Does this surprise you? Carlin warned us years ago ...

[TBF]

From the top 10 George Carlin quotations -

#02 - AMERICAN DREAM

"Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice . . . you don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own, and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought, and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying . . . lobbying, to get what they want . . . Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want . . . they don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking ...

... They want your fuckin' retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it . . . they’ll get it all from you sooner or later cause they own this fuckin' place. It’s a big club and you ain't in it. You and I are not in The big club. By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table has tilted folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-working people . . . white collar, blue collar it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on...

... Good honest hard-working people continue, these are people of modest means . . . continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you . . . they don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t care about you at all . . . at all . . . at all, and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. That’s what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that’s being jammed up their assholes everyday, because the owners of this country know the truth. It’s called the American Dream cause you have to be asleep to believe it . . .”

http://www.alternativereel.com/includes/top-ten/display_review.php?id=00106

[Blue_In_AK]

1. George Carlin was a prophet.

I really miss him.

[DesertFlower]

82. i agree. nt

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. Kick for Carlin!

[gateley]

3. He absolutely nailed it. nt

[Gregorian]

4. People are afraid.

Afraid of sounding negative. Afraid of rocking the boat. Afraid of the cops. Afraid of getting caught. Afraid of their FBI file. Afraid they might not get hired.

Anyone who didn't play along saw just how true Carlin's words were. I was growing pot in the 70's. It was a joke back then. But still a serious joke. Then it became serious. It seems that pot was central in how they grew their teeth. And it killed two birds with one stone. Build up an army of cops, and legitimize their argument against the little people, and silence them. The drug war was a wall that went up. You were either on one side or the other. And if you were on the other side, there were consequences. So here we are. The wall is still here, but now everyone seems to be aware of it. And now it's more than just a drug war. It's the truth about who is behind the curtain. It's more than just ideology, and conservatism. It's a serious addiction. One that isn't drugs. Now we know the true addicts are not long haired hippies with lights in their closets. We knew it all along. But now that Wizard of Oz curtain has grown thin and worn out. And the castle is huge. And it's cold outside.

[TBF]

5. Agree,

that wall has grown thin. And frankly I don't think they are bothering to keep it a secret anymore. Their main threat - the USSR - is gone. They can be as explicit as they want now.

Frankly I'm glad of that. Like Carlin I'd rather we have this all out in the open and clear. With clarity comes resolve.

[deutsey]

37. Frank Zappa knew the score too

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater."

[chervilant]

55. Indeed...

...the blood-spattered, urine-soaked, feces-laden brick wall;

...the wall between the Hoi Polloi and Enlightenment;

...the wall we're kicking down.

[Bryn]

6. Kick for Carlin

[global1]

7. Wow - The Spokesperson For The Occupy Movement......nt

[TBF]

9. Next time they start asking "who's your leader" we'll tell them it's Carlin -

let them try to figure that out. He saw all this before it became so transparent, very bright man.

[backscatter712]

12. Occupy Denver chose Shelby the border collie as its leader. I think Carlin would approve! n/t

[urgk]

42. +1

[russspeakeasy]

44. A real gem...

[INdemo]

83. What happen to Obama? Was he given the talk tha Carlin

suggested happened to politicians and then changed?

[lark]

86. God, that's such a central question!

Was Obama threatened with harm to him or his family if he didn't go along with the charade and govern for the 1%?

OR

Was Obama just a plant so the Repugs didn't get called on their responsibility for the financial mess and it would become a Dem problem? Did he mean a thing he said as a candidate or was it all mostly lies to fool the electorate?

:shrug:

[INdemo]

97. Obviously you've never heard the Carlin skit when he talked

about how the corporate mafia.How they were the ones that actually ran this country...That ws before the trillion dollar scam.

[SammyWinstonJack]

98. A willing plant and yes lies to fool the electorate. Be the change we want to see.

What a load of horseshit.


Yes we can. :silly:


Rockstar status. :eyes:

[pscot]

90. Most politicians don't really need "the talk"

They're self policing. The rules are part of their unconscious. They know without thinking what questions are forbidden; what actions are taboo. Sheep don't need to be muzzled.

[sarcasmo]

8. Kick

[MedleyMisty]

10. No, I'm not surprised

I was 19 when Bush was installed, and it was obvious what was going on. Should have been obvious to everyone, if a 19 year old girl in community college in a town that used to be a mill town before NAFTA but now is pretty much Wal-Mart Central could see it.

For fuck's sake - HOMELAND SECURITY? The word "Homeland" alone should have been enough to tip everyone off.

