Remembering George Carlin

As you know, comedian George Carlin died this past week. I would use the more sensitive "passed away," but Carlin would probably only despise the pretentious euphemism. Carlin was not only an important social critic, he was more specifically a student of rhetoric. So much of his humor centered on the absurdity of social symbols as well as their potentially destructive force. Sometimes this was set in a playful context, such as pointing out the differences between football and baseball jargon. At other times, his observations of public rhetoric were used to explain the atrocities of American foreign policy. Most recently, Carlin told us, "Fuck Lance Armstrong . . . and fuck Tiger Woods. I'm tired of being told who to admire in this country." This was not so much an attack on the athletes as it was an attack on the mindless approval and admiration of public figures he was rightfully afraid of. One might find it odd that Carlin did not think of himself and as a political comedian. While Carlin's humor may not have been as explicitly political as someone like Bill Maher, his humor was in a sense even more political or at least richer. He didn't so much criticize public policy as he did the discursive relations (though he would never use such an academic term) that produced those policies in the first place. I do not think I'm exaggerating when I call his observational humor a master class in contemporary rhetoric and popular/political (distinction?) culture. So in the wake of Carlin's death I encourage you to take advantage of all his footage being shown on TV. The first ten minutes of Jammin in New York will not only have you in stitches but also show Carlin at his most political, criticizing the Gulf War (the first one, the one that wasn't popular to question). But even when Carlin was doing airplane humor, which he spent the next twenty minutes doing, he was original and poignant, exposing the absurd language and other social symbols used to exert power, in this case, that of airlines. Carlin didn't limit his scathing observations to the government, probably because that would be the most obvious place to look. And Carlin didn't point out the obvious, but rather those things he made embarrassingly obvious for us to see.

So in the spirit of this stimulating and oddly inspiring social critic, Fuck George Carlin. Now, more than ever, we need more people like him.