"Brain Droppings" by George Carlin

byverazhelvis

3.1K followers

9 years ago

Many Americans grew up listening to George Carlin. A lot of people in other countries listened to him too. Like the music of Beatles and pictures by Picasso and novels by Bulgakov his striking speeches, books, scripts influenced many minds and shaped ideas and opinions. Carlin was brilliant when he discussed language and euphemisms, when he spoke about people's obsession with stuff. Carlin talked about the stupidity of Politics and War. Many things he said were memorised and have been citated a countless number of times.

And what he was saying and writing throughout 50 years of his outstanding career is very true today.

"Soft Language" by George Carlin

"You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth. I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms or euphemistic language. And American english is loaded with euphemisms. Because Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent a kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it. And it gets worse with every generation. For some reason it just keeps getting worse.
I'll give you an example of that. There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum. Can't take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago. Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue. Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It's totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/31/691285/-

"Sanctity of Life" by George Carlin

"Look at what we kill. Mosquitoes and flies, because they're pests! Lions and tigers, because it's fun! Chickens and pigs, because we're hungry. Pheasants and quail, because it's fun, and we're hungry. And people! We kill people, because they're pests... and it's fun!"