George Carlin Quotes
You show me something that doesn't cause cancer, and I'll show you something that isn't on the market yet.
Carlin, George. Brain Droppings. Hyperion, 1997.
A number of Americans believe that these and other elements of our civilization are dangerous to human health. Yet all the evidence, and there has been much on each of therse, has shown that there is no causal link between these and health problems. Yet there are people who claim that they observed bad things like autism developing after childhood vaccines. Some people have been diagnozed with cancer shortly after they began to eat a genitically modified food. Some people developed migrane headaches shortly after they started using a cell phone. The rumors travel and many people are concerned. Hoever, there are a number of children who are diagnozed with autism every year, Some of those had their diagnosis shortly after they had the recomended childhood vaccines. But it woud be impossible for out of 1,000 children who contracted autism in a given year to not have had their annual vaccines within 3 months from the time they had their shots, Actually about 250 of them would have that. Of all of the people who started using a cell phone for the first time, there will always be some who also have headaches after they started with cellphones. Epidemiologists can and have actually measures most of these things and either there is no causal relationship, or it is so slight as to not be serious enough to be a threat.
In the 1950s evidence was pointing to the relationship between cigarette smoking and cancer, Then scientic studes showed that cigarettes were a causae of lung cancer and ohe forms of cancer. The tobacco industry had their own research that showed that tobacco was also addicting. Rather then give up the profits they were geting from cigaette sales, the tobacco companies hired John Hill and at his suggestion formed a "Tobacco Rsearch Comittee" where the followd Hill's strategy of casting doubt on the accuracy and completeness of the research shing the causal link. Even after the Surgeon General's relase of his 1963 Report explaining the extensive evidence that was then ammassed about the danger of cigarettes. None the less there was little money to publicize the Surgeon General's report, and the tobacco companies spent a fortune hammering the message that the research was not yet sufficient and more study is needed before America puts all the tobacco farmers and cigarette ndustry workers out of jubs when the evidence was "so doubtfull". The efforts to spread the disinformation about cigarettes actually delayed the public education programs, label warnings, media focus for a few decades. Slowly there were so many people dying a year (about 1/2 million) that most Americans finally befan to see throught the deception of the industry. But that delay was resonsible for more deaths and debilitations of Americans than had suffered that fate during all the Wars in American history. They were so successful casting doubt on one of the most proven of scientic medical research, politicians picked up the same techniques do negate many otehr scientifc findings that threatened their vested interests or where the implications of the resarch cere contrary to their ideology. Climaate change denyers used the exact same techniques that the tobacco indudstry used so skillfully with cancer.
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, and author. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comics of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of counterculture comedians". He was known for his dark comedy and reflections on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and taboo subjects. His "seven dirty words" routine was central to the 1978 United States Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5–4 decision affirmed the government's power to censor indecent material on the public airwaves.
