Showing posts with label george carlin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label george carlin. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

A Personal Reflection

Regular readers may have noticed that I have not been posting very much in the last month or so. In addition to it having been a busy Christmas season, the other reason stems from my own outlook.

While there may be a measure of seasonal affective disorder influencing that outlook, I think the main cause is that I find it increasingly difficult to get excited, upset, outraged or flummoxed by the world's antics. For me, there is nothing new under the sun, which presents a problem for a blogger who writes about the world. One of the rules I have generally observed in my writing life, both on this platform and in my other communication endeavours, is not to write when I don't feel it. In other words, writing for the sake of writing, without even a modicum of passion, is an empty exercise with generally unsatisfying results.

Don't get me wrong - committing mu thoughts to metaphorical paper has been an integral part of my life since I was a young teenager, when I started submitting letters to the editor. Writing has always helped to focus and refine my thinking, and in these latter days of my life, I hope it helps to keep my cognitive functioning intact. I have no desire to "go gentle into that good night."

Nonetheless, and I hope my inertia will pass, I have no faith in the world anymore. Unlike when I was young, when everything seemed possible (even flying cars!), I now see only the ending of things, and the deep sense that as a species, we have passed our best before date, that we are participating in the long goodbye.

I shall close this mini-confessional with a clip by the late, great George Carlin who, in the latter part of his career, seemed to mirror my dour worldview.



Monday, August 1, 2022

Despite Our Conceit, The Earth Does Not Need Saving


George Carlin probably said it best, but letter-writer Patrick Cowan makes the same point in the following:

The Earth does not need saving. And the human race is its least qualified saviour


Andrea Mandel-Campbell writes: “Opting out of the climate crisis clearly is not an option. We need to get ready for the next revolution in the fight to save the planet: protecting and restoring what is left of our natural world.”

Our planet has survived long periods during which its atmosphere and oceans lacked oxygen. It has endured ice ages and periods of extreme heat, neither of which human beings could have survived. A meteorite struck what is now the Yucatan Peninsula and exterminated most dinosaurs without knocking Earth off its stride.

Trust me: 1. Earth does not need saving. 2. If it did, human beings would be among its least qualified saviours. 3. Earth is not “our” planet. If anything, we belong to the Earth, which can and likely will dispose of us quite unceremoniously one day. 4. Human beings have to be among Earth’s most arrogant inhabitants and eco-warriors number among the most arrogant human beings.





Friday, July 29, 2022

The American Dream - A Trenchant Interpretation

I have likely posted this in the past, but a repeat viewing in these troubled times is surely warranted: George Carlin parsing the truth about the 'American Dream'. As always with Mr. Carlin, be aware that the following contains language that may be offensive to some.




Saturday, May 28, 2022

The End Of Days

In these latter days of our life as a species, there is little that shocks or dismays me. Instead, I find my predominant emotion now is one of disappointment:

Disappointment that we never realized our potential as a species. 

Disappointment that our headlong plunge into oblivion is done with eyes wide open, getting and spending, using and abusing, directed mostly by our petty and shortsighted impulses and preoccupations. 

We could have been so much more.

There will be no apotheosis, and there certainly will be no deus ex machina to bring us back from the brink. That is surely the stuff of fantasy, the hope of the benighted.

Probably George Carlin said it best in a 1996 interview. Thanks to the salamander horde for posting this on Twitter:




Sunday, October 3, 2021

Some Sunday Wisdom From A Social Seer

To borrow from Ben Jonson's accolade about Shakespeare, George Carlin was "not of an age, but for all time." A man not afraid to shake the tree of complacency, he saw things that so many of us either don't see or are afraid to acknowledge.

Yesterday, he was trending on Twitter. Here are but a few of his cogent and acerbic observations.



And perhaps most pointedly relevant for the times we are currently living in:






Sunday, July 26, 2020

From Beyond The Grave

It's been 12 years since George Carlin left us, yet the ensuing years have made him even more relevant than he was in his day. The following video uses his profanity-laced upbraiding of the system to good effect, I think you will agree.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Losing Our Hubris, Or The Truth, According To George Carlin

Religious belief can be a marvelous thing, It can give strength in times of trouble, comfort in times of grief, and direction in times of confusion.

It can also be the source of unspeakable hubris.

My own beliefs do not hew to the traditional, although I am convinced that what we see in the here and now is only a minuscule portion of a much greater reality. I do not believe that we are a species specially favoured by God, nor do I subscribe to the anthropomorphic notion of deity. I do believe that we live in a universe of potential, a potential expressed through the mechanism of evolution which I see as an ultimate expression of the transcendent. Sadly, it seems we have squandered that potential.

No one can know the ultimate truth, but it is those who claim such knowledge that I regard as especially dangerous. Those who see humanity as the supreme expression of creation often fail to approach that belief with humility, instead embracing a hubris suggesting that our 'dominion' (not stewardship) over the rest of nature comes with special entitlements. Consider where that has gotten us: wars, crusades, jihads, genocides, environmental degradation and destruction, overpopulation and climate change.

All of which calls for a reality check. And who better to provide it than the late, great George Carlin, an unsparing critic of arrogance, entitlement and presumption. His take on the Earth is both sobering and instructive, and should give the smug some pause, if only they come down from their certitude. I especially like his reflection on our serendipitous appearance and development on this planet.

If you are pressed for time, I recommend especially the insghts Carlin offers in the first five minutes of the following:





Friday, July 7, 2017

A Timely Reminder

George Carlin died in 2008, but the following could have been performed last night. Although some of the language is coarse, it somehow seems entirely appropriate:

Monday, March 3, 2014

Gone, But Never Forgotten

Each year, George Carlin's acerbic commentary and observations become more and more relevant.



If we don't want a repeat of what happened last time, then it's up to us to educate those who wilfully or otherwise do not know that Harper & the CONservatives have sold us out.

H/t Politicked - Stop The Harpocrisy

Thursday, March 10, 2011

George Carlin's Screed

Many thanks to Orwell's Bastard for posting this video in which George Carlin talks about the 'man behind the curtain.' Although directed at an American audience, his acerbic observations about who is really in control seem equally applicable to Canada, especially under the Harper regime.