George Carlin

On Sunday, of course, the legendary George Carlin died at the age of 71. I loved George Carlin. He made swearing a revolutionary act. As soon as any of the myriad of obituaries, both in print and on television mentioned the "Seven Words You Can't Say on Television" any inquisitive mind immediatel wanted to know what those words are. Here they are:

1. Shit
2. Piss
3. Fuck
4. Cunt
5. Cocksucker
6. Motherfucker; and
7. Tits

(My favorite, I think, is Fuck. It's certainly the one I use the most, though cocksucker has a nice ring to it)

I can''t explain our use of language any more than Carlin could. But a good comic, and Carlin was a great comic, takes our silliness, our idosyncracies, our hypocrisies and throws them right back into our faces, showing how stupid and irrational and petty we can be. Carlin's brilliance was working with our linguistic follies, and he did this with such a musical precision that we would laugh and thank him for it. Like any good comic, Carlin was a social critic extraordinaire.

However, if you watch a progression of his commentary you are bound to notice that the lightness of the critique, the playfulness exuded in his facial contortions gradually descends into the deep dark world of bitterness that comes from a critic who not only delights in making the critique, but demands to be heard and heeded. The world never got better, not in any real way, and the most recent clips of Carlin betray his profound disgust at our inability to recognize what he recognizes. The joyful spirit of the critic too often gives way to the deep depression of the would be prophet. This must be guarded against for any would be critics.