I remember my disappointment in George Carlin’s final album “It’s Bad For Ya”. It was mostly funny, but he had a bit on “natural rights” that rubbed me the wrong way (it’s still hilarious though).
That was awesome.
With Carlin, you have to remember it is an intricate web of satire and wisdom - I don’t disagree with any of the thoughts he exresses in that segment.
Clayton -
The only thing I didn’t like is equating “rights” to “privileges” (and the bit about the “right to own a gun so you can kill your girlfriend’s parents”). Other than that, it’s awesome.
That’s the thing that gets me. These people are voting on what to impose on me. Why should someone else get to vote for force used against me? It’s also why it’s absurd when they tell me that I should vote or else I’m wasting it and can’t complain. So you want me to take part in a process where everyone throws in their opinion, and the most common one then gets imposed on me? Why is this even put to vote? I should be the lone voter on what is imposed on me, because it doesn’t impact anyone else. Likewise for every other individual in this country. I want to cast my vote for freedom, but that’s not an option on the ballot, and the very process is one of servitude. If I took part in that, I would be voting for servitude, and just sharing my opinion on what kind I’d like to see them impose. When people criticize me, it shows how much of a sham their claims of acceptance of difference of people. Yeah, you accept difference as long as everyone goes along with your idea of using force on everyone, of using a broken process for deciding what gets imposed on an individual. When someone has a different view (someone who believe it or not respects your view and even respects you going out to the polls and voting) you put them down, you dismiss them without even thinking about what they are saying. You turn into rabid sports fans around election time, and forget about all these things you proclaim to care about.
And this video is great. It really fires me up (in a good way). I’m not going to take the lame bullshit arguments from voters putting me down. It really is clear to me now, when someone says they voted for so-and-so, I can come back and ask why the hell they did that. Look at what they’re doing. YOU voted for this guy. What, you’re saying that you didn’t know he would do this? Give me a break! Look at what every one before him has done. You can’t tell me this was unexpected. What, you had to vote for someone? No you didn’t! You went in and said, “I want this guy presiding over the country.” That’s what your vote means. So I’m holding you responsible for what this guy is doing now (along with everyone else who voted for him). You have no excuse for voting if you didn’t really believe in it. It’s people like you who just go along with things that support it. That doesn’t absolve you from complicity.
I agree with your focus. But I think that if you can open people’s minds to seeing the state as a double standard, then it is easier for them to work for change locally.