:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/331953
The end quote, from one of the last interviews before his death, is my favorite, and pretty much sums up how I feel about America/humanity:
"There is a certain amount of righteous indignation I hold for this culture, because to get back to the real root of it, to get broader about it, my opinion that is my species--and my culture in America specifically--have let me down and betrayed me. I think this species had great, great promise, with this great upper brain that we have, and I think we squandered it on God and Mammon. And I think this culture of ours has such promise, with the promise of real, true freedom, and then everyone has been shackled by ownership and possessions and acquisition and status and power," he said. "And perhaps it's just a human weakness and an inevitable human story that these things happen. But there's disillusionment and some discontent in me about it. I don't consider myself a cynic. I think of myself as a skeptic and a realist. But I understand the word 'cynic' has more than one meaning, and I see how I could be seen as cynical. 'George, you're cynical.' Well, you know, they say if you scratch a cynic you find a disappointed idealist. And perhaps the flame still flickers a little, you know?"
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