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George Carlin Dead of Heart Failure

ashamanq was one of many who noted that comedian George Carlin has died of heart failure. Most famous for his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV" routine which resulted in a landmark supreme court ruling, he was a true voice against censorship, and also one of the funniest men ever. He was 71.

25 of 583 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Smiling down. by suso · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Um, I think you mean. May his body decay into the earth as nicely as fucking possible.

    Anyone who mentions "up there", "god", or "soul" in this article should be modded down.

  2. Re:Smiling down. by thegrassyknowl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Excepting for the fact that he would have called you a fucking moron for even suggesting that there is an "up there".

    --
    I drink to make other people interesting!
  3. Sad :( by TimeForGuinness · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A philosopher who was funny...he will be missed. (lifts glass) Cheers, TFG

  4. A great man is lost by thegrassyknowl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We held a little ceremony here before. Carlin was a truly great man. A voice against censorship and generally against rampant stupidity as well.

    May his memory live long and someone crop up and continue on in his great tradition of telling the 'system' to go fuck itself.

    --
    I drink to make other people interesting!
  5. Best Summary of Religion by copponex · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You will be missed, pal.

    "In the Bullshit Department, a businessman can't hold a candle to a clergyman. 'Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims: religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told.

    Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!

    But He loves you.

    He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!"

    -George Carlin

    1. Re:Best Summary of Religion by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      One of the few comedians who stayed completely relevant over the span of many decades. He was also able to reinvent himself on several occasions, and each time very effectively. In the early 60's he was part of a vanilla Lewis and Martin-type comedy team, in the late-60's/early 70's he became a cutting edge counter-culture comic, and in the 80's he became a great comic actor. Truly amazing.

      I was watching him in Dogma just this weekend. That opening with him introducing the "Jesus Wow!" campaign still cracks me up.

      He'll be missed.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  6. Re:Smiling down. by HungSoLow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We need a '-1 Dumbass'

  7. In vein of the man himself... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    With nothing but contempt for modern humanity and politics, I highly doubt he'd want anyone to mourn.

    So I'll tell it like it is.
    Today an great man died.
    He was a foul-mouthed rat-bastard hippy conspiracy theorist.
    May his soul be blessed by whoever gives a damn.

  8. Re:Stern by Soporific · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think when his wife died it really changed him and his routines. I still found him funny, but he came off very angry.

  9. Re:Stern by Verteiron · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think he discovered he could make just as much money by making fun of government (which, let's be honest here, doesn't take much effort) and rehashing his best bits as he could by writing tons of new material at considerable effort. And I think he was just cynical enough to laugh at that fact, and exploit the hell out of it.

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    End of lesson. You may press the button.
  10. Re:Stern by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The last 8 years have made a lot of us angry. He's hardly alone.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  11. Cock-Sucker by pcguru19 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well fuck. Who's going to call everyone on their bullshit now?

    --
    STFU & GBTW
    1. Re:Cock-Sucker by Bombria · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Penn and Teller

  12. Re:If I were in charge of the networks by Yewbert · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And exactly why the Mark Twain award is so fitting for George - Twain has long been for me the model for precise usage of language - and Carlin was a modern example.

    I'm sad to see him gnoe - one less funny (and wise) fucker in the world.

  13. Re:de mortuis nil nisi bonum but ... by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Carlin's classic material tended to rant about things he hated, with the implication that he - and those who agree with him - are superior.

    Only the insecure feel the need to apologize for other people's inadequacies.

  14. Re:de mortuis nil nisi bonum but ... by dotancohen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I am prepared to defend the qualitative difference between the rants of Carlin and those of Hicks, but I should stay on topic. What is this, the fucking Debian list? Go on and rant... George would want it that way.
    --
    It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  15. Words to live by by InadequateCamel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's moved on, departed from the Big Electron. He was a giant and will be missed. I have taken one of his phrases to heart:

    "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that."

    RIP Mr Carlin.

  16. As, I think, Mark, George and gods would say ... by OldHawk777 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Greetings my excellent friends!" Rufus

    "George and Sam exceeded my expectations of simple humans." GODDDD

    The 4D GoDDDD will always be greater than the parochial 3D GoDDD, never as shallow as the 2D GoDD, and really the 1D GoD is just a human word/acronym sort of thing meaning Go-Dogma and totally open to local interpretation/spin.

    "Dogma affected never reason effective." Oldhawk777

    Final words: "Party on and be excellent to one another." George

    George was one of the best of US with the "Right Stuff". %~G

    Sanity by mandate is highly over-rated by US.

    --
    Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
  17. Re:Stern by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The constant litany of lies about America and the war on terror from the Left has certainly made ME and my friends as angry as we've ever been

    You and your buddies are the 25% who are stupid enough to still believe in the Bush Administration. My guess is that you're the kind of person who think never changing one's opinion is somehow a virtue. Good luck with that, fool

  18. Re:The unfortunate corollary... by LordKaT · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What fucking world do you live in that you don't have an alternative?

  19. Bad news to wake up to. by FunWithKnives · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This would be shitty news to wake up to any day, but it's even worse on your birthday.

    Along with Bill Hicks, George Carlin was my absolute favorite comedian. What they did was much more than just comedy, though. The reason I loved George so much, just as with Bill, was because, in the process of making you laugh so hard, they also made you think. George had the ability to make you see how ridiculous certain things really were, even if you didn't want to.

