“It's the old American double standard.Say one thing, do something different. And, of course, the country is founded on the double standard. That's our history. This country was founded on a very basic double standard. This country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free…”[laughter and applause]~George Carlin, from ‘What Am I Doing in New Jersey?’ (TV Special 1988)
I was sad to read of George Carlin's death on the New York Times website today.
Maybe I'm just a bit slow about these things but I only really discovered Carlin after I moved to the States. (Then, of course, it was a slap hand on the head moment: 'Hey, that's the old bloke from 'Dogma'.)
As a New York City native, the coverage of Carlin's sudden death has been covered respectfully across the local media, but of course they can't really show any clips of his brilliant stand up on mainstream TV. Shame that, 'cos he was one of most perceptive critics of modern society out there.
Therefore, there's no apologies on my part for posting this clip once again on the blog. One of funniest pieces of political knockabout I ever seen. I love the rhythm of his speech whilst he's doing his riff on the American Dream.
Why use a bludgeon, when you can use a stiletto?
