Toward Democracy

Seven Words You Can Never Say....

"It's a big club, and you ain't in it."

In the July 14 issue of The Nation magazine, John Nichols recalled George Carlin’s 1972 performance that landed him in a Milwaukee jail for reciting ‘the seven words you can never say on television.

As Nichols put it, he “understood that words could never be so obscene as wars, poverty and injustice. To the end Carlin, who died June 22 at 71, challenged a corrupt status quo and its perversions of language.  Countering George Bush’s claim that his ‘war on terror’ was a battle for freedom, Carlin asked, ‘Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?’ “

In one of his rants, Carlin said, “The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions....The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice.  You have no choice.  You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies, so that they control just about all of the news and information you hear. They’ve got you by the balls.”

In a fitting eulogy for the irrepressible and irreplaceable George Carlin, Nichols ends with the following:

“The pundits say there is no audience for the old school populism of William Jennings Bryan or even a Franklin Roosevelt.  Carlin proved them wrong, preaching American radicalism with punch lines every night before crowds that cheered (and laughed) as he struck mighty blows against the empire.”

But George Carlin deserves the last word: “They'll get it all, sooner or later, because they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club."