Bullshit


We are fed it every day for most of our lives, by television, our politicians, religious leaders, news anchors. It surrounds, engulfs, and consumes us - Bullshit.

"Reality" TV Shows, Frey, Jerry Springer, the talking heads - I could go on and on and on.

Truth is in very short supply in America today.

Princeton Professor Emeritas Harry G. Frankfurt recently published a very short philosophy book on the subject, titled appropriately, "ON BULLSHIT". It's about 100 pages and a quick read.

The blurb on Bullshit:

"One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit," Harry G. Frankfurt writes, in what must surely be the most eyebrow-raising opener in modern philosophical prose.

Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted." This compact little book, as pungent as the phenomenon it explores, attempts to articulate a theory of this contemporary scourge--what it is, what it does, and why there's so much of it. It can't be denied; part of the book's charm is the puerile pleasure of reading classic academic discourse punctuated at regular intervals by the word "bullshit."

More pertinent is Frankfurt's focus on intentions--the practice of bullshit, rather than its end result. Bullshitting, as he notes, is not exactly lying, and bullshit remains bullshit whether it's true or false.

The difference lies in the bullshitter's complete disregard for whether what he's saying corresponds to facts in the physical world: 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."

Check out a short video from the author.

Also, if your interested check out a history of the word "fuck" at Fuck Noir.

Rant on or add to the pile below.

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