Of course, the trap in all of this is that those who would most like for folks in general to have no motivation to cause trouble / have distracting hobbies are the people already in charge.
So the real idea, unfortunately a lot less funny than Carlin's version, is that we want those we disagree with (and those we consider meaningless noise) to lack the motivation to cause trouble, and those who share our goals to be able to run things our way by default.
Though I suppose if we had no motivation either, then we couldn't be bothered to worry about whether we'd like things to be any different in the first place, and wouldn't care who was running things unchallenged.
(no subject)
So the real idea, unfortunately a lot less funny than Carlin's version, is that we want those we disagree with (and those we consider meaningless noise) to lack the motivation to cause trouble, and those who share our goals to be able to run things our way by default.
Though I suppose if we had no motivation either, then we couldn't be bothered to worry about whether we'd like things to be any different in the first place, and wouldn't care who was running things unchallenged.