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In an abstract sense, I'm not a fan of people rolling out quotes from nuanced creative societal thinkers like George Carlin to use in a modern context. The rea
by deanCommie 3y ago
In an abstract sense, I'm not a fan of people rolling out quotes from nuanced creative societal thinkers like George Carlin to use in a modern context.
The reason is because people use it for whatever agenda fits. It's a Rorschach.
Cons see these quotes and think it's applicable to "PC culture" and think George Carlin would tell kids to toughen up.
Libs see these quotes and think it's applicable to "truthiness" and the post-truth world the alt-right spins.
Truth is, George Carlin died in 2008. He missed the entire Obama years and the Trump era. We have no idea what he would've said or thought about the evolution of culture, of cancel culture, of Trump, of trans rights, on Ukraine.
Learn from the man what you want, but don't try to find quotes from 2001 and go "Hey wow look, it almost looks like he's talking about <blank>" here.
- jonathanlb 3y agoI'd argue that the very reason Carlin's observations are so widely cited is that they tap into enduring aspects of human behavior and societal norms, which makes them applicable across time and political spectrums. The fact that people from various political backgrounds find resonance in Carlin's words isn't a point against their current applicability. Rather, it underscores the universality of the issues he tackled- whether "PC culture" or "post-truth" narratives, we're still talking about the manipulation and policing of language and thought. Moreover, the idea that we can't know what Carlin would have said about today's issues is beside the point. The value in revisiting his observations isn't in speculating about what Carlin would have said about XYZ today, but in applying his insights as a lens through which to examine our own time.