Wednesday, June 25, 2008

A Passing Thought About George Carlin ...

Normally I won’t be writing about entertainers or Hollywood-types, mostly because they are incapable of transforming our lives in any positive way. They basically screw around the periphery with “culture,” as if that is enough, and give us nothing in return except to make us all poorer in the long run. Sounds a bit harsh, I know, but bear with me.

When I heard that George Carlin died, all I could think of doing was screaming out the seven words you can never say on television. I feel as if lost a real “bro.” He was much more than a comedian or social commentator or anything else the pundits can think up. In a way, he was more like Will Rogers direct heir. He made all of us look at the “moral” restrictions placed on us by others, religious, political, cultural, etc., for what they truly are: Controlling, restrictive and ridiculous.

He believed whole-heartedly that satire was the best form of dealing with life because it expanded our awareness of both intelligent thought and inter-personal relationship practice. And it created a baseline for the rational examination of our existence as members of the society of man. It was true creative genius coupled with a basic instinct that most people had absolutely no clue as to what they were doing.

And now he is gone.

I’m really going to miss that guy.

Wait. Maybe he's up on the roof. An avid Frisbee player, Carlin said that when you die your soul gets tossed on the roof, never to be retrieved again.

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