He exposes our precious euphemisms with lists including "lying on a job application = resume enhancement," "bad loans = nonperforming assets," "body bags = remains pouches" and many more. As he later points out in another context: "I don't like euphemisms. Euphemisms are a form of lying. Fat people are not gravitationally disadvantaged. They're fat. I prefer seeing things the way they are, not the way some people wish they were."
As he explains the evolution of "shell shock" to "combat fatigue," he points out the terrible human cost: war veterans who don't get the treatment they need because such evasions of reality induce people to take their plight lightly.
He takes aim at our cherished morals, leaving no sacred cow untipped. As he puts his elaborate proposal for "Legal Murder Once a Month" in perspective:
"And all you civic-minded dips[ticks], I want you to know that there's nothing in the constitution to prevent any of this. The state doesn't actually oppose murder; it simply objects to those who go into business for themselves. When it comes to the taking of human life, the federal government doesn't want free-lance competition.
"Life is cheap, never forget it. Corporations make marketing decisions by weighing the cost of being sued for your death against the cost of making the product safer. Your life is a factor in cost-effectiveness. So when you talk about murder, don't confine your discussion to individuals."
George Carlin loathes the ad populum argument: "Well many people are really f[oolish and] stupid, too, shall we just adopt all their standards?"
He directs much of his ire at religion, which he finds repressive individually through its anesthesia of individual reason and socially through the power of organized churches.
He skewers the economic elite and our cherished economic beliefs: "That invisible hand of Adam Smith's seems to offer an extended middle finger to an awful lot of people." "The neutron bomb is very Republican; it leaves property alone and concentrates on destroying large numbers of people indiscriminately." "Conservatives say if you don't give the rich more money, they will lose the incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they've lost all incentive because we've given them too much money."
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