“That’s why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
~ George Carlin
The late, great stand-up comedian George Carlin is our Hero of the Week. With his direct and breathtakingly punchy observations, Carlin had the remarkable ability to conjure up humor even when tackling the darkest and most emotive subjects that others would not address. Often leaving members of his audience speechless, Carlin commanded the stage as he fearlessly explored the depths of many pressing, controversial subjects. Referring to the country’s “owners,” Carlin famously said, “It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it!”
In that monologue, Carlin advised:
“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 the information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year 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 don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them.”
We highly recommend that you explore the vast collection of Carlin’s work. (Note: Please be advised that Carlin freely used adult language.)
Related:
George Carlin (website)
George Carlin (Wikipedia)
George Carlin tried to warn us all in 2005
George Carlin Collection Re-upload