Poignant thoughts late in the night...

[fencerm2]

I have been pondering this fascinating take on the concept of Morality, and felt compelled to share it:

"I don't think there's really such a thing as morality.  I think it's a human construct designed to facilitate the control of people.  Values, ethics, legal standards - all of these are human-generated, and they're lumped under some vague idea called morality.  But suppose humans got it wrong?  Suppose there's no actual, objective morality?  Suppose there's just a natural, worldly, secular, common-sense standard of behavior whose purpose is what's best for getting along and what's best for survival?  That would be a good system.  Why should a system like that be overlaid with a sense of spooky, mystical, judgmental oversight?"

Whose words?  This came from, of all places, George Carlin, and his most recent book, When will Jesus bring the Pork Chops? 

Not the expected source of such a statement, but then, as evidenced by his plans for the next HBO special (I saw him live recently, and he was trying out his new stuff on the audience in preparation) he prefers to preach about his personal take on politics, religion, underdogs, and so forth, rather than make us laugh til we're in tears. 

That aside...I found the above quote to really resonate with my own views on this topic.  So I had to share.

Ok, it's late...going to bed now.

Comments

CARLIN - CARLIN - CARLIN!!!

[chrystie69.livejournal.com]

I knew after the first sentence it was Carlin without having to read the rest, this was one of the portions of When will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? that he read during the reading I went to in Boston last year! He was great!

One of my favorite interviews was with Carlin when he was doing a stand up college tour and was at Potsdam College, I interviewed him for the two college papers in town. He even recognized me when I was getting my books signed at the reading last year.

I love being in Carlin's prep audiences and then watching the HBO special after he's polished it up, it is fun to see how he changes things and how much he stays the same.

Ok scarey thing, but in my family Carlinism is our Religion/Politics. Carlin is the only thing that all 27, yes I said 27, of us can agree on! We're all different religious faiths and political ideals but my baby sister pointed out that the one and only thing we all agree on is Carlin. So she declared the family religion and political affiliation is "Carlinism". And yes George knows this and finds it hysterical that 4 generations of a family agree with him ;) Also that my family named a cat after one of his jokes...