[TBF]

54. Actually someone like you would be the first to see it -

my family was like that back in the 70s. Factory workers. My grandfather would often make the comment "the politicians are all the same", "they're all crooked" etc... what he was tapping into was the fact that it didn't matter for us who was in office (on economic issues anyway), nothing really changed unless it got worse.

[quakerboy]

94. Yup

That one word told me a lot about where the country was. About how far off of what my highschool civics class taught us that the USA was we really were/are.

[tilsammans]

11. K & R!!! n/t

[rjj621]

13. K&R!!

He was funny as hell but thought provoking, I wished more people listened as well as laughed.

[Mimosa]

14. WOW! He saw into the future.

Back then I would have doubted...now I know he was right. *sad*

Please tell, WHAT YEAR DID HE SAY THAT?

[deaniac21]

15. He saw into the past as well. This is the way it is and always will be.

[TBF]

19. Doesn't always have to be that way - not if we fight back. nt

[TBF]

18. Here it is on video from 2005 - maybe someone can find it earlier

http://youtu.be/acLW1vFO-2Q

[Eddie Haskell]

35. 2005

[piratefish08]

48. nah - he understood HISTORY and refused to fall for the bullshit.

[blindpig]

49. +1

Same as it ever was.

Every time their system creaks and shudders we are made to take responsibility. This is hardly the first time, but given the nature of capitalism each crisis is worse than the last.

[PETRUS]

16. He was spot on. K&R

[malaise]

17. He was a genius

I miss him

[bigmonkey]

20. Your evangelistic despair is killing us.

A cautionary tale is meant to spur action to avoid the thing cautioned against. Are you people really in a cult, or what? These endless repetitions of "Carlin was a prophet" have gotten really old, and they do no one any good. Where is the safe place you intend the "smart people" to congratulate themselves on their ditto-head approving nods about this stuff?

[TBF]

21. "they do no one any good" - lolol

It really irks you to see folks resist doesn't it? All hail the savior or else ... sorry, we may have bought your marketing campaign the first time around but we're a little more seasoned now.

[davidthegnome]

23. Evangelistic despair?

Interesting choice of words. I could tell you a thing or two about all things evangelical, I have known so many evangelical Christians, I have been surrounded by them for the vast majority of my life. The despair that they would have you buy... is based on taking literally ancient writings that in translation tend to mean something entirely different - based on decisions that were made by fools many centuries ago. Which book to include, which to toss out... I'm sure you've heard of it. They called it the council of Nicaea.

Carlin's comments were not merely words of caution - a cautionary tale. Those referring to Carlin as a prophet do not actually mean he was holy prophet, simply that he was a man who knew the truth and told us all about it long before many of us woke up to reality. Now you could indeed call those words prophetic without being part of a ditto-head cult filled with enthusiastic circle jerks and approving nods.

That "cautionary tale" was as real and as true then as it is now. As it has been for some time.

Call me a cultist if you like, refer to me as a ditto-head if it pleases you, but truth is not evangelistic despair and it certainly isn't killing you.

It is because so many have awakened to reality - to the truth of the words of Carlin (though they were delivered for the sake of humor as much as a little blunt truth telling) and so many others... it is because of this that we have a world-wide revolution on our hands. I believe it is time to wake up, because it is already almost too late. The truth may lead some to despair, but it leads me to hope, if we have recognized the problems, we can begin to address them.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the approving head-nod cave. It's like the bat cave, only cooler.

[deutsey]

34. +1

:thumbsup:

[geardaddy]

72. Well stated.

:D

[RadiationTherapy]

30. Do we really have to explain how art gives us common centers for experiencing the human condition?

Do we have to explain that people experience art in order to understand that there are others who think and feel as we do? Art reminds us that we are not alone.

[Javaman]

40. ask your corporate master. nt

[Crunchy Frog]

22. I'm proud to say that I named one of my sons Carlin, in honor of this prophet.

[Sparkly]

24. kick

:kick:

[elzenmahn]

25. K&R

Carlin truly was one of our few real "truth tellers" and prophets - he, Hicks, Pryor, and Bruce.

Note that back in the days of feudal lords (which we're fast heading back to), it was the court jesters who were the only people within a court that could tell the truth to the lords and/or kings. Carlin, Hicks, Pryor, and their predecessor Lenny Bruce, performed that same function when they were alive.

[Raksha]

26. How sad that I never heard of George Carlin

until after he passed away. I'm not quite sure how that happened.

[No Joe]

27. I miss him

Can you imagine what he'd have to say about the Tea Party?????

[cantbeserious]

28. It’s called the American Dream cause you have to be asleep to believe it

eom

[TBF]

29. Yup, in Carlin fashion I like to refer to it as the American Nightmare -

and it's not just a nightmare for those of us here who aren't in the "club" (the 1%), but for citizens all over the world who get in the way of "USA" when they are out "exploring" for resources.

