WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:09.720
<v Speaker 1>Calaruga Shark Media.

2
00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:13.279
<v Speaker 2>How did July fourthom Johnny Mack with your daily comedy

3
00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:17.079
<v Speaker 2>news Today, I thought I would talk about America's great prophet,

4
00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:20.800
<v Speaker 2>George Carlin. If you're a regular listening there to this program,

5
00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:23.679
<v Speaker 2>you've heard me say before. The stuff Carlin put out

6
00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:26.559
<v Speaker 2>at the beginning of this century, it feels like it

7
00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:30.960
<v Speaker 2>was recorded yesterday. At the time, I thought Carlan sounded

8
00:00:31.079 --> 00:00:34.600
<v Speaker 2>angry and had lost his fastball, And I am so,

9
00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:38.039
<v Speaker 2>so so wrong to have had that opinion. He is

10
00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:39.520
<v Speaker 2>America's great profit.

11
00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:41.520
<v Speaker 1>I just want to talk a little bit about that

12
00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:46.079
<v Speaker 1>war in the Persian golf, big doings in the Persian golf.

13
00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:46.640
<v Speaker 1>You know my.

14
00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:49.039
<v Speaker 3>Favorite part of that war. It's the first war.

15
00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:51.600
<v Speaker 1>We ever had that was on every channel plus cable.

16
00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:55.679
<v Speaker 1>And the war got good ratings too, didn't it got

17
00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:56.640
<v Speaker 1>good ratings?

18
00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:01.119
<v Speaker 3>Well, we like war. We like war. We're war like people.

19
00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:03.799
<v Speaker 3>We like war because we're good at it.

20
00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:05.719
<v Speaker 1>And you know why we're good at it because we

21
00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:08.959
<v Speaker 1>get a lot of practice. Those country is only two

22
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.120
<v Speaker 1>hundred years old and already we've had ten major wars.

23
00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.599
<v Speaker 1>We average a major war in this country every twenty years,

24
00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:18.519
<v Speaker 1>So we're good at it, and it's a good thing

25
00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:20.719
<v Speaker 1>we are. We're not very good at anything else anymore.

26
00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.159
<v Speaker 1>Can't build a decent car, got no steel industry left,

27
00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:28.560
<v Speaker 1>can't get healthcare to our old people, can't educate our

28
00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:31.000
<v Speaker 1>young people. But we can bomb the shit out of

29
00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:35.079
<v Speaker 1>your country, all right. We can bomb the shit out

30
00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:36.239
<v Speaker 1>of your country, all right.

31
00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:42.599
<v Speaker 2>Now, Before we get into this, some housekeeping. If you

32
00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:46.040
<v Speaker 2>go looking for George Carlin quotes online, a huge percentage

33
00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:49.319
<v Speaker 2>of what you'll find is fig They're not exaggerated or paraphrased.

34
00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:52.200
<v Speaker 2>They're just attributed to him by people who never bother

35
00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:55.200
<v Speaker 2>to check. One example is something called the Paradox of

36
00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:59.000
<v Speaker 2>Our Time. That's the one about taller buildings and shorter tempers,

37
00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:02.000
<v Speaker 2>wider freeways and arrow of viewpoints that gets reposted with

38
00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.640
<v Speaker 2>his name on it constantly. He didn't write that. That's

39
00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:07.599
<v Speaker 2>from Bob Moorehead, a pastor who wrote it in nineteen

40
00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:10.439
<v Speaker 2>ninety five. Carlan was reportedly furious that he would be

41
00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:12.960
<v Speaker 2>credited for it, and said nothing should be attributed to

42
00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.319
<v Speaker 2>him unless it actually came from one of his album's books,

43
00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:18.240
<v Speaker 2>HBO Specials, or his own site. Let's start with the

44
00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:21.439
<v Speaker 2>bit that's the actual backbone of this whole conversation. It

45
00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:23.719
<v Speaker 2>gets quoted, the most it's understood, the least it's from.

46
00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:28.280
<v Speaker 2>Life is worth losing. His thirteenth HBO special, recorded November fifth,

47
00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:30.560
<v Speaker 2>two thousand and five, at the Beacon Theater in New York.

48
00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:34.240
<v Speaker 2>The bit is officially titled Dumb Americans. And that title

49
00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.439
<v Speaker 2>alone tells you something because the version of the bit

50
00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:39.360
<v Speaker 2>that circulates online almost never gets attached to that title

51
00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:42.240
<v Speaker 2>or that context. It gets cut down to the punchest

52
00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:44.879
<v Speaker 2>twenty seconds. It passed around like a standalone thought. So

53
00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.879
<v Speaker 2>here's my challenge here. I want to play a little

54
00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:51.479
<v Speaker 2>in context here, but I can't go playing the whole bit.

