I think we have to be aware today that most of the people we deal with, listen to or watch have their own motives, ideas and views in dealing with us. They are not connecting with you or me primarily for our benefit, but for their own, in some way or other. It might be someone just wanting to avoid embarrassing silences!
| Politicians | Salespersons |
| Managers and directors | Advertisers, promotion staff, public relations executives |
| Spokespersons (for business or government) | Marketing executives |
| People in religious hierarchies | Members of gangs, militias, juntas |
| Education experts | Academics under pressure to publish or perish |
| Pressure groups and activists | Fundamentalists (especially religious) |
| Journalists with an axe to grind | Capital C Conservatives |
| Members of cliques or coteries, drinking mates | Dogmatic leftists |
| Leaders of fan clubs, celebrity followers | Time servers (wanting to hang on to a non-job) |
| Fashion writers | Parents - and children - faced with explaining failure or error |
That's pretty well all of us - including myself.
They want to
| sell you something | get your vote or support | get your commitment to a cause, project, group | get your acquiescence and obedience | maintain their influence, position, pride, income |
It appears not just in the use of words, but also
| tone of voice | tempo of speaking | gestures | images | accompanying music or noise |
These are orchestrated to appeal to our
| emotions | prejudices | desire to be 'fashionable' | fear of being the 'odd man out' | wish to stick to our traditional beliefs | preference for 'folk wisdom' over logic and science | yearning for the mystical and 'miracles' | uneasiness with the essential uncertainty of life |
The idea is generally to by-pass clear thought by the person(s) to whom the bullshit is addressed.
There is now a 'Misinformation Susceptibility Test' - so far only used with Americans. But you can try it yourself at this web address.
The 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer published a list of 38 ploys for always winning an argument. Most of these would fall into the bullshit category. In my highlights of this I have included possible countermeasures. Of course this all assumes that you can answer back!
In the mid 20th century, Robert Thouless produced a more serious and up-to-date list, partly overlapping with Schopenhauer - again see my highlights.
I have also done highlights of Madsen Pirie's more recent How To Win Every Argument. The author distinguishes formal and informal fallacies, and within the informal section he distinguishes fallacies of omission, intrusion and presumption.
Bullshit doesn't have to be verbal. Some things that make me suspicious are:
| Arm waving and pointing | Trying to get some feel of urgency, suggesting that the message is not enough by itself. |
| Nodders | Behind the speaker on a TV news program there is someone nodding or making other body language suggesting approval of what the speaker is saying. |
| Background music | Common in some shops hoping to get people into the buying mood. But maybe some shoppers feel uneasy with silence. Now common on home and garden improvement TV programmes. |
| Fast-changing video clips | Common with some TV advertisements to give the impression of energy, and 'buzz'. |
| Graphs without scales | Common in printed and video advertisements but failing to show the actual size of the claimed advantages of the product being advertised. |
For anyone interested, I have written up highlights of a book Decoding Advertisements by Judith Williamson.
| Bullshit Example | What it might mean |
|---|---|
| Look ... (in answer to a question) | You must be stupid to have to ask such a question |
| I'm glad you asked that question | I had hoped you wouldn't ask it, but give me time to think of a response |
| The fact is ... | You ought to accept my claim that what I am saying is true and accurate |
| His car failed to take a bend | He drove too fast and lost control |
| It is what it is | It's ho-hum, not worth much comment |
| That information hasn't reached my office | I know about it, but that's my excuse for evading the issue just now |
| New paradigm, paradigm shift | Your previous thinking doesn't apply any more, it's "old hat" |
| Bourgeois | Middle class is undesirable - you should be either with us (the proletariat) or with them (the capitalists) |
| I couldn't help it | I'm not ready or willing to face personal responsibility |
| Vibrant | Not boring like other options (related to cities, it more often means 'busy, noisy, hustling') |
| Get a life | Your disapproval of my words or actions shows you are boring |
| Secularism | Not relating everything to God isn't 'holy' enough |
| Imperatives | Things we must do because either I (or some authorities) say we must, implying a threat of dire consequences if we don't do them |
| <a person> IS <some concept> | The person is a very, very big name in the concept (e.g. "Irving Berlin IS American music") |
| Holistic (especially "Wholistic") | Your normal health cures don't address the whole person (even if they do at least alleviate the symptoms) |
| Law of averages | If things have been bad for so long, they must surely be about to improve |
| The statistics prove ... | The particular statistics I have selected should convince you that |
| Transcend | Bypass all your personal concerns and objections |
| Timeless, eternal | Forget about the fact that circumstances will almost certainly change |
| Once in a lifetime (opportunity, trip) | Something we want you to spend your money on NOW |
| Freedom | Don't we all want a world where nobody is stopping us doing what we want? |
| Democracy | Rule by representatives elected through parties with wealthy financial support, who use spin and pork-barrelling to persuade gullible voters |
| Peoples Democracy | Rule by representatives elected from the one party approved by the ruling elite |
One example is the Molesworth 'reel thorts' technique. I hope to offer more ideas later.
These are slightly fuller than the narrow page versions linked to the BullshitA page.
| Bullshit - why we're susceptible | Bullshit - ploys and counter tactics | Happy to be an Unbeliever |
What started me off on this whole bullshit thing was a book an uncle gave me in my late teens. It was Denys Thompson's Between the Lines, published around 1939. Here are a few websites that address the issue.
The last one is a bit of a joke, but the rest are pretty serious. It's not just me - the problem is widely recognized - especially in the USA.
| PLOVER main page for Language | Re-think home page | Back to tagg.org website |
Some of these links may be under construction – or re-construction.
This version updated on 2nd November