Glad to see there are other Carlin fans on here. Not sure I'd call him a prophet, he simply realized and spoke the truth. Most rich folk will go out of their way to avoid doing that. And he's funnier than Buffett so that's why he gets a thread :)

[Javaman]

45. wrong spot. nt

[trotsky]

31. K&R for a guy who saw things for what they were.

And he is gone, yet Dick Cheney lives on.

[VWolf]

33. As Lewis Black once said,

"The good die young ... but ASSHOLES live FOREVER!"

[valerief]

32. I wish people would listen to Carlin when he says, "They don't give a fuck about you."

They aren't "out of touch" or "out of the loop" or "don't know know how real people live". They just don't care. It doesn't matter what they know or not. They don't care anyway.

[deutsey]

36. Most of them care about what we think only to the extent they can absorb it

into a slick marketing campaign and sell it back to us.

[Javaman]

39. +1!

Ask not what we can do for you, ask what madison ave can force you into thinking for us.

[Javaman]

38. And I get flamed when I say there is no difference between the

two parties.

[TBF]

41. Well there is certainly a difference in social issues between us and the neandrathals -

but in terms of economic issues, no. It's really not even about parties. The 1% are holding their power/wealth very cohesively and Carlin is correct, they don't give a fuck about us. The only time they notice us is if we get in their way or don't do a good enough job polishing their silver ...

[Javaman]

46. +1 nt

[Charronxyz]

71. Divide and conquer...

Social issues...
They should be called wedge issues and are promoted by TPTB because it divides us and so empowers them.

[Highway61]

43. "Willfully ignorant"

Says it all, doesn't it?

[Javaman]

47. I wouldn't call George a profit., He was a keen observer of our corporate government

and the american way of life, which is continually trying to pass itself off as a democratic institution.

He states what many of us already knew or have felt. Yet, he did it in such a way that taps into our anger, frustration and disbelief at a system so completely corrupted and slanted against the people.

If Carlin was a profit, then we all are, because people before him were saying many of the very same things he stated just in a different way.

Don't get me wrong, I think George Carlin was brilliant, but he was just carrying the torch which was passed to him.

His brilliance, like any good observer of human nature, is in that his words still remain germain regardless of era.

Oh how I miss him.

[deaniac21]

50. Profit....he was making around 2.5 million annually.

[Javaman]

51. Am I to begrudge someone from making a living?

I'm sure George paid his taxes. He also spoke for the average guy.

that's a hell of a lot more than some of the air wasters on wall street could ever hope to claim.

so are you against all rich or just anyone that make more than you?

George never compromised and always stayed true to his core beliefs.

So he made money on his mission to educate people, what the hell is wrong with that?

[geardaddy]

73. I think deaniac was making a joke based on your spelling mistake.

[Javaman]

93. and I stand humbled.

damn spell check. LOL

:blush:

[deaniac21]

96. Correct. Joke.

:toast:

[TBF]

53. Sure and Buffett makes more. These folks are known as 1% with a conscience.

Don't expect to see too many of those ... although there have been a few popping up here & there calling for higher taxes.

[d_legendary1]

52. He's the reason that old saying remains true:

"A lot of truth is said in jest".

[DeSwiss]

56. K&R n/t

[DaveJ]

57. Yet, still nothing changes. Calling them on it has no effect.

If anything, all this massages their enormous egos. We point out how powerful they are, and they are like "Hell yeah we are all powerful."

We've got to stop hiring and electing scoundrels.

[Auggie]

77. Maybe... OWS is a start

[amyrose2712]

58. Love that man. Miss him.

[Mosaic]

59. Carlin knew scum like bloomberg

Would come around. That rat bastard must resign, and quickly.

[bighart]

60. Well said. I think the question he would be asking now is

what are YOU going to do about it?
All the k&r's on this topic are nice but accomplish exactly nothing.
Now is a time for action.
I think it is time for a focused and concerted effort over the next several election cycles to
vote out every last one of the incumbents. I think it should be a priority to make sure they don't
even make it past the primary process. Keep turning them over, don't let them get comfortable.

[DaveJ]

62. I agree. Good leaders are hard to find

We might have to keep turning them over for a lifetime before anything changes. And really, business needs to be addressed too. Even at the lowest levels. How often are ethics ever addressed at job interviews?

[bighart]

64. We have no leaders in Washington, we have politicians

Leaders LEAD, politicians do what is in their own best interest.