55
00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:54.120
<v Speaker 2>I'm just as bad as the people of critiquing. But

56
00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:55.439
<v Speaker 2>here's George Carland.

57
00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:59.080
<v Speaker 3>Only a really low IQ population could have taken this

58
00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:05.599
<v Speaker 3>beautiful content, this magnificent American landscape that we inherited. Well,

59
00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:07.800
<v Speaker 3>actually we stole it from the Mexicans and the Indians,

60
00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:11.960
<v Speaker 3>but hey, it was a nice one. We stole it.

61
00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:16.879
<v Speaker 3>It looked pretty good. It was pristine paradise. Have you

62
00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:19.520
<v Speaker 3>seen it lately? Have you taken a good look at

63
00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:23.960
<v Speaker 3>it lately? It's embarrassing. Only a nation of unenlightened half

64
00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.560
<v Speaker 3>wits could have taken this beautiful place and turned it

65
00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:31.520
<v Speaker 3>into what it is today. A shopping mall. That's all

66
00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:35.080
<v Speaker 3>you've got here, folks, Mile after mile of mall after mall,

67
00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:38.280
<v Speaker 3>many many malls, major malls and mini malls. They put

68
00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:40.400
<v Speaker 3>the mini malls in between the major malls, and in

69
00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:42.520
<v Speaker 3>between the mini walls they put the mini marts. And

70
00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.520
<v Speaker 3>in between the mini march you got the car lots,

71
00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:48.479
<v Speaker 3>gas stations, muffler shops, launder match, cheap hotels, fast food joints,

72
00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:52.199
<v Speaker 3>strip clubs, and dirty bookstores. America the beautiful, one big

73
00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:55.719
<v Speaker 3>trans continental commercial cesspool. And how did the people feel

74
00:03:55.719 --> 00:03:57.800
<v Speaker 3>about all this? How did the people feel about living

75
00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:02.080
<v Speaker 3>in a coast to coast shopping mall. Well, it's just dandy.

76
00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:06.319
<v Speaker 3>They think it is cool as can be because Americans

77
00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:09.159
<v Speaker 3>love them all. They love them all. That's where they

78
00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:12.680
<v Speaker 3>get to satisfy their two most prominent addictions at the

79
00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:15.199
<v Speaker 3>same time, shopping and eating.

80
00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:18.879
<v Speaker 2>What was actually happening in that room that night? Carlon

81
00:04:18.920 --> 00:04:22.040
<v Speaker 2>spent several minutes building a case about American voters, calling

82
00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:24.920
<v Speaker 2>out what he saw as wilful ignorance, mocking people for

83
00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.920
<v Speaker 2>not paying attention, and then he pivots hard into something

84
00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.120
<v Speaker 2>much more structural. He says, there's a reason education in

85
00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:33.160
<v Speaker 2>this country doesn't get better, and it's not in competence.

86
00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:36.519
<v Speaker 2>It's designed Forget the politicians, he says, they're relevant. They're

87
00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.519
<v Speaker 2>there to give you the idea you have freedom of choice.

88
00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:41.680
<v Speaker 2>The real owners, he says, are the big wealthy business interests.

89
00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:44.079
<v Speaker 2>They control the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the

90
00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:47.879
<v Speaker 2>city halls, the judges, the media. They got you, in

91
00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:52.399
<v Speaker 2>his words, by the balls two thousand and five. And

92
00:04:52.439 --> 00:04:54.079
<v Speaker 2>then he lands the whole thing on the line everyone

93
00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:55.959
<v Speaker 2>knows when they don't know where it's from. It's called

94
00:04:55.959 --> 00:04:57.839
<v Speaker 2>the American dream because you have to be asleep to

95
00:04:57.879 --> 00:04:58.279
<v Speaker 2>believe it.

96
00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.439
<v Speaker 3>That's the big answer to everything. Education. They said, we

97
00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:04.519
<v Speaker 3>need more money for education. We need more books, more teachers,

98
00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:07.720
<v Speaker 3>more classrooms, more schools. We need more testing for the kids.

