It Is What It Is

        I remember watching this George Carlin interview a few years ago and being very impacted by it.  Even though I agree with everything he says in the interview, I was extremely drawn to the last little portion where he talks about his "divorce" from the "freakshow".  I was in a different place than Carlin at that point in my life and I didn't really believe him when he said he removed himself and "didn't have a stake in the outcome". 

I find myself in a different place a relatively short time later.  I now believe him.  He talks about the idealist in him and even admits he wishes it would all change miraculously, but he's enough of a realist to understand that's not how it works.  Change, the kind of change Carlin is talking about, is gradual and he puts it best when he says, "incremental change, it just seems like the pile of shit is too deep."

I spent a lot of my time invested in the outcome.  And if you've ever spent a lot of time doing something that requires a fair amount labor and slowly come to the realization that your intended goal is impossible it becomes quite easy, in fact inevitable, to lose hope.  In the video Carlin admits to being a cynic.  I never wanted to grow up to be a cynic.  Or did I?

A Cynic in Ancient Greece was a philoshper that held the notion that virtue was the only good and that its essence lies in self control and independence.  Today we know a cynic to be a person who believes that human conduct is motivated wholly by self interest.  Isn't it amazing how we can observe the evolution of the term and watch the Cynic become cynical, believing in virtue at the onset and then losing hope in his fellow man over time.  And if one should truly find themselves a modern day cynic, why in the world would they place themselves in a position to have an emotional stake in the outcome?  It would be a miserable existence.  A much more enjoyable existence would be to observe it all, enjoy the "freakshow", laugh at and with it.

When one has an emotional stake in the outcome they tend to be become blinded by reality. Facts no longer have meaning, history is not a thing - it's just an ideology, and good and evil are forces that dictate outcomes.  Yet, to an uninvested observer the picture looks different.  It is what it is.


According to a recent story published by Fox News California spends $47,000 on each inmate over the course of a year and $9,000 on each student in the education system.  New York spends $56,000 a year on inmates and $16,000 on students.  Michigan $34,000 on inmates and $11,000 on students.  It is what it is.

If you wanted to buy a house and pay with all cash you couldn't.  It is what it is.

If you tell your bank you want to stop a payment to a service provider they can't stop it unless it is authorized by the company trying to collect.  It is what it is.

Evolution is the change over time in one or more inherited traits found in populations of organisms.  It is what it is.

Our Government deregulated the banks and the banks caused some serious damage.  It is what it is.

There are people, millions of them, that truly believe they will get 72 virgins to enjoy for eternity (do they just keep getting new ones?  I mean, they're not going to be virgins for very long.  If they keep funnelling them in don't they really get infinite virgins for eternity?  If you only get those 72 in a one time shot that's going to get old eventually.  No man could stay stimulated by the same 72 women for eternity could he?  I really think some PR work is in order here.) when they die.  It is what it is.

Thousands of people, including children, die each year in this country from lack of medical attention.  It is what it is.

Stupid people want representation too.  It is what it is.


MTV airs a show that follows around pregnant teens. It is what it is.

People stand on street corners asking for food and money in almost every city in our country.  It is what it is.

A four year old boy said he went to Heaven, his dad wrote a best seller, and we take him seriously. It is what it is.

Dancing With The Stars and The Bachelorette air twice in one week.  It is what it is.

The United States spends more on it's military than all of the other countries of the world combined.  It is what it is.

We have a Federal Holiday for a guy that didn't discover America.  And most people have no idea who did.  It is what it is.

Never once in our history as a nation did we challenge our countries President on his citizenship until a black man won the office.  It is what it is.

Some people predict exact times and dates to the end of the world and other people take out their life savings to advertise it.  It is what it is.

Some people like the Raiders.  It is what it is.

Famous men that have a lot of money have sex with women that want to have sex with famous men that have a lot of money.  It is what it is.

Over 95% of the scienific community and over 99% of the professionals in the specific field believe climate change (man made) is real.  It is what it is.

Millions of people will tell you they've seen a ghost.  It is what it is.

Mormons don't believe Jesus Christ was the Son of God and they believe God used to be a human.  And they call themselves Christian.  It is what it is.

OnStar could dispatch emergencies services to my wrecked vehicle if I pay them $12 a month.  I don't and they don't.  It is what it is.


The infant mortality rate in America has steadily gotten worse compared to the rest of the world since 1960. It is what it is.


The United States literacy rate ranks 20th in the world. It is what it is.

And for every "it is what it is" there are people looking at the same thing and seeing a different picture, painting their own scene, telling you the blue you see is green and telling you why it isn't what it is.

Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. ~ Ambrose Bierce