BREAKING: George Carlin is a Pessimist

Comedy legend George Carlin is celebrating a whopping 50 years in show business with a new DVD collection packed with 14 discs of HBO stand-up specials. The LA Times has an interview with Carlin today, in which he's asked about his famous less-than-sunny outlook on life:

I'm looking at the titles of your last few — "You Are All
Diseased," "Complaints and Grievances," "Life Is Worth Losing." If I
didn't know better, I'd think you were a pessimist.

Well, I am a pessimist as far as the world is concerned. I have absolutely low prospects for the human race; I have very low prospects for this country. For myself, though, very high prospects. I'm a personal optimist.

How does one keep pessimism from making them miserable, souring their outlook, preventing them from embracing life?

You can't care. You see, I don't care about the outcome in this country
[or] on this planet because I know this is all temporal b.s. It's not a
religious point of view, it's just realism. I like living somewhere
detached from all of this emotionally. I don't really have a stake in
the outcome anymore.

About 30 years ago, I became a person who said, "You know something?
People aren't worth worrying about and caring about." One by one, yes;
any time I'm with one person, I'm fine. There's all sorts of compassion
and empathy in my heart. But when you consider them as a group, from a
distance, I don't give a . . . about them.

Previously: Bill Cosby Defends Pryor, Carlin and WTF?

Previously: George Carlin and Sarah Silverman to be in New Book Together