99
00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:09.920
<v Speaker 3>You say to well, you know we've tried all of

100
00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:12.480
<v Speaker 3>that and the kids still can't pass the tests. So

101
00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:14.279
<v Speaker 3>don't you worry about that. We're going to lower the

102
00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:16.839
<v Speaker 3>passing grades. And I said, they're doing a lot of

103
00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:18.720
<v Speaker 3>these schools. Now they lower the passing grades, the more

104
00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.319
<v Speaker 3>kids can pass, more kids passed, the school looks good,

105
00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:23.560
<v Speaker 3>everybody's happy. The IQ of the country slips another two

106
00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:25.800
<v Speaker 3>or three points, and pretty soon all you'll need to

107
00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:29.120
<v Speaker 3>get into college is a pencil. Then everyone wonders why

108
00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:33.000
<v Speaker 3>seventeen other countries graduate more scientists than we do. Education

109
00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:36.720
<v Speaker 3>politicians know that word. They use it on you. Politicians

110
00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:40.720
<v Speaker 3>have traditionally hidden behind three things, the flag, the Bible,

111
00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:44.639
<v Speaker 3>and children. No child left behind, No child left behind.

112
00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:46.879
<v Speaker 3>Oh really, well, it wasn't long ago you were talking

113
00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:49.800
<v Speaker 3>about giving kids a head start, head start, left behind.

114
00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:54.879
<v Speaker 3>Someone's losing ground here. But there's a reason. There's a reason.

115
00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:58.240
<v Speaker 3>There's a reason for this. There's a reason education sucks.

116
00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:01.279
<v Speaker 3>It's the same reason that it will never ever ever

117
00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:04.360
<v Speaker 3>be fixed. It's never gonna get any better. Don't look

118
00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:07.240
<v Speaker 3>for it. Be happy with what you got because the

119
00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:10.879
<v Speaker 3>owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about

120
00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:16.319
<v Speaker 3>the real owners now, the big, the wealthy that the

121
00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:20.240
<v Speaker 3>real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things

122
00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.720
<v Speaker 3>and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. They're

123
00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:26.680
<v Speaker 3>they're they're irrelevant. The politicians are put there to give

124
00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:29.279
<v Speaker 3>you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You

125
00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:34.000
<v Speaker 3>don't you have no choice. You have owners. They own you.

126
00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:38.199
<v Speaker 3>They own everything, They own all the important land. They

127
00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:40.839
<v Speaker 3>own and control the corporations they've long since bought and

128
00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:42.839
<v Speaker 3>paid for, the Senate, the Congress, the state houses and

129
00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.040
<v Speaker 3>city halls. They got the judges in their back buckets.

130
00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:47.839
<v Speaker 3>And they own all the big media media news, all

131
00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:50.399
<v Speaker 3>the big media companies, so they control just about all

132
00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:52.360
<v Speaker 3>of the news and information you get to hear. They

133
00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:55.959
<v Speaker 3>got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars

134
00:06:56.040 --> 00:07:01.759
<v Speaker 3>every year lobbying, lobbying to get what they want. Well,

135
00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:04.480
<v Speaker 3>we know what they want. They want more for themselves

136
00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:06.600
<v Speaker 3>and less for everybody else. But I'll tell you what

137
00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.920
<v Speaker 3>they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens

138
00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:12.920
<v Speaker 3>capable of critical thinking. They don't want well informed, well

139
00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:16.319
<v Speaker 3>educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that.

140
00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.680
<v Speaker 3>That doesn't help them. You know what they want. They

141
00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:23.920
<v Speaker 3>want obedient workers. Obedient workers people who are just smart

142
00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.240
<v Speaker 3>enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and

143
00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:30.160
<v Speaker 3>just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier

144
00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.319
<v Speaker 3>jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours to reduce benefits,

145
00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.279
<v Speaker 3>the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears

146
00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:38.319
<v Speaker 3>the minute you go to collect it. And now they're

147
00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:42.480
<v Speaker 3>coming for your social Security money. They want your retirement money.

148
00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.000
<v Speaker 3>They want it back so they can give it to

149
00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.759
<v Speaker 3>their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something,

150
00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:49.920
<v Speaker 3>they'll get it. They'll get it all from you sooner

151
00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:53.079
<v Speaker 3>related because they own this place. It's a big club,

152
00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:54.839
<v Speaker 3>and you ain't in it.

153
00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:57.720
<v Speaker 2>What's important is the shape of the argument underneath that all.

154
00:07:57.839 --> 00:07:59.319
<v Speaker 2>He's not telling a joke with a setup and a

155
00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:03.000
<v Speaker 2>Twisty's making an accusation point by point, like a closing argument.

