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On this website, I take
Bullshit
to mean "an attempt to bypass our better judgment". This can happen just by the use of words, but
also through devices like body language,
insistent music, fast-changing videos etc. It's a big problem because
our emotional vulnerabilities and lack of savvy can lure us into bad or
wrong decisions, as a result of which we suffer, both individually and
in the societies we belong to. |
| We expect to get bullshit from salespeople, company directors and politicians, but there
are other sources. News media are often tainted by their owners'
interests, the tolerance (or censorship) they get from governments and the fact that
they may get most of their income from advertisers. Academics are often
guilty, especially when seeking research grants or facing the threat of 'publish or
perish'. But the offenders may be nearer home - our parents and teachers,
our family and friends, and even you and me. |
| The motives for bullshit may be 'offence' - getting people to do
something or changing minds, or 'defence' - making excuses, defending a
reputation or hanging on to current comfortable circumstances. And bullshit,
like sin, may be of 'commission' - saying or writing things that
are better not said - or
'omission' - deliberately leaving out relevant points. |
| Among our vulnerabilities, we may recognize our tuggable heart
strings, our feelings of ambition, envy and desire, our proneness to
wishful thinking, our hit and miss understanding of risk and probability
- and our preference for a good story
over dull facts. We're easy meat for the purveyors of bullshit if we
can't distinguish fantasy from the best consensus available on where
things are actually at. |
| There are some tricks we can spot a mile off, like the advertisers'
"50% off" (off what?), "win great prizes" and "while stocks last". However there are a
lot of words that are often used in inconsistent ways and target our gut
reactions, like "racist", "culture", "real world", "natural",
"truth", "empowerment"and "soul". |
| As to counter tactics, if one has the chance, one may be able to say
things like "I hear what you say", "I'm less confident about that than
you", or "What about xxx" (i.e.what was not mentioned). Or, one can adopt
the approach of Nigel Molesworth in the book 'Down with Skool' and
translate what is said or written into 'reel thorts'. With a bit more
time, one can probably think up a critical assessment of what was said or
written, and pass this on to one's friends and associates. |
| You can follow the links below to read more detail. |
