The Hidden Innards Of The American Dream
"Life Is Worth Losing"
George Carlin
"You Have NO Choice," A New Frame For George Carlin's Classic Shtick "The American Dream"
Alan: A fundament of George Carlin's thought - perhaps the cornerstone of his thought - is that, over time, responsible citizenship eroded and eventually was supplanted by (capitalist) consumerism.
When the United States crossed that threshold, citizens suddenly became "consumer units" unrecognizable as citizens.
Of a sudden, we became thralls of the economic system, not vital participants in the political system.
Here we are, decades later, not so much a "nation of sheep" as a "nation of Pavlovian dogs", although the latter presumes the former.
Consciousness -- however rudimentary it may have been before this sea change -- was conscious enough to realize that "The 1%" (not yet called "The 1%") was essentially hostile to the interests of "the working class," and by extension hostile to Americans in the main.
By the very nature of the beast, there was an intrinsic conflict between over-the-top rich people - and all the rest, especially "the poor."
As a result of this self-evident bifurcation of economic and policical interests, "poor people" knew - in their bones - that labor unions (and other forms of "class action") were indispensable if there were to be ANY hope of controlling the irrepressible urge of "The 1%" to sequester all wealth, and now the entire political process is hurtling headlong into plutocratic fascism.
I realize this bald statement seems outrageous - impossible on the face of it.
But it is substantively true.
The "dream" of ultra-rich, planet-destroying Capitalism is to make all production automatic, and then, in effect, to "snuff" (or at least "cancel") everyone else.
Whether this yearning to eliminate "everyone else" takes place as a "Final Solution" exterminative event - or as gradual mass sterilization - is inconsequential to "The Filthy Rich" - "The Ungodly Rich."
Make no mistake.
They want it all.
Athough the boom/bust cycles that lie at the heart of Cowboy Capitalism pretty much ensure sufficient social upheaval to create epochal revolutions, for now The Dream that "my number is about to be a winner" endures.
Of course, if God is Love, then - regardless what's going on "up there" - it's up to us to bring Love into our lives, and in that creative act -- and according to St. John himself -- God certainly exists.
Then and there.
And always, if you make it so.
But we are all conditioned consumers, and so we passionate that there must be an objective God "over there," a God who can provide us with stuff... passive recipients that we are.
We want to be filled up - completely satisfied by outside agency, by outside intervention.
(I suspect that we will realize, upon arrival at The Pearly Gates that if we can't be happy by embracing a our enemies, there ain't no God who can MAKE us happy.
Happiness is an activity.
Remember.
God is Love
And Love is real.
But it's up to us whether we love.
Or not.
It's an activity.
You do it.
Or you don't.
The only unforgiveable sin is not loving.
If you're not loving, there will not be love in your life.
You put love into your life by loving.
Buckminster Fuller said: "I seem to be a verb."
And doing love -- "making" love -- is "the activity" that The Wise worship.
It's not unlike music.
You can hear the music "over there."
And it's quite lovely.
But when you make the music -- when it comes out of you -- you enter into the Divine Milieu.
You enter into the presence of God.
By making love -- by making music -- you become enthusiastic,
which is to say you enter "en theos" - you enter "into God."
Etymology of Enthusiasm
https://www.etymonline.com/word/enthusiasm
George Carlin On Some Cultural Issues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLuZjpxmsZQ
George Carlin
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin
George Carlin
Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Carlin
George Carlin
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin
George Carlin
Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Carlin
George Carlin Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CewUVZZMXT8
George Carlin's Last Interview
3 hour interview
2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8a7cUDJEtU
Unmasked With George Carlin
2 hour interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-clvDxl8qI
George Carlin's Hour-Long Address
To The National Press Club
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc0ZHsoHAlE&t=1036s
George Carlin's Last Interview
3 hour interview
2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8a7cUDJEtU
Unmasked With George Carlin
2 hour interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-clvDxl8qI
George Carlin's Hour-Long Address
To The National Press Club
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc0ZHsoHAlE&t=1036s
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