Here's an e-mail we received from a reader and colleague, Gines Pasamonte.
Since it's a moving tribute to George Carlin -- who died last night at the age of 71 -- we thought we'd share Pasamonte's observations with you.
UNREFORMED AND UNREPENTANT
by: Gines Pasamonte
Comedian, Author, Actor, Pest, New Yorker, Defender of the First Amendment, Class Clown, American.
Today we mourn the passing of George Carlin , who was able to make people think while making them laugh for 45 years.
It's because people like George Carlin can thrive, that the U.S. is such a great country and not Zimbabwe or Myanmar. Our governments can try to tell us what to do, but we can turn around and say "K*** my A**.
George Carlin , like Hunter Thompson, Evel Knievel and Joe Strummer, embodied a certain attitude and world view that is sadly lacking today. That is the attitude that looks at hypocrisy, corruption and lies and says --- "F*** Y**."
We have been anesthetized as a nation. 999 cable channels try to outdo each other in inanity, each with their version of "Project Runway?" Kids stay home, play with their Wiis, PS3s, DSes and get fat. Gas costs $4.33 a gallon and nobody gets pissed off?
Our freedoms erode and our "political leaders" sit around with heir thumbs up their collective asses --- the phone company can now give the government records of your internet browsing if the FBI sends them a letter saying you are a suspected "terrorist." Etc., etc, etc.
Change a couple of words in the dialog, put bigger, flatter TV sets in people's living rooms, and this scene could have been filmed yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dib2-HBsF08&feature=related
George Carlin 's art was that he could express all this and make people laugh. Not once, but thousands of times.
Party on dude!
