Nearly every blog I've read today has a George Carlin video clip on it, but The Nation had perhaps the best article I've seen.
"Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians," he explained in a routine that challenged all the premises of today's half-a-loaf reformers. "Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here… like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. Fuck Hope.'"
Further to the idea of predictable response to Carlin's death in the form of videovideovideo is the oh-so-easy references to the Seven Words, Supreme Court ruling, etc. etc. Such concentration, though not unjustified, distracts us from Carlin's powerful inspection of the microscopy of our lives, the detailed moments that define us as humans, and the fact that we created this world and are not simply victims of it. Who banned the Seven Words? Not "they." We did. Carlin showed that we must understand ourselves, and rise above ourselves. And, sometimes, we must simply be happy with ourselves. Multiple messages? No, just perceptive observation of multiple humanly self-conflicted traits. And that's where his genius resided.
Posted by: Bill Brohaugh | June 23, 2008 at 10:30 PM
They should print this on our ballots. Nice.
Posted by: Susan | June 23, 2008 at 10:50 PM
Jerry Seinfeld wrote a nice tribute in today's Times, I thought. Anyway, I think of George Carlin every time I see the Braille keys on a drive-up ATM. His line on that was pure hilarity. His take on politics is funny, yet makes me cringe because it's so damned true. He will be missed.
Posted by: Susan | June 24, 2008 at 03:08 PM
The Carlin monologue I'll always treasure is baseball vs. football. No one untangled the language the way he did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YphEUa5LPjM
Posted by: Nancy | June 24, 2008 at 08:43 PM
That's the very shtick I cited when someone on Twitter asked what our favorite Carlin bits were!
Posted by: Karen | June 24, 2008 at 08:49 PM