I don’t think I need to do much of an introduction for this one. Everyone knows George Carlin. A true legend of comedy, his biting commentary on a variety of topics from religion to politics never failed to elicit raucous laughter and knowing nods and winks from his audiences – many of whom were blissfully unaware that they were part of the very problems he was ranting about.
It’s his political commentary that I’d like to talk about today, so without further ado, let’s dive right in.
On Education
There’s no shortage of quotable Carlin lines. If I were to talk about all of them, we’d be here until climate change inevitably kills us all. For the sake of brevity, I’ll only talk about a few. I’ll start with this one, which is one of my favorites:
- “Don’t just teach your children to read…Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything.”
Pretty awesome, right? This quote illustrates a theme that Carlin returned to time and time again during his lifetime: the value of education. Many of his comedy specials heavily featured the calling out and/or general mocking of the uneducated. However, beneath the mockery, Carlin believed very strongly in education, and was always outraged by how our so-called “benevolent leaders” continually failed to ensure the education of the next generation.
Education is key to an informed, functioning democracy. You would imagine, then, that America – the supposed greatest country in the world and nominal democracy – would prioritize the education of its citizenry, in order to more fully realize its full potential as a leader on the world stage.
If you’ve even glanced at the news in the past decade, you’ll know that we are far, far from that ideal. But why? George Carlin has an answer to that.
- “Governments don’t want informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. That is against their interests. They want obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork. And just dumb enough to passively accept it.”
This is something that is painfully apparent to anyone paying attention. This is also not unique to America, for the record. Governments – that is, centers of established power – thrive on two things: the status quo and the ignorance of the masses. One fuels the other. Ignorant masses, who believe any propaganda that their masters feed them, do not question those masters, and thus perpetuate the status quo. It takes education – and the right kind of education – to break that cycle.
A well informed public – full of people who take information given to them and analyze it from every angle, like a child with a shiny new toy, looking for flaws and truth – is not one easily controlled.
Over the years, the government has done what it can to slowly erode our educational system. The Republicans overtly so, – recall a while back when they outright stated one of their goals was to de-fund the Department of Education – the Democrats less obviously. I speak of course of the establishment Democrats; my progressive brothers and sisters are a wondrous exception.
It’s only gotten worse in recent years. Look no further than Betsy DeVos, a woman whose sole mission in life is to destroy public education, now head of the Department of Education. Looks like the Republicans finally got their wish. Under her “leadership”, there have been dozens of funding cuts, misappropriation of funds towards her pet charter schools, and other horrific things. And so the dumbing down of the populace continues.
On The Illusion of Freedom
But hey, we might be dumb but at least we have freedom right? I mean that’s what the good ole U S of A is all about. If I want to go buy something, I have my pick. We aren’t forced to buy one type of detergent like those commies in other countries. We’re AMERICA! FREEDOM! CHOICE! YEA!
In reality, the people of America have the illusion of choice. Something George Carlin pointed out quite eloquently:
- “Freedom of choice? There used to be seven oil companies, there are now three, it will soon be two. The things that matter in this country have been reduced in choice. There are two political parties, there are six or seven major media centers…but if you want a bagel, there are 23 flavors because you have the illusion of choice. On the really important things, you have no choice.”
I’m not sure I even need to say anything about this one, but I will, because I pay myself by the word. As usual, Carlin is frighteningly accurate. As he notes, the important choices are non-existent. Its only gotten worse, actually, since he dropped that truth bomb. With all the mergers that have been happening recently – often despite widespread protest, looking at you Aetna – your choices have all but disappeared.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in healthcare. If you are lucky enough to be able to afford insurance – whether on your own or through your employer – you are immediately slammed with the fact that, hey, you can only go to a select number of doctors: those that are “In-Network”. Is your doctor that you’ve had since you were a fetus not in that network? Well, fuck you. Go to them if you want, but you’re gonna pay out the ass even more than you would if they were in the network.
That’s why I get so infuriated whenever people try claiming that the Medicare For All plan laid out by Bernie Sanders would take choice away from people. It’s such a bald-faced lie. Under the plan, you have the most choice because you’d be able to go to literally any doctor or hospital in the damn country. The nation is your network.
On Sowing Division
Ok, so we have no choices and we’re also really stupid. But we’re together, right? We’re all in the same boat of stupid, no-choice-having. Right? We can sing songs, and talk about how our various bagel flavors are amazing. Right? …Right? Please?
Man, we really can’t have nice things. I also have to apologize to all of you. I lied earlier when I said that the establishment thrives on only two things. There’s also a third thing: keeping the people divided.
This isn’t news. People, no matter how dumb and choice-less, have the inherent advantage of strength in numbers over the minority that seeks to control them. United, they are a force to be reckoned with and feared. And the establishment does fear them. That’s why they do their damnedest to keep them divided. As Carlin explains:
- “That’s all the media and the politicians are ever talking about – the things that separate us, things that make us different from one another. That’s the way the ruling class operates in any society. They try to divide the rest of the people. They keep the lower and middle classes fighting with each other so that they, the rich, can run off with all the fucking money!”
It’s a tale as old as the first civilizations. And no less true today than it was then, or when Carlin first spoke those words. Today, however, it has taken an insidious new form: hatred of immigrants.
Take a look at FOX. No, wait, don’t do that. I don’t want to be sued over the brain damage that ensues. Look up a clip on YouTube of someone smart talking about FOX. Inevitably, a segment will come up about how immigrants are destroying the country in some manner. They’re taking jobs, they’re committing crimes, they’re ruining the economy, they’re OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW!!!
Ahem. My point is that this is the latest tool of the establishment to keep the people distracted from the fact that they – that is, the wealthy and privileged – are robbing everyone blind.
It’s not the massive tax cuts to the wealthy and our “free-trade” agreements that have devastated the economy. It’s poor Miguel and his family fleeing their home’s devastation that caused you to lose your job.
It isn’t Wall Street re-deregulation and rampant, unchecked corporate greed that made you lose your house and savings. It’s those damn liberals trying to tax you.
You get the idea. The goal is to sow division amongst the masses, to point them to some imagined boogieman so the real source of the problem – wanton greed on the part of the ruling class, remains hidden. They know that should their crimes be exposed and the people unite against them, they will lose. And so they sow division by manipulating humanity’s inherent tribalism. It’s Us vs. Them, except the “Them” we’re fighting isn’t the right target.
Conclusions
George Carlin was truly a legend. He was taken from us too soon. If he was still around, I just know he’d have the perfect turn of phrase to describe the utter shit-show we find ourselves in right now. And he’d make us laugh, which in times of strife is often more valuable than gold.
Fortunately, it isn’t all gloom and doom. The recent progressive blue wave washing over the country gives me – and hundreds of thousands of other people – hope. Hope that maybe sometime soon America will start listening to its citizens instead of ruling over them.
Our best hope is Bernie Sanders and those like him. In my previous post I closed with a brief list of some progressive candidates running in 2020. Please consider supporting them, if you can afford it. Even a dollar helps.
I’m going to leave you with this video. It’s one of my favorites.
RIP George, you are missed.
I read it. I’m proud of you. Your writing has a lot of character and wit. You get to the point, and make a good one. I’m glad you put out the words people need to hear. Trying to wake people up. You’re becoming a force for good in the world, joining a chorus of people crying out for justice however they can.
And your voice is getting loud.
With admiration,
Mei