George Carlin, comedian in 1992, “Do you know why we like war? Because we’re good at it”

George Carlin (1937-2008) was known for his dark humor and biting commentary on American culture, politics and religion. With the United States bombing Iran for a second time in less than a year, it’s worth looking back at one of the late influential stand-up comedian’s routines.

A year after the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991), Carlin gave his take on why the U.S. always seems to be at war during his HBO special ‘Jammin’ in New York’. “We like war! We’re a war-like people! We like war because we’re good at it!” he told the audience at the Paramount Theater in 1992.

“You know why we’re good at it?” he asked the audience. “Cause we get a lot of practice… And it’s a good thing we are; we’re not very good at anything else anymore!” At the time the United States had been involved in 10 major military conflicts, that number is now up to 12, since its founding 250 years ago as well as hundreds of foreign interventions.

Carlin was critical of who the United States targeted with “our hobby” of bombing other countries. “You got some brown people in your country, tell them to watch the f*** out or we’ll goddamn bomb them!” he said. He listed some other countries that the U.S. had attacked in recent years like Iraq, Panama, Grenada, and Libya.

He did point out that up to then there was one country that had White people that the U.S. had bombed, Germany. “That’s only because they were trying to cut in on our action. They wanted to dominate the world! B.S! That’s our f***ing job!”

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