George Carlin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"When you're born, 

you get a ticket to the freak show. 

When you're born in America, 

you get a front-row seat."

George Carlin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, philosopher, satirist, actor, and writer/author who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums. Carlin was noted for his black humor as well as his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5–4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves.

From the late 1980s, Carlin's routines focused on socio-cultural criticism of modern American society.  He often commented on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses
of American culture.

His family was of Irish ancestry and he was raised a Roman Catholic. Carlin's mother separated from his father when George was two months old. His maternal grandfather, Dennis Bearey, was an Irish immigrant who worked as a New York City policeman. Carlin said he picked up an appreciation for the effective use of the English language from his mother. Carlin had a difficult relationship with his mother and often ran away from home.

Carlin's material falls under one of three self-described categories: "the little world" (observational humor),
"the big world" (social commentary), and the peculiarities of the English language
(euphemisms, doublespeak, business jargon), all sharing the overall theme of (in his words) "humanity's
bullshit", which might include murder, genocide, war, rape, corruption, religion and other aspects of human
civilization.  He was known for mixing observational humor with larger social commentary.

Language was a frequent focus of Carlin's work. Euphemisms that, in his view, seek to conceal or distort the actual meaning and the use of language he felt was pompous, presumptuous, or silly were often the target of Carlin's routines. When asked on Inside the Actors Studio what turned him on, he responded, "Reading about language."

He professed a hearty schadenfreude in watching the rich spectrum of humanity slowly self-destruct, in his estimation, of its own design, saying, "When you're born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front-row seat."

***

A lot of strange things have been happening lately,
reminding me of this quote.
Then,
 me looking upwards saying,
"That was a good one!  Very funny!"

God is a comedian 

playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
~(Voltaire)~

Wasn't so sure,
still found it funny when this exact same scenario had just repeated itself.

Then,
with me now returning my attention back to what it was I was doing
 before
getting distracted by some deep thoughts...

this scene,
located one corner of my kitchen immediately catches my attention.

"So!
That's God's audience too afraid to laugh(?)!" 
I thought to myself.


***

"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration--courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and, above all, love of the truth."
~(H. L. Mencken)~

"The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites."
~(Thomas Jefferson)~

"Faith: not wanting to know what is true."
~(Friedrich Nietzsche)~

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

 ~(Mohandas Gandhi)~