[TBF]

65. My view is that we keep going at it on BOTH fronts - occupying and voting -

I have no problem at all with voting out the idiots. But we have made substantial progress in getting folks motivated to do something with Occupy the past few months. Everyone is talking about the 1% vs. 99% now ... maybe the two can work in tandem.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

61. Well stated, George

Loved ya, man.
:kick:

[SaveAmerica]

63. This is why I put the bulk of my time into the campaign of one candidate who wasn't like that, the

opposite even. He gave me hope that this whole scene could be turned around and someone could govern for the people. He won, most of us believed it and him. It didn't take long after he was sworn in for him to start being exactly what Carlin is talking about here.

Local small town guy, one of us. Now he's one of them, exactly who he asked us to help him campaign against. NC-08

He and many others gave us the hope that we, the people, with people like us governing, could take us away from this description of our Government. Now we know.

[JEB]

66. Thing that only the court jester can say.

Humor is a great weapon.

[Puget Progressive]

67. George Carlin is one of my comedy heroes

You can watch many of his great routines on YouTube. He was fearless and he spoke the truth. I loved it when he appeared on Bill Maher's show and he kept referring to Wubya as "Governor Bush". Somebody asked him why and he said it was because that was the last office that he was actually elected to.

[Evasporque]

68. And it takes a dead celebrity to get people to comment.....

I posted this a few days ago and NOTHING...a few recommends...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2307251

[TBF]

69. Your OP is excellent - sorry I missed it

(that time of day my kids are coming home from school - maybe why others missed it as well). Honestly I think if I posted the same thing it would have dropped quickly too. Carlin had a way of saying things disguised in humor that made it more palatable. The same thing happens with music sometimes, the message is easier to take for some reason when hidden within lyrics. Solidarity, friend, you and I are definitely on the same page.

[sarchasm]

70. Carlin!

... love that guy.

[Starry Messenger]

74. k&r

[Wind Dancer]

75. K&R

Miss him terribly. There are no comedians currently that can compare or would have the nerve to state the obvious. He had a brilliant delivery.

[INdemo]

76. Ok..but when we have real elected officials that give a shit about the

working class,then ever body jumps onto the idea "oh well those kind of people cant get elected 'cause they have to run center"
Every time it is suggested that a real progressive should run for President then everybody in the media and even Democrats start singing the "must run center" song of which I totally disagree..I hope that in 2016 we have Elizabeth Warren to Prove all those political experts wrong.

[TBF]

81. There's a place for voting and I like Elizabeth too -

but in our current situation voting is last on my list ... I always dutifully go to the polls, and as you say vote for their "center" candidates and then nothing changes.

I spend much more of my time figuring out how to educate and share information so that folks wake up and think about what kind of society we could have beyond capitalism. OWS has been great for that as well - encouraging folks to resist. If the 400 or so families in this country that own 40% of the wealth aren't going to share, then the millions of us in the 99% are going to have to be stronger about demanding that they do so.

[defendandprotect]

78. Took 50 and more years of RW political violence to reach this point ....

We were probably all wondering why no one did anything about it --

but early on, the few Democrats who did try to tackle it and the CIA were targeted --

Frank Church, for one -- and moved out of Congress.

No investigations -- just like now!

Now we've progressed to TORTURE -- while some here have cheered! Wake up to the fact

that TORTURE is the way dictatorships rise and the way populations are controlled.

One of our greatest mistakes would be believing that this administration or this Congress

is ever going to make any of this right again. They've all SOLD themselve sto elites and

corporations.

There's pretty much nothing left of the Democratic Party after more than 20 years of Koch

Bros/DLC control over it -- and it's now in the hands of the Thrid Way!


LOVE GEORGE CARLIN -- AND GREATLY MISS HIM!!

Thank you for the reminder -- as sad as it is -- !!



:hug:

[Warren DeMontague]

87. George Carlin, the famous challenger of obscenity laws?

He wouldn't be too thrilled with your anti-porn crusade, lady.

[WoodyD]

79. Brilliant, prophetic

and much missed.

[uncle ray]

80. i have no idea why my parents let me watch Carlin videos with them when i was young.

but i'm glad they did.

[Raster]

84. I have posted this several times over my years at DU, and will ALWAYS kick and recommend!

The game is rigged.

[slipslidingaway]

85. knr nt

[locahungaria]

88. K & R....

Highly rec'd!

[sandyj999]

89. K&R

[sasha031]

91. +1 K/R

when I was young I thought Carlin was negative, now I see him as a prophet.

[KansDem]

92. Same here...

I didn't think he was all that funny or informative. But I now think differently about his positive contribution to the national discourse...

[ObaMania]

95. Brilliant! Thsi should be posted at all OWS protests.

RIP, George.