mhague@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Carlin’s entire schtick was anti-intellectual platitudinous. He reminds me of Trump with a sense of humor. I can see why people consider him a genius though; He says what we think!
mhague@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Carlin’s entire schtick was anti-intellectual platitudinous. He reminds me of Trump with a sense of humor. I can see why people consider him a genius though; He says what we think!
Donkter@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Which jokes of his are anti-intellectual?
mhague@lemmy.world 8 months ago
For starters, his famous “think of how dumb the average person is, half of people are dumber than that.”
Only a small percent of people would be perceptibly below average. Like single digits. It’s circlejerk humor.
GrundlButter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
I’m absolutely loving the irony of someone calling George Carlins comedy anti intellectual, using a math joke as evidence, and completely missing the joke. 🤯
The joke isnt about people being perceptibly below average, or it’s not just about that, it’s a fucking math joke. That’s how averages work, not medians. In a scenario where the average IQ were 200, and half the world was 199.999, and the other half was 200.001, half the people would be dumber than average.
mhague@lemmy.world 8 months ago
In a scenario where the average IQ is 200? Do you understand what you’re talking about? You realize that the majority of people are exactly average, right? No? Then I guess Carlin is for you.
Pretzilla@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s not though. But I like your take on it, except you butchered it lol
MrPoopyButthole@lemm.ee 8 months ago
I don’t think he was trying to make literal statements with things like that. Yes, he used sociopolitical commentary as his medium, but he was still a comedian.
He’s not trying to convince his audience that everybody is stupid, he’s speaking to a feeling most of us have had when looking at what others are doing. Everyone sometimes feels like like everybody around them must be stupid, just like we all sometimes feel like we’re the only one missing something.
He’s beloved because most really talented comedians can derive humor from relatable or absurd situations and stories, but Carlin could make a rhythm linking broad abstract concepts of human experience to really specific examples.
He’s not a god, he was just a really talented comedian that had a unique style and medium.
Pretzilla@lemmy.world 8 months ago
On your last point I disagree - he was and is my personal savior
Donkter@lemmy.world 8 months ago
But how is that anti-intellectual? Maybe it’s literally saying most people aren’t intellects? But taking the literal interpretation of this joke misses the joke as the other guy pointed out.
mhague@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m not reading into it literally, that’s the point. On the surface, Carlin “tells it like it is.” He says things that the people agree with.
You know what? Just look at the praise for Carlin. You’ll see things like “genius” and “prophet” or “brilliant insight.”
Then look at people criticizing him like me. Suddenly people defend his character by pointing out he’s just a comedian, it’s just jokes, judge him as a comedian, it’s not serious, etc.
He’s the Trump of his domain.