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George Carlin would have a field day over this "softening" business. The person that coined the term softening needs to have their brains softened with a mallet.

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i think he makes a great point in regards to jokes being well thought out in regards to controversial or potentially offensive joke material.

the really good comedians are the ones who can take a sensitive subject and portray it in a way that makes us reflect on the absurdity of our lives.holding a mirror up so we can all have a good laugh at our own contradictory nature.

carlin was a master at making us laugh at our own self-absorbtion.
bill burr has some his best material about domestic violence.
patrive o'neal makes misogyny hilarious.
doug stanhope revealing the absurdity of nationalism and pride in things we never had a part in.

a good comedian makes us laugh with jokes.
a great comedian makes us laugh at ourselves.

Frankie Boyle floated this old bit of George Carlin about politicians' use of language: https://youtu.be/Pc0ZHsoHAlE?t=10m32s

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I know this is what he and a lot of others want to think, but for most of his examples, just like his example of stupidity vs learning disability, there are actual and reasonable grounds for the name changes. PTSD vs shell-shocked, for example, isn't a case of trying to be 'less offensive' - shell shock was an informal term coined by soldiers to describe a range of experiences and symptoms, and combat stress syndrome, PTSD, etc, were developed by professionals who wanted to make an actual diagnosis (to me, shell shock sounds a lot less harmful than PTSD, because I'm not 80 years old). It's a case of people with more expertise and knowledge than Carlin trying to create concepts that are actually useful. You could call it 'murder crazy' if you want to be 'raw' but that doesn't get us anywhere. This is the problem with Carlin's thesis - he brings in terms that he doesn't understand, describing situations that don't affect him directly, and tries to cram it into some 'old white man post-relevance get off my lawn syndrome' (OWMPGOMLS).

I know that a lot of people agree with what they see as his underlying point. I'm just saying that his examples here don't support that point.

Let's remember he's a comedian, it's pretty facile to overlook the fact that he has to be both entertaining and funny regardless of the message he wants to get across. It is extremely difficult to be funny enough to attract widespread popularity as a comedian and at the same time exhaustively cover a nuanced topic to deliver the most devastatingly convincing points.

I know it's that difficult because no one can do it. Ricky Gervais tries to do it sometimes but he either sacrifices the comedy in lieu of the message or vice versa. Who is to say if he would be as popular as he is now if he didn't do that?

So then is it better to make the perfect point to a smaller number of people, or to make a point to a lot of people and hopefully inspire them to take an interest or discuss it? Well, here we are discussing it, so i think he probably achieved exactly what he wanted to.

Carlin said that if the context is right, any word is fine. But in your "stupid" example, you try to discredit Carlin by describing a context which is clearly not right. So it turns out this is just a strawman argument. He didn't say he wants people called stupid (or retarded) or n-word like the old days, he said that words like retarded and n-word are ok in context. I don't know how you can disagree with that. I also don't know why i censored the n-word because the context was right, but it felt a bit gratuitous when i wrote it.

I think most of his examples are specious and his fundamental point is grossly shortsighted and insular. When he says 'words don't mean negative things by themselves; context matters,' he's almost right - but the context isn't just the speaker's intent,* it's a million other factors, things that Carlin pointedly ignores.

Still, I know a lot of the Sift audience wants to think that Carlin's point rings true. But does anyone think that it would be more useful, more constructive, and more honest, to call every learning disability 'stupidity'? How would that help us in any way? What could we accomplish with the help of this 'honesty'?


*It's also not 'just' the listener's experience

i have been watching interviews where prominent comics are refusing to do gigs at universities due to the fact that the PC culture has become so saturated that they can't even do their bits,and it becomes a horror show.

young,educated people who mistake their own little bubble-world and attempt to project their sense of morality onto others by demanding changes in language and attitude by way of shrill harpy speak,is totally missing the point of humor.

comedy is the examination and critique of certain truths we may hold sacred,and expose the absurdity.a good comedian can do this fairly well,a great comedian does so with a finesse that is epic.

see:george carlin.lenny bruce,bill hicks,patrice o'neal,bill burr,louis ck.doug stanhope

so i have to disagree with you @Imagoamin.
comedians who thrive on being edgy are not thriving just for the simple fact of being edgy or controversial.they thrive because they are adept at exposing the absurdity of life in such a way that makes us all laugh.....at ourselves.

they experience pushback constantly in the form of heckling and jeering,and do so on a nightly basis and do not get upset that people get offended by their material.that is the very boundary they are pushing!

self examination,criticism and the ability to accept that maybe those things we held so dear are,in fact,absurd and in need of ridicule.the great comedians all give us a great,totally effective self-cleansing pill.they call it "the get the fuck over yourself" pill.

but the overly sensitive PC culture that is festering in our current higher education institutions is creating a new breed of human that lacks basic self-awareness and,on the whole,a gaggle of humorless cunts.

humor is a concept beyond their ken.they dont get it and instead of relaxing a bit,they prefer to get their panties in a knot over.....words.so they all get together and tweet and facebook,in order to share their outrage and make their little signs and march in front of a chris rock show with absolutely zero sense of irony.

to them they are striking a blow for justice!

which is just absurd,and in desperate need of ridicule.

Your video, george carlin-how language is used to mask truth, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

What Louis CK and George Carlin and all the greats do is TELL THE TRUTH.

If you tell the truth, you can say ANYTHING.

This isn't true: 'Wouldn't it be funny if somebody raped you?'

And that joke of Louis that began this vid is true. Absolutely true.

What makes these comedians great is that they tell the absolute truth -- and they are funny while they do it.

I tell the truth all the time, but I can't craft a joke or a bit. (I'm funny, but I'm not a writer.)

Louis is moral.