George Carlin

[[File:Jesus_is_coming.._Look_Busy_(George_Carlin).jpg|thumb|165px|right|Look busy!]]{{pundits}}
{{cquote|I gotta tell you folks... When it comes to [[bullshit]]... Major-league, big time bullshit... You have to stand ''in awe'', of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims — [[religion]]!|||George Carlin<ref name="religion">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RT6rL2UroE Religion is Bullshit]. ''YouTube''.</ref>}}
'''George Carlin''' {{lived|May 12, 1937|June 22, 2008}} was one of the world's greatest comedians.<ref>Although I know some [[Monty Python|Pythons]] who would disagree</ref> He was one of the greatest champions of anti-[[censorship]] and [[free speech]] in the [[United States]]. He is possibly best known for his most famous work, a dissertation on the highlights and flaws of an [[aristocratic]] society, entitled ''Shit! Piss! Fuck! Cunt! Cocksucker! Motherfucker! Tits!'' This performance led to a landmark [[Supreme Court]] decision<ref>{{wpl|FCC v. Pacifica Foundation}}</ref> that allowed the FCC to regulate certain 'indecent' words, now popularly referred as the {{wpl|seven dirty words}}, on broadcast television and radio. He was well known to be 
pessimistic
 awake, 
hateful
 angry, and 
profane
 a master of words, and loved to take apart the idiocy that is human [[language]]. 

He wrote several books (all of which were best sellers), and received numerous awards. He also played Rufus in the ''Bill and Ted ''films, and Cardinal Glick in [[Dogma (film)|''Dogma'']].<ref>FUCKING awesome movie</ref> He died some time past, and a little bit of light went out of the world. But the great thing about it was, he left us hours and hours of audio and video.<ref>What, you expect we're gonna put some on here? Look it up [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=George+Carlin+video yourself] you lazy little shit.</ref>

He also narrated the American version of the TV show ''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' for the first four seasons.

==Opinions==

* Extremely critical of [[religion]], he was known for his long rants about how religion has pretty much fucked us over,<ref name="religion" /> including a deconstruction of the [[Ten Commandments]].<ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE8ooMBIyC8 George Carlin - 10 Commandments]". YouTube.</ref>
* He [[pro-choice|supported a woman's right to abortion]], and did a scathing take-down of "[[pro-life]]" and "sanctity of life" arguments.<ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvF1Q3UidWM George Carlin: Pro Life, Abortion, And The Sanctity Of Life]". YouTube.</ref> 
* He loathed [[political correctness|politically correct]] [[euphemism]]s, opining that "Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal their sins." and that it is the intent behind the use of words that counts and not the words themselves.<ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuEQixrBKCc George Carlin - Euphemisms]". YouTube.</ref>
* He semi-jokingly supported the [[death penalty]] for drug money laundering by "white, middle class Republican bankers".<ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDO6HV6xTmI George Carlin - Death Penalty]". YouTube.</ref>
* He scornfully deconstructed the ways in which men try to be manly in a routine called "The Male Disease".<ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19cL0RuJx4E The Male Disease - George Carlin]". YouTube.</ref>
* He had great contempt for Americans' addiction to shopping malls and eating huge amounts.<ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLODGhEyLvk Life Is Worth Losing - Dumb Americans - George Carlin]". YouTube.</ref>
* He absolutely loathed the {{wpl|self-esteem movement}}.<ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6wOt2iXdc4 George Carlin -Child Worship]". YouTube.</ref>

==Misaimed fandom==
Carlin is often revered by [[conspiracy theorists]] (mainly the [[libertarianism|libertarian]] [[Illuminati]]/[[9/11 conspiracy theories|Truther]] [[Ron Paul]] variety) because of a scathing piece he performed in his later years, in which he says, among other things, that [[politician]]s exist to give the illusion of freedom of choice, and his questions regarding [[9-11|9/11]]. Strangely enough, Carlin himself never outright said that the U.S. government perpetrated 9/11, so we guess that he ''must have been'' a puppet of the Illuminati, and not the hero the [[crank]]s make him out to be?

One of Carlin's later routines on environmentalism was highly critical of the "...self-righteous environmentalists, [[Sunday school environmentalism|these white, bourgeois liberals]]..." for their self-important veneer of altruism and denial of the fact that what is at stake is not the planet's ''existence'', but the planet's ''habitability'' for them and other living things. Predictably, his message went over the heads of [[global warming denialism|climate deniers]],<ref>Segel, Adam. [https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2008/6/27/543031/ George Carlin: Global Warming Denier ... ?]. ''[[Daily Kos]]'', 27 June 2008.</ref> who took the video as evidence that he agreed with them, gleefully reposting it on YouTube under such dishonest titles as "George Carlin on [[global warming]]".<ref>Examples [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0aFPXr4n4 here], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko3w02ycBwI here] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-wyF9afJ2A here]. See also [[Conservapedia]]'s [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=George_Carlin&oldid=1414047 current revision] of his page as of April 2018: "He also criticized global warming and environmentalism."</ref> Their efforts are rather undermined by the total absence of any talk of global warming in the video, and the fact that Carlin has elsewhere acknowledged its existence<ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRAJYVRSuMg George Carlin-Natural Disasters]". YouTube.</ref> and criticized humans for ravaging and not caring about the environment.<ref>Nudd, Tim. [http://people.com/celebrity/george-carlin-jamie-lee-curtis-blame-humans-for-fires/ George Carlin, Jamie Lee Curtis Blame Humans for Fires]. ''People.com'', 24 October 2007.</ref>

Related to the environmentalism is his stance against political correctness. Carlin was famous for his stance against soft language (ex. using physically challenged or differently abled in place of cripple) though plenty of his misaimed fans take this as a free ride to use whatever terrible words they want and be as bigoted as they'd like.

=="I didn't say half the things I've said"==
Given his popularity and dead-on-target wit, it was inevitable that some quotes which ''sound'' like they're by George Carlin, but weren't ''really'' by George Carlin, would eventually start making the rounds.  [[Snopes]] has more than one article about false e-mails claiming to quote Carlin, often involving made-up political rants or glurge. In 2001, Carlin said of these fake quotes:

{{cquote|I want people to know that I take care with my writing, and try to keep my standards high. But most of this "humor" on the Internet is just plain stupid. I guess hard-core fans who follow my stuff closely would be able to spot the fake stuff, because the tone of voice is so different. But a casual fan has no way of knowing, and it bothers me that some people might believe I'd actually be capable of writing some of this stuff.<ref>{{wayback|http://georgecarlin.com/home/dontblame.html}}</ref>}}

Among the things George Carlin didn't really say?  The phrase "I didn't say half the things I've said."  That was Yogi Berra.
== Carlin’s second Oscar nomination ==
{{video|youtube| https://youtu.be/3cHJQkuuLNs}}
==External links==
*[https://georgecarlin.com/ Official website]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

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