Bullshit
1. Foolish, deceitful, or boastful language.
2. Something worthless, deceptive, or insincere.
3. Insolent talk or behavior.
In all usages, the term can be shortened to "bull" or "BS".
The readers on this sight generally don't take a receptive view to people who write bullshit. This community does a pretty good job of raking people across the coals for such posts. But I'm going to take a little risk today.
Being a Holy Shitter I try hard to determine the difference between bullshit and truth. But what exactly is bullshit? We throw the word around all the time acting as if we know what it means yet upon closer examination we find that that is not the case at all.
Follow me below the fold for a closer look.
Unfortunately there is very little research on this particular subject. However, one essay I found by Harry G. Frankfurt entitled On Bullshit has helped me tremendously to gain a deeper understanding of the word.
Everyone seems to inherently know we are exposed to a lot of bullshit these days. Most people credit themselves with being able to recognize it when they are exposed to it. But what are its elements?
With regard to things we produce or manufacture, bullshit seems to be associated with carelessly or shoddily made items. The word shit certainly suggests this. Excrement is not made with deliberation. It is just emitted after all nutrients from food are extracted. So when you say something is bullshit you are not describing a quality product.
Yet, other things labeled bullshit do require careful deliberation and craftsmanship. Take for instance the sophisticated techniques used by slick marketers and advertisers. Think of the extensive psychological testing they perform before crafting their message. Think about some of the public relations messages we receive daily. Think about the speeches from our politicians. Certainly they are drafted with care but we still conclude much of their messaging is bullshit. In all of these examples the bullshitter is studiously and conscientiously trying to get away with something.
Is the something a bullshitter trying to get away with a lie? At first thought you might be inclined to say yes. But on closer examination one finds it is not always the case. Bullshitting it turns out is just a lack of concern with the truth. That is the essence of bullshit.
Consider the bull session (which for our purposes is the sanitized version of the bullshit session). These sessions commonly occur during many social occasions. As Harry Frankfurt states in his book
"the characteristic topics of a bull session have to do with very personal and emotion-laden aspects of life - for instance, religion, politics, or sex. People are generally reluctant to speak altogether openly about these topics if they expect that they might be taken too seriously. What tends to go on in a bull session is that the participants try out various thoughts and attitudes in order to see how it feels to hear themselves saying such things and in order to discover how others respond, without it being assumed that they are committed to what they say"…
"Each of the contributors to a bull session relies, in other words, upon a general recognition that what he expresses or says is not to be understood as being what he means wholeheartedly or believes unequivocally to be true."
There is also a connection between the terms hot air and bullshit. Hot air is associated with speech devoid of real content or meaning hence the connection with bullshit. Furthermore, there are also similarities between hot air and excrement. Just as hot air is speech removed of all useful content, excrement is matter from which everything useful to us has been removed. Hot air cannot serve as communication just as excrement cannot serve as sustenance.
There is definitely a relationship between a bluff and bullshit. Here is the definition of the word in the American Heritage Dictionary.
Bluff
1. To mislead or deceive.
2. To impress, deter, or intimidate by a false display of confidence.
3. Games To try to mislead (opponents) in a card game by heavy betting on a poor hand or by little or no betting on a good one.
Bullshitting, like a bluff, seems to involve some desire to mislead, deceive, impress, or intimidate by a false display of confidence. Bullshitting also seems closer to a bluff than to telling a lie in that lying involves a deliberate utterance of a falsehood for the purpose of distorting the known truth. The essence of bullshitting is not that it is a known falsehood but that it is a phony statement. It is uttered without concern for the truth not in the deliberate motivation to distort it. The bullshitter is guilty merely of faking things. As Henry G. Frankfurt remembered his father saying: "Never tell a lie when you can bullshit your way through."
The consequences for getting caught in the act of bullshitting seem to be less severe than for lying. People just tend to be more tolerant of the bullshitter versus the liar. People even seem to credit a certain amount of skill and talent to the person who can successfully "bullshit his way through". Thus we have the term "the bullshit artist". There is no such term associated to the chronic and compulsive liar. That is because a liar must have a certain knowledge of the truth and invent a lie under the guidance of that truth to cover it up. It is impossible to truly lie unless the truth is first known. The bullshitter on the other hand just makes up shit as he goes along unconcerned with what is or is not the truth. As Harry Frankfurt states in his book On Bullshit:
"The bullshitter "is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent of his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose." ..."he does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are." (emphasis mine).
Is there more bullshit in our modern world then there was before in days gone by? That's really hard to say. There are certainly more ways to communicate the bullshitter's message to a greater number of people than ever before. This creates more opportunities for more people to speak to other people about things they know nothing about creating the environment for more bullshitting to happen. Cameras these days are everywhere and every utterance is recorded and replayed for the masses. Those in public life are frequently asked to comment on issues and situations about which they are to some degree ignorant.
People also tend to expect and accept more bullshit in their lives it seems these days. There is a widely held belief that finding reliable sources for hearing the truth are becoming fewer and harder to pinpoint. It is common to hear people say "Everything you read and hear on the news these days is bullshit." There is a generally held belief anymore that it is getting much harder to know how things truly are.
This skepticism in our ability to find out the truth leads to a desire simply to be true to ourselves. We strive to be sincere. The trouble is, attaining the goal of complete sincerity when dealing with others is probably impossible for us to achieve. But we try.
Wisdom is the tool we use to discern truth. According to Webster:
Wise
1. having the power of discerning and judging properly as to which is true or right: possessing discernment, judgement, or discretion;
2. possessed of or characterized by scholarly knowledge or learning.
The first thing I must say is that the definition provided by Webster is a little too polished and nuanced for the Holy Shitters. It needs to be stated just a little more succinctly I think. So let me give you the definition according to Poop John the First of the Church of the Holy Shitters for the word wise. A wise person is a person who possesses the ability to see through the bullshit and find the truth.
In this series we will continue to examine this subject in great detail with the goal of giving people more insight and tools to use to "see through all the crap" be they lies or just plain bullshit.
The Church of the Holy Shitters will post articles on our holy S.H.I.T. day ( So Happy It's Thursday)
Last week: 8/1/13 - The Gun the NRA Doesn't Know About
Next week: 8/15/13 - Shitology
Hoping to add some humor, provoke thought, spark debate, deepen understanding, and shed some light on the fecal side.
Remember: "If we really want to straighten out all this crap we really need to think about shit." ( Shitbit by Poop John the First of the Church of the Holy Shitters)
Church of the Holy Shitters
A secular environmental religion, scientifically based, with a focus on the psychology of it all. Our ego is the culprit when it comes to dealing with climate change. We cannot save the planet. We can only save ourselves. Our current egotistical self-perception makes that prospect a dubious one at best. Meekness, humility and a realization that our shit does stink, guides us on our path to true sustainable living and climate equilibrium.
Cross posted at http://holyshitters.com/