156
00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:05.000
<v Speaker 2>And the laughs on the rum are happening because the

157
00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:09.079
<v Speaker 2>audience recognizes something true in real time, not because he's

158
00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:11.839
<v Speaker 2>surprised him with a punch line. That's why this bit

159
00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:14.800
<v Speaker 2>has invaded the way topical material usually does. He wasn't

160
00:08:14.839 --> 00:08:17.680
<v Speaker 2>joking about a specific two thousand and five scandal. He

161
00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:20.839
<v Speaker 2>was describing a mechanism, and mechanisms don't expire on a

162
00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:24.519
<v Speaker 2>news cycle. The second piece of that conversation, the fascism line,

163
00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:27.959
<v Speaker 2>has a different and more interesting origin than most people assume,

164
00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:29.720
<v Speaker 2>because it didn't come up from a stand up special

165
00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:32.399
<v Speaker 2>at all. It came from a TV appearance September ninth,

166
00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:34.519
<v Speaker 2>two thousand and five, on Real Time with Bill Maher,

167
00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:38.279
<v Speaker 2>days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Harlan was

168
00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:40.799
<v Speaker 2>on the panel and the conversation turned to President Bush

169
00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:43.480
<v Speaker 2>calling for zero tolerance on looters and price gougers in

170
00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:46.519
<v Speaker 2>the storm's aftermath. Carlin used the moment to say something

171
00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:49.799
<v Speaker 2>he clearly believed. When fascism comes to America, it won't

172
00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:51.879
<v Speaker 2>be in brown and black shirts. It won't be with

173
00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:55.200
<v Speaker 2>Jack boots. It'll be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts. And

174
00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:57.519
<v Speaker 2>then he throws out in a side Germany lost the

175
00:08:57.559 --> 00:08:59.440
<v Speaker 2>Second World War, fascism didn't.

176
00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:02.639
<v Speaker 4>The real looting in this country takes place in the

177
00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:06.480
<v Speaker 4>transfer of the wealth from the poor to the rich.

178
00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:08.759
<v Speaker 4>I'm sorry that you don't like class and the truth,

179
00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:12.519
<v Speaker 4>my friend, but you're just stuck with it. And the

180
00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:15.679
<v Speaker 4>poor have been systematically looted in this country. The rich

181
00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:19.279
<v Speaker 4>have been made richer under this criminal, fascist president and

182
00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:20.000
<v Speaker 4>his government.

183
00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:20.320
<v Speaker 3>Book.

184
00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:26.559
<v Speaker 2>That line has had a second life, completely disconnected from Katrina,

185
00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:30.559
<v Speaker 2>completely disconnected from two thousand and five, completely disconnected from Bush.

186
00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:33.320
<v Speaker 2>It gets pulled out now by people across a wide

187
00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:35.840
<v Speaker 2>range of political positions attached to whatever they're worried about

188
00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:37.919
<v Speaker 2>in their own moment. And that's not a misuse of

189
00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:39.759
<v Speaker 2>the quote. That's actually what the quote was built to do.

190
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.279
<v Speaker 2>Carlan wasn't describing a specific political party. He was describing

191
00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:47.919
<v Speaker 2>the mechanism, the idea that authoritarianism doesn't need to look

192
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.679
<v Speaker 2>authoritarian if it can dress itself in comfort and branding

193
00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:56.279
<v Speaker 2>and a friendly logo instead. Hmm, that's a structural observation. Hm.

194
00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:59.399
<v Speaker 2>The great profit of our time. Then there's the bid

195
00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:01.639
<v Speaker 2>that almost never gets the credit it needs next to

196
00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:04.440
<v Speaker 2>the political stuff, because it's not really about the government,

197
00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:06.919
<v Speaker 2>it's about the planet. This one from Jammin in New York,

198
00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:10.960
<v Speaker 2>April nineteen ninety two, Paramount Theater inside Madison Square Garden.

199
00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:14.399
<v Speaker 2>Carland reportedly said that one was his personal favorite of

200
00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:17.559
<v Speaker 2>everything he ever did for HBO. George starts by going

201
00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:22.360
<v Speaker 2>after the language of environmentalism itself. Everybody's saying something now,

202
00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:24.480
<v Speaker 2>save the tree, save the bees, save the whales, save

203
00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:27.039
<v Speaker 2>the snails, and then, in his own words, the supreme arrogance,

204
00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.159
<v Speaker 2>save the planet. He says, we don't even know how

205
00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:30.919
<v Speaker 2>to take care of ourselves. We haven't learned how to

206
00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:32.600
<v Speaker 2>take care of each other, and we think we're going

207
00:10:32.679 --> 00:10:35.159
<v Speaker 2>to save the entire planet, and then the turn the

208
00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:37.600
<v Speaker 2>planet's fine. The people are the one who are finished.

209
00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:39.679
<v Speaker 2>The planet's four billion years old, he said, it isn't

210
00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:42.600
<v Speaker 2>going anywhere. We are pack your stuff, we're going away.

