When Identity Replaces Thought

George Carlin and the Death of Disagreement

There was a time when ideas were things you had.
You could hold them, test them, discard them, or replace them.

Then something changed.

As George Carlin observed with ruthless clarity, modern people no longer hold ideas — they become them. Identity fuses with ideology, and the moment that happens, thinking stops being a process and turns into a threat.

Carl…