    So long, George. You're irreplaceable.

    --
    "We may face a scorched and lifeless earth, but they're accountable to their shareholders first."
  20. Re:Smiling down. by LS · · Score: 3, Insightful

    First, i recognize that the GP is joking and that George Carlin was an athiest. Anyway, if this article was about a christian, would you say that "Anyone who mentions "decaying into the earth" in this article should be modded down"? Or if it was a buddhist would you attack athiestic or christian beliefs? I'm actually agnostic, but my point is that what happens after death is not decided by the beliefs of the dead, it's in the mind of the living, as no one really knows...

    --
    There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
  21. Re:And now for something completely different... by Zakabog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Swear words are the equivalent to howling in pain or rage. They're degenerate, and they evoke emotional reactions in other people, causing those other peoples thoughts to also degenerate into mindless, primitive emotional reactions, overriding their capacity to reason things through and act effectively.

    I hope you're not serious. You realize the word "fuck" is as much a word as is the word "existentialism."

    If I was visiting a tribe in Africa where no one spoke English and I went up to the chief with a basket of various gifts, and offered this basket to the chief while smiling and saying in a calm polite voice "I hope you fucking choke on a bucket of cum you worthless pile of shit" the chief would not take offense. He wouldn't know what I said and would only be able to guess that it was something nice, since I said it with a smile, in a calm polite voice, while offering a basket of gifts.

    Now, if I went up to the same chief, screaming to the point where my face was red "Hello Sir! I hope you live a long and prosperous life!" He would take great offense to that, he would think I was angry with him.

    Swear words are just words, they aren't magical, they don't bring down society. If a 5 year old boy never heard the word "fuck" before, hearing it isn't going to turn him into a mindless degenerate. He's only going to know the meaning of the word based on who said it, the context, and how they said it.

  22. Re:And now for something completely different... by Hatta · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The fact that curse words evoke primitive emotional responses in people is exactly why they're so important and powerful. Like it or not, people are primitive emotional beings, and appealing to that side is often, no, usually the best way to communicate with them.

    Sure, you can try communicating calmly and rationally with people, if you like getting ignored. But if you want results, you've got to hit them in the old lizard brain.

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    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  23. Re:And now for something completely different... by LithiumX · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Words represent concepts - a class of object or person, a specific reference, an action, or a modification to any of these. Words are symbolic references to more complex ideas.

    The more extensive your vocabulary, the better you can fine-tune communication. Words are tools. A simple screwdriver is good for most jobs, but you often find yourself using different screwdrivers for different tasks. Sometimes you want a jewelers screwdriver to work on your glasses. Other times you want a large flathead with a strong grip so you can apply torque. A band saw is just as much a tool as a drill, and serves very different purposes - it all depends on your need.

    Sometimes, though, the job can only be done with a good solid sledgehammer.

    Swear words are effectively sledgehammers.

    For example, it is often required that you express distaste or anger - they're everyday emotions that you can't hide from, and they often need to be declared. You have a wide variety of words to use. Simple direct "base" words, like "Angry" or "Mad" get the basic point across but are far too generic to have any real meaning beyond the basic concept. Being basic words, though, they have more emotional impact. There are better words in the core vocabulary, such as "Furious" or "Irritated" - these allow finer grades of meaning, but trade this for a bit of power. As you go up the ladder, you can achieve more and more precise meanings, such as "irascible", "choleric", or "perturbed". In civil communications, these can describe your feelings to a great level of precision. They also lose almost all of their emotional power.

    Say you've done something to anger me, in a situation where it's appropriate for me to express that anger. Not only that, but you're threatening me - in many circumstances counter-intimidation is the only intelligent response (since an appeal will often simply fail, and a first-strike is usually not acceptable).

    There are three basic routes you could follow.

    Do as many well-educated verbose geeks will do, and respond with a well-spoken and wordy response that applies logic and fine shades of meaning to each and every word. In an emotional situation, this is generally useless and shows intelligence but very little understanding of real-world social interaction.

    You can apply your vocabulary, abstaining from actual cursing, but choosing your words for effect. Phrases like "choking on your own blood" or "cripple you for life" keep the wording short and simple, and don't require degrading language. The problem is it's very difficult for most intelligent people to intimidate intelligently without being overtly threatening yourself. This is usually the best course, but it's also the most risky.

    Alternately, a simple "Fuck you", or "back off asshole" will usually work much better. While cussing can fan the flames, once the individuals are already angry then a little cussing really doesn't add much to it. Quite the opposite - degenerating into schoolhouse taunts does a very good job of releasing tension (which is almost always what most fights are about) without actually hitting eachother.

    Vocalization is a mammal concept (at least the way we use it). Speech is a purely human concept. Cussing, though, is most definitely a primate concept - chimps taught sign language invent their own forms very quickly. When you cuss, you tap into primal emotions, for better or for worse. Almost every association you have for any swear word is animal in nature.

    That's why swearing is unacceptable. It has nothing to do with polite society, or problem resolution. It's for the same reason why nakedness offends (because a naked human body loses it's veneer of civilization - naked humans look like any other animal). For the same reason why many cultures dislike extensive facial hair or long scalp hair (it's a reminder that we're still just animals). It's why virtually all of our basic laws - both religious and civil - primarily focus on covering up for t

    --
    Do not confuse "Freedom of Choice" with "Free Will".