The 21st Century's Greatest Philosopher
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=5227398&page=1
I can never say "R.I.P." because how can being dead be a rest?
How do we know?
There might be an imaginative afterlife of some cosmic sort, or death might be simply nothingness, oblivion and decomposition (which makes the most sense, by logic and by science) ...or it might be everything we've been force-fed taught by religions.
We can only hope it's a good thing. But we cannot KNOW. We simply CANNOT.
So you can say, or even believe, whatever puts a band-aid on it for you ~
but myself, I can't help but feel like a damned fool saying "passed away" or "rest in peace."
This is right in line with what George Carlin used to tell us.
Used to.
Shit.
Being hit with the news first thing this morning threw me for a loop.
I'm still not in a cyber-responsive mood right now, I'm sorry.
As some of you may have learned about me, Death doesn't make me sad ~ it angers me so much I cannot think or function well. I cannot grieve; I merely flail about until time dulls it down. The unfairness of it all is ridiculous. Ridiculous.
I can't even watch the news. I've got the TV's off.
However, I won't be missing Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Craig Ferguson later tonight.
So, I'll try to get back on track later and talk back to you guys when my mind settles down. Yeah, no doubt I will be able to appreciate the satire and spoofs that are bound to appear. When all is said and done, there's no subject more ripe for humor than old Mr. Reaper and the big kakkeroo.
Yeah, GC was full of observations concerning human trivia (fart jokes) and such ~ but I can't call everything that he dispensed ~ mere comedy. In the footsteps of his mentor, Lenny Bruce (yes, they knew each other!), he "snuck" what he perceived as raw truth in there. He carried on where Lenny left off, and far, far exceeded his brilliance, IMHO. Carlin and Bruce weren't cynics ~ they were realists.
When it comes to what to believe and feel about life, I feel like I'm riding in the same mental vehicle. I have come to realize that my own views on humanity, our existence, etc. have been developed based upon the philosophies of Carlin ~ he simply made the most sense to me, and expressed it flawlessly.
I like to think the private, iconoclastic Brian would have been able to appreciate him, too. :)
"George Carlin was The Beatles of stand-up comedy.
His influence can be felt in every stand-up comedian today.
His jokes were the first act I ever learned.
I would spend recess performing it for all my friends."
~ Bill Hader of SNL
"The world has lost a genius;
the world has lost a mensch."
~ Richard Pryor's writer Paul Mooney