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Is the economy fake?

Effigy2000 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:41:05 -0800

Bill Hicks said, in one of his acts, and I quote "It's gonna fuck up the economy... the economy thats fake anyway!" Is the economy fake? While acknowledging that Bill was talking about drugs and how great they were for altering your perception of reality in this very same act in which he says the economy does not exist, I have started to consider what he meant by that, exactly. He never really went into any further detail on the topic as far as I'm aware.

I have always taken this observation of his to mean that the economy is not real because there is no tangible thing one can touch or see that is called 'The Economy'. To extrapolate, while there is money that one can touch and use to pay for goods and services, money and its value to the economy is only a human construct that does not necessarily need to exist to allow people access to goods and services or for people to live life harmoniously.

Mind you, I'm no economist, so what would I know?

Is this likely what Bill meant? Or is there a different (or deeper) meaning than the one I have construed? And how would an economist refute (or even relate to) Bill's argument?

I ask this question because of a book which I'm writing. As I said, I'm no economist and while I plan to research economics and maybe even interview a few economists to further my work, I'd be interested in hearing the hive minds views (especially from those well versed in economics) to help me find the direction my research should take.

What Western was Bill Hicks talking about when he said "You all saw him, he had a gun."

unsupervised — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 15:31:09 -0800

What Western, if any, was Bill Hicks referencing when he thought he was talking about Shane? Here's the fairly famous Bill Hicks routine:

I'm so sick of arming the world and then sending troops over to destroy the fucking arms, you know what I mean? We keep arming these little countries, then we go and blow the shit out of them. We're like the bullies of the world, you know.

We're like Jack Palance in the movie Shane, throwing the pistol at the sheep herder's feet: "Pick it up."

"I don't wanna pick it up mister, you'll shoot me."

"Pick up the gun."

"Mister, I don't want no trouble, huh. I just came down town here to get some hard rock candy for my kids, some gingham for my wife. I don't even know what gingham is, but she goes through about 10 rolls a week of that stuff. I ain't looking for no trouble, mister."

"Pick up the gun."

Boom, boom.

"You all saw him. He had a gun."

I just got done watching Shane for the first time and none of this happens. The only similarity is that Jack Palance is in it and a homesteader is shot by him, but he's got his own gun and draws it on Palance intending to shoot him. He was, in fact, looking for trouble.

None of the dialogue, including the awesome "You all saw him, he had a gun" is uttered in any variation.

The oddest thing about all this is if you google the line, you find tons of people quoting the Hicks routine verbatim in Jack Palance remembrances and other, non-Hicks related places as if this exchange actually happened.

What gives? Was this all the result of Hicks' fertile imagination or was there an actual Western where this took place?

Best Bill Hicks album?

ColdChef — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:34:45 -0800

I'm afraid I bought the wrong Bill Hicks album. After hearing bits and pieces of Bill Hicks's performances, I decided to buy a full album. Upon recommendation of the CD store geek, I bought "Rant in E Minor" and was severely underwhelmed. Is there a better CD to start with, or is this truly the pinnacle of Hicksian wit?

Help me find this Bill Hicks video.

derbs — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 03:45:16 -0800

Any Bill Hicks fans here? For months i've been trying to track down a video of Bill Hicks' infamous 12th standup appearance on the David Letterman show in 1993, that was axed at the last minute and never shown. Does anyone know if it is available anywhere?