{"id":900,"date":"2018-09-07T13:19:47","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T13:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/?p=900"},"modified":"2021-07-05T17:54:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T17:54:50","slug":"fuck-hope-george-carlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/2018\/09\/07\/fuck-hope-george-carlin\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Fuck Hope&#8221; &#8212;  George Carlin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Below is George Carlin&#8217;s reading of the preface to his book <em>Brain Droppings<\/em>, 1997.\u00a0 Further below is the transcript. At the bottom, Carlin reads his whole book.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4W9Cs6KPTus\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>For a long time my stand up material has drawn from three sources.\u00a0 The first is the English language. You know, words, phrases, sayings &#8212; and the ways we speak. The second source &#8212; as with most comedians &#8212; has been what I think of as the &#8220;little world,&#8221; those things we all experience every day: driving, food, pets, relationships, and idle thoughts. The third area is, what I call, the &#8220;big world&#8221;: war, politics, race, death &#8212; the social issues.<\/p>\n<p>So, without actually having measured, I would say this book reflects the balance rather closely. Now the first two areas in the book will speak for themselves. But concerning the big world, let me say a few things.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m happy to tell you that there\u2019s little in this world that I believe in. Listening to the comedians who comment on political, social, and cultural issues, I notice that most of their material reflects kind of an underlying belief that somehow things were better once, and with just a little effort we could set them right again. They\u2019re looking for solutions and rooting for particular results, and I think that limits the tone and substance of what they say. They\u2019re talented and funny people but they\u2019re really nothing more than cheerleaders attached to a specific wished-for outcome.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t feel so confined.<\/p>\n<p>I frankly don\u2019t give a fuck how it all turns out in this country or anywhere else for that matter. I think the human game was up a long time ago when the high priests and traders took over, and now we\u2019re just playing out the string.\u00a0 And that is, of course, precisely what I find so amusing! The slow circling of the drain by a once promising species and the sappy ever more desperate belief in this country that there is actually some sort of an \u2018American Dream\u2019 which has merely been misplaced.<\/p>\n<p>The decay and disintegration of this culture is astonishingly amusing if you\u2019re emotionally detached from it.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve always viewed it from a safe distance, knowing I don\u2019t belong. Doesn\u2019t include me, it never has. No matter how you care to define it, I do not identify with the local group, planet, species, race, nation, state, religion, party, union, club, association, neighborhood-improvement committee. I have no interest in any of it.<\/p>\n<p>I love and treasure individuals as I meet them, I loathe and despise the groups they identify with and belong to.<\/p>\n<p>So if you hear something in this book that sounds like advocacy of a particular political point of view, please reject the notion. My interest in issues is merely to point out how badly we\u2019re doing, not to suggest a way we might do better.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t confuse me with those who cling to hope. I enjoy describing how things are, I have no interest in how they ought to be. And I certainly have no interest in fixing them. I sincerely believe that if you think there\u2019s a solution, you\u2019re part of the problem.<\/p>\n<p>My motto: Fuck Hope.<\/p>\n<p>P.S. In case you\u2019re wondering, personally I\u2019m a joyful individual, I had a long happy marriage and a close and loving family, my career has turned out better than I ever dreamed, and it continues to expand. I\u2019m a personal optimist, but a skeptic about all else. What may sound to some like anger, is really nothing more than sympathetic contempt. I view my species with a combination of wonder and pity, and I root for its destruction. And please don\u2019t confuse my point of view with cynicism\u2013the real cynics are the ones who tell you everything\u2019s gonna be all right.<\/p>\n<p>And P.P.S., by the way, if by some chance you folks do manage to straighten things out and make everything better, I still don\u2019t wish to be included.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Uf2QgFqOwsc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Below is George Carlin&#8217;s reading of the preface to his book Brain Droppings, 1997.\u00a0 Further below is the transcript. At the bottom, Carlin reads his whole book. For a long time my stand up material has drawn from three sources.\u00a0 The first is the English language. You know, words, phrases, sayings &#8212; and the ways &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/2018\/09\/07\/fuck-hope-george-carlin\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8220;Fuck Hope&#8221; &#8212;  George Carlin&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bullshit-beliefs","category-predictions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":912,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions\/912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}