Moderators: snarkout, Patrick, dann
Excellent point!greggh wrote:It links to TMZ http://www.tmz.com/2008/06/23/george-ca ... in-heaven/ where many of the comments are "rest in peace". George didn't think he would be resting or being after he was dead. He'd be making fun of all these folks.
His routine about religion being unrivaled in "The bullshit department", was indeed a great push for me to get my act together, and get out of the Danish state church. Now if my mother would stop messing around and freaking find my birth certificate (She has it in some darn folder somewhere!) I'm getting out! If you're a member you pay "church tax", I don't mind paying taxes if it's to pay for somebody's cancer treatment, make sure somebody has economic support during financial hardship or something like that, but I do mind sponsoring a bunch of religious nuts having a big circle jerk once a week!weex wrote:Let's just hope he rubbed off on enough of us during his life.
At the end of days of interviews, I asked Carlin what he imagined heaven would look like, and he gave an answer that was appropriate considering his TV had been turned on the entire weekend to Headline News. To the end, Carlin loved being in touch with the big world around him.
Since we were on the subject, I thought I'd ask what he'd like his tombstone to say. Carlin didn't miss a beat."The best afterlife for me would be to be able to sit comfortably and watch the world on a kind of heavenly CNN," he said. "To be able to have my remote and say, 'Okay, there's an uprising in Spain. Let's watch that. Or to watch China finally take over the fucking world. Because there's a billion of those motherfuckers and they're going to eat our lunch. I would love to get the thousand-year view on the decline of the European birthrate or the "Muslimization" of Europe that's talking place; the explosion of Latin American culture in the western part of the United States.' Just sit back and watch. India and Pakistan, both, have nuclear weapons and they fuckin' hate each other. I'm telling you, somebody is going to fuck somebody's sister and an atom bomb is going to fly. And I say fine. You know? I just like the show. This world is a big theater in the round, as far as I'm concerned, and I'd just love watching it spin itself into oblivion. Tune in and watch the human adventure. It's a cursed, doomed species but it's just interesting as hell. That's what I want heaven to be. And if it's not like that, then fuck it. I'll just kill myself."
"I'm thinking something along the lines of, "Jeez, he was just here a minute ago."
Full interview : http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/int/2008/02 ... index.htmlYou sound like a fallen idealist.
That's it. You've got it exactly. I don't feel cynical -- I feel more like a skeptic and a realist -- but, if cynical I am, they have said that if you scratch a cynic you'll find a disappointed idealist. And that's a fact. I'm sure that flame flickers.
And I'm very excited, for the sake of itself, for this Obama story. It's very wonderful to watch and to follow and to read, because it is so different from what America has allowed itself to do. And I don't know that it goes anywhere, and I'm not investing in it, but I do enjoy witnessing it. I think it's a very exciting story.
Well, then, are you actually going to vote for him? [Carlin has said that he doesn't vote and hasn't voted for anyone since McGovern.]
No, still no. I can't do that. Because then I'm hooked into a result, then I'm a cheerleader. I don't want to be that. If that man is going to win, or if anybody is going to win or lose, it's not going to be by one vote, I don't give a fuck what they say about Florida. You know, one vote doesn't mean anything, and I can't throw in my hands with this process, because then I become a part of it, even to a very small degree, and a tool of it, and I don't want to do that. I like sitting over here on the sidelines.
But by sitting on the sidelines, you're depending on the others to participate, so that you can be a spectator.
Yeah, well, but if it all exploded today or tomorrow I wouldn't give a fuck.
So you're really just protecting yourself emotionally from caring about a country and a world that's falling to pieces.
That's a great analysis. That's beautiful. That's fine. I can't help it! I'm human.
I'm sure it feels better than giving in to the dread the rest of us feel over the sorry state of things.
It absolutely does feel much better. I see your point, and your point is accurate. I mean, that's the way I feel.
But I think most people would say that's an irresponsible stance, too. You're putting yourself above it and not taking responsibility by saying, "OK, I'm just going to be a spectator to this; my calling is to observe the madness."
No, I don't use words like "calling."