211
00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:46.000
<v Speaker 2>We won't even leave much of a trace. The bit

212
00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:49.039
<v Speaker 2>isn't really making a claim about climate change one way

213
00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:52.279
<v Speaker 2>or the other. It's making a claim about human arrogance,

214
00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:54.720
<v Speaker 2>the assumption that we are significant enough to destroy something

215
00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:58.279
<v Speaker 2>that's outlasted ice ages and asteroid impacts. It's aged in

216
00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:00.519
<v Speaker 2>a strange way because every time there's a wave or

217
00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:04.120
<v Speaker 2>wildfire season dominating headlines, someone resurfaces the clip and it

218
00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:06.559
<v Speaker 2>lands like he's narrating this week's news from thirty years

219
00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:09.559
<v Speaker 2>in the past. He wasn't predicting anything specific. He was

220
00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.639
<v Speaker 2>describing a posture, and the posture is still recognizable.

221
00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:15.879
<v Speaker 1>See, I'm not one of these people who's worried about everything.

222
00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:18.399
<v Speaker 1>You got people like this around you, Countries full of

223
00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:21.159
<v Speaker 1>them now, people walking around all day long, every minute

224
00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:25.440
<v Speaker 1>of the day, worried about everything, Worried about the air,

225
00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:29.679
<v Speaker 1>worried about the water, worried about the soil, worried about insecticides, pesticides,

226
00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:34.120
<v Speaker 1>food additives, carcinogens, worried about graydon gas, worried about asbestos,

227
00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:38.320
<v Speaker 1>worried about saving endangered species. Let me tell you about

228
00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:42.720
<v Speaker 1>endangered species, all right. Saving endangered species is just one

229
00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:48.200
<v Speaker 1>more arrogant attempt by humans to control nature. It's arrogant meddling.

230
00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:49.919
<v Speaker 1>It's what got us in trouble in the first place.

231
00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:55.000
<v Speaker 1>Doesn't anybody understand that interfering with nature? Over ninety percent,

232
00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:56.799
<v Speaker 1>over way over ninety.

233
00:11:56.600 --> 00:11:59.720
<v Speaker 3>Percent of all the species that have ever lived on

234
00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:05.320
<v Speaker 3>this line, that ever lived are gone. They're extinct. We

235
00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:06.679
<v Speaker 3>didn't kill them all.

236
00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:10.399
<v Speaker 2>What ties all those pieces together, the owner bit, the

237
00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.519
<v Speaker 2>fascism line, the planet bit, is that none of them

238
00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:15.919
<v Speaker 2>are about a specific event. That's the difference between material

239
00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.399
<v Speaker 2>that ages and material that doesn't. Jokes built around a

240
00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:22.200
<v Speaker 2>particular scandal, particular politician, a particular headline, those need a

241
00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:25.320
<v Speaker 2>footnote a few years later to even make sense. Carlin,

242
00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:28.360
<v Speaker 2>especially in his last decade, was mostly building arguments about

243
00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:30.519
<v Speaker 2>systems and habits of thought that don't get retired just

244
00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.399
<v Speaker 2>because the news cycle moves on now. Some people would

245
00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:35.919
<v Speaker 2>say Carlin himself would have mocked this framing. Not every

246
00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.039
<v Speaker 2>bit in his catalog is aged the same way. Some

247
00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:40.279
<v Speaker 2>of the broader targets from early in his career land

248
00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:42.200
<v Speaker 2>differently now than they did in the room at the time,

249
00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:44.799
<v Speaker 2>the way almost any comedian's full body of work as

250
00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:47.080
<v Speaker 2>a material that was much of the time. He was

251
00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:50.080
<v Speaker 2>a comedian who, over five decades got progressively sharper and

252
00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:53.679
<v Speaker 2>angrier and more precise about one specific question, Who actually

253
00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:56.000
<v Speaker 2>holds power and what does it cost regular people that

254
00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:59.960
<v Speaker 2>they mostly don't notice. He spent his final specials narrowing

255
00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:02.200
<v Speaker 2>in on that question with more focus than almost anyone

256
00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:04.679
<v Speaker 2>else working in the format, and he answered it carefully

257
00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:07.080
<v Speaker 2>enough and meant it specifically enough that the answer has

258
00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:10.639
<v Speaker 2>not needed an update. That is the case for calling

259
00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:12.200
<v Speaker 2>him a profit. There has nothing to do with the

260
00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:15.399
<v Speaker 2>seven words, nothing to do with hippie, dippy weatherman George Carlin,

261
00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:18.759
<v Speaker 2>America's prophet. Enjoy your Independence Day. Hope you have an

262
00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:20.679
<v Speaker 2>awesome weekend. See you tomorrow.