kevin p. siu

Not too long ago, the great satirical comedian George Carlin died of a heart attack at the age of 71. If there was a God, he would either be rotting in hell (if conservative fundamentalist Christians are right about the world), or finally enjoying his peaceful slumber away from “this messed up place” we call Earth.

To describe George Carlin merely as a stand-up comedian would be an insult to his memory. George Carlin was a man who, despite not completing his high school education, pushed the bounds of human morality. He is much better described as a modern philosopher. His satirical acts became known not only for their black humour (he was undoubtedly the greatest at it), but also for their seething accuracy in describing the decaying human condition.

Carlin was a fearless commentator, attacking everything that he deemed morally unjust and incorrect. This included religion (and the ten commandments), excessive consumption, obesity, politicians, education, death, the english language, and of course, censorship.

With Carlin’s death, we lost not a Great Comedian, but we lost our greatest modern philosopher, and most fearless social commentator. Nobody before or since has ever taken apart our world so eloquently, shattering our daily illusions of comfort and safety. His musings on our lives will be missed, for there is no one more capable of telling the masses ‘the world as it is’, without any political bullshit and big media bias.

He never caved in to political or media pressure. When his most famous (but probably not his best) act, “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television” was unleashed into the public, he was instantly put under siege by the politicians, the media, and the conservatives. Carlin, though, never backed off. Defying arrests, lawsuits, and censorship, he continued his act, improving it even as the lawsuits mounted. He spent nearly his entire career telling the world that the ‘big establishment’ of politicians, corporations, and the media were all screwing with his country. He did a great deed in giving the people a voice of dissent and common sense amidst a sea of political correctness and corruption.

Now Carlin’s gone, and there is nobody left qualified to take his place, taking it to the media as he did so often. He did what any honest man would do – stand up for his rights, speak up when there’s nobody else to do it, and never be afraid of the government, the corporations, and the media.

Carlin’s great work was perhaps never appreciated by a great deal of people (now is as good a time as any to start), but everyone he reached understood where he came from. In a world where high school students are being censored, politicians are being bought out, the economy collapsing, and where the rich get richer while the poor get poorer, Carlin’s ideas are as accurate now as they were when he first spoke of them.

On a week when the American Senate passed a bill declaring immunity for telephone conglomerates who spied on its customers because the White House said so (without warrants), we should all take a page from Carlin, and let the world know what we think.