Thank you George

Or how I miss the whimsical beauty of George Carlin

I don’t usually write anything for Substack at the weekends. I like to give myself some time off. But I felt a prescient urge today. A deep catharsis at expressing my words to expunge my emotions.

One of my favourite comedians of all time is George Carlin. He had a capacity to speak authentically and intelligently about the state of the world through both insightful and philosophical observation.

I write this because I came across a two part documentary about him on some on-demand media service this evening. In a lot of ways I can relate to Carlin. He was a deep lover of the individual but horrified by the group-mind. In the eyes of an individual, he says, you can witness the entire Universe reflected in their eyes if you look hard enough. If you get them together in groups they end up wearing hats and persecuting those that are different.

The first part of the documentary I was in awe. Here’s a man who is anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian. Who exists outside the boundaries of convention, and who made choices in his career that were of detriment to his material wealth but that elevated himself as both an artist and a human being.

He wasn’t afraid to push back against the status quo. To question and challenge and to make people think.

Here was a man, like Vonnegut and Kerouac, an outsider that peered inwards at the incredible mess we were creating for ourselves and allowing to be and providing a concrete alternative. Who talked about stepping back from self-centred hedonism and embracing unequivocal kindness. I have such respect for that, and in a way I can deeply relate to it. Sitting out in the Oort Cloud looking in, hoping for the best yet nihilistically expecting the worst.

This man wasn’t bitter or cynical. He was a disappointed optimist with a ferocity and vigour that enabled him to be himself without concern for consequence, not caring if 3,000 people were in the audience or only 3. What was important was that he expressed himself, authentically, and if he changed only one mind through his words, then that was enough.

The second part of the documentary, I found myself in tears. Properly and surprisingly weeping as they exposed his intent and his desires to demonstrate the truth to those that would listen. Unabashedly unafraid and deeply tyrannical in his execution. A man that struggled with his own trauma and his ability to deal with the pain in his own life, yet who still remained loyal and wonderful to the people that mattered most to him.

Again, an aspect I can relate to.

Like all good ex-smokers, I have an emergency box in the kitchen drawer that I bring out when the emotions are tough and I’m struggling with my individual existentialism. In fact, this might be going out at 8am on a Sunday morning, but it’s actually 2am and I’ve just taken an hour to process my experiences from watching it, smoke some rum, and drink some cigarettes.

Today, unlike the Romans or Greeks or the thinkers of the Renaissance, we have so few philosophers. Instead, the philosophers of the modern age are comedians. People that, through satire and wit and powerful intellect, enable us to step outside of the norm and, for the briefest of moments, question the nature and absurdity of the world we’re living in.

Fuck authority. Fuck the government. Fuck optimism. Fuck nihilism. Fuck real politik. Fuck Nietzsche and Marx and Capitalism. Fuck despondency. Fuck progression. Fuck Musk and Bezos and Putin and Trump. Fuck me and my perpetual proclivity to be an emotionally-armoured, wannabe-intellectual, self-destructive, meat-sack trauma puppet. And fuck you.

I don’t mean that. I love you. I just question sometimes whether I love myself. All I can hope, and all I strive for, is to be as authentic and empathic and insightful and beautiful as this human being was.

What I love most about him is how he embraces his imperfections. I wish more of us, myself included, could do that.

Take a moment to revel in this man’s artistic brilliance. Thank you George. It’s very rare that I miss someone I’ve never met, but I deeply miss your perspective and your insights.

Much love
David

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