Goodbye, George
For the life of me, I cannot remember the year. I wish I could, but it was several years ago when I still lived in Michigan. My brother D called. George Carlin was coming to town. Did we want tickets?
George Carlin in Flint? I couldn't believe it. As far as I could tell, he wouldn't perform anywhere closer, so I said yes. It's George Carlin. How can you say "no" to George Carlin tickets?
Some of you, maybe many of you don't, know my brother D is in a wheelchair due to a motorcycle accident. He has been that way for many years; well-adjusted to his life by the time of the concert. In fact, he was on (and still is) wife number two and building their new home. Today, he works at our childhood comic book shop happily (I am so envious still).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=h67k9eEw9AY
George did this routine at the concert. If you watch, about half way through, you'll find the spot that caused me to feel like the only white person at a Chris Rock concert.
"And some of this stuff is just silly, we all know that, like on the airlines, they say want to pre- board. Well, what the hell is pre-board, what does that mean? To get on before you get on? They say they're going to pre-board those passengers in need of special assistance. Cripples! Simple honest direct language. There is no shame attached to the word cripple that I can find in any dictionary. No shame attached to it, in fact it's a word used in bible translations. Jesus healed the cripples. Doesn't take seven words to describe that condition. But we don't have any cripples in this country anymore. We have the physically challenged. Is that a grotesque enough evasion for you? How about differently-abled. I've heard them called that. Differently-abled! You can't even call these people handicapped anymore. They'll say, 'Were not handicapped. Were handicapable!' These poor people have been bullshitted by the system into believing that if you change the name of the condition, somehow you'll change the condition. Well, hey cousin, ppsssspptttttt. Doesn't happen. Doesn't happen.
We have no more deaf people in this country, hearing impaired. No ones blind anymore, partially sighted or visually impaired. We have no more stupid people. Everyone has a learning disorder...or he's minimally exceptional. How would you like to be told that about your child? 'He's minimally exceptional.' 'Oohh, thank god for that.' Psychologists actually have started calling ugly people, those with severe appearance deficits. It's getting so bad, that any day now I expect to hear a rape victim referred to as an unwilling sperm recipient.”
One the word "handicapable" came out of his mouth, I relaxed. My brother hated that word as much as George. In fact, I looked over at him to make sure he wasn’t laughing himself out of his chair.
Pretty damn close. He had tears. While I'm sure he didn't need it, somehow George saying it validated his stance. He felt better about it. Hey, George Carlin agreed with him. Who could argue that?
So, thank you, George Carlin, for that. Thank you for always challenging, mixing things up, pushing buttons and speaking your mind. Thank you for always over-coming your fear and pushing ahead. Thank you for making me laugh and think. Thank you for inspiring so many other wonderful comedians.
Thank you.
George Carlin in Flint? I couldn't believe it. As far as I could tell, he wouldn't perform anywhere closer, so I said yes. It's George Carlin. How can you say "no" to George Carlin tickets?
Some of you, maybe many of you don't, know my brother D is in a wheelchair due to a motorcycle accident. He has been that way for many years; well-adjusted to his life by the time of the concert. In fact, he was on (and still is) wife number two and building their new home. Today, he works at our childhood comic book shop happily (I am so envious still).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=h67k9eEw9AY
George did this routine at the concert. If you watch, about half way through, you'll find the spot that caused me to feel like the only white person at a Chris Rock concert.
"And some of this stuff is just silly, we all know that, like on the airlines, they say want to pre- board. Well, what the hell is pre-board, what does that mean? To get on before you get on? They say they're going to pre-board those passengers in need of special assistance. Cripples! Simple honest direct language. There is no shame attached to the word cripple that I can find in any dictionary. No shame attached to it, in fact it's a word used in bible translations. Jesus healed the cripples. Doesn't take seven words to describe that condition. But we don't have any cripples in this country anymore. We have the physically challenged. Is that a grotesque enough evasion for you? How about differently-abled. I've heard them called that. Differently-abled! You can't even call these people handicapped anymore. They'll say, 'Were not handicapped. Were handicapable!' These poor people have been bullshitted by the system into believing that if you change the name of the condition, somehow you'll change the condition. Well, hey cousin, ppsssspptttttt. Doesn't happen. Doesn't happen.
We have no more deaf people in this country, hearing impaired. No ones blind anymore, partially sighted or visually impaired. We have no more stupid people. Everyone has a learning disorder...or he's minimally exceptional. How would you like to be told that about your child? 'He's minimally exceptional.' 'Oohh, thank god for that.' Psychologists actually have started calling ugly people, those with severe appearance deficits. It's getting so bad, that any day now I expect to hear a rape victim referred to as an unwilling sperm recipient.”
One the word "handicapable" came out of his mouth, I relaxed. My brother hated that word as much as George. In fact, I looked over at him to make sure he wasn’t laughing himself out of his chair.
Pretty damn close. He had tears. While I'm sure he didn't need it, somehow George saying it validated his stance. He felt better about it. Hey, George Carlin agreed with him. Who could argue that?
So, thank you, George Carlin, for that. Thank you for always challenging, mixing things up, pushing buttons and speaking your mind. Thank you for always over-coming your fear and pushing ahead. Thank you for making me laugh and think. Thank you for inspiring so many other wonderful comedians.
Thank you.