After more than a decade as a speechwriter, I know one thing with great certainty; people love hearing Bullsh*t.  Yes, you too, dear reader.

The most frequently stated piece of B.S in the world is, “I want to know the truth.”   Generally, no. We want to know the truth about other people while maintaining lies about ourselves.  

There are times when the full avoidance of BS is necessary to your personal well-being.  First,  you must know what BS actually is and where you are likely to encounter it.

Definition 

The American philosopher, professor Harry Frankfurt defines bullsh*t as “Statements made by an individual unconcerned with the truth”.  Remember this while reading the rest of this post.

Dr. Frankfurt, goes on to say, “The Bullsh*tter is bluffing but not lying.  Bullsh*t is not false but merely fake and phony”.  

Why should anyone listen to professor Frankfurt?  He literally wrote the book on the topic, titled “On Bullshit”.  And he boldly states what we have all been thinking for a long time, “One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit.”

What is the reason for so much BS?

Like so much that is toxic, bullsh*t is easy to create but hard to get rid of.

Now we know what to look for, and how much of it there is in our daily lives, the question of ‘where’ are we likely to encounter incalculable levels of BS has to be answered.

Let us begin:

1. “I am ……”

For bullshit to be effective it has to be placed on stable ground, in this case the ‘ground’ is your mind. 

Are you overly attached to the importance of your:

Gender

Religion (or lack thereof)

Social status

IQ 

Money

Nationality

Skin colour?

Any of these will provide the first tiny tile upon which a spoonful of BS can be dumped.  Now that the base of BS has been established, the spoon becomes a shovel which turns into a truckload of bovine excrement.

Why are humans so receptive to B.S in these areas?

It’s because concern about our identity is taught to us from the cradle.  Long before we begin to walk or talk in childhood we are fed attitudes that become ingrained.  Primary BS as it were.

How to combat these attitudes?

It seems nihilistic but here is my advice.  On the tombstones of many pre-Christian Romans, these words are inscribed:

I was not

I was

Now I am not

I do not care.

You are a collection of molecules.  One day these molecules will disassemble themselves and be incorporated into other structures.  You will be no more, so avoid getting hung up on superfluous nonsense.

Better to accept this truth than get trapped into believing more BS, for instance……

2. “We’re a Family”

In every toxic scandal involving corporations, governments, or organized religion, the PR department jumps in to remind “We’re a family”.  Depending on the seriousness of the crime, the best translation is “Don’t snitch on us”.

A “Family” is the smallest hierarchical unit that striving against the world.  Instilling loyalty to your ‘family’ is easier than doing so to a multi-national corporation.

Look at press releases and ads by Boeing when their 737 planes were grounded.  Go back to commercials by BP when they poisoned the Gulf of Mexico with a preventable oil spill.

Notice the emphasis on “we”.  “We” helps to spread the guilt into a collective body, muddying the waters so to speak.  In both cases, internal e-mails show that the problems had been identified long before disaster struck.

As we all know, not everyone is equal inside a family.  So too in the corporate world where there are private jets for those who sit atop the organizational chart and, “Be thankful you have a job!”for those at the bottom.

When things go sour (criminal charges, financial shenanigans, accusations of child molestation, etc) suddenly your ‘family’ needs you.  Punishment for a variety of crimes and misdemeanors tends to be unequally distributed.  By the time heads begin to roll from the top there will have been massive purges near the bottom.

If things seem to be going well and the refrain “We’re a family” starts appearing frequently in your office expect bullsh*t.  It’s probably time to upgrade your interviewing skills and put on those job hunting shoes.

3. Trust Me, Believe Me”

There is as much as a 50% chance that someone will tell you bullsh*t after saying, “trust me”/”believe me” or something similar.  This means you have as much of a chance of hearing the truth as you would correctly guessing Heads or Tails  on a coin toss.

The people who study such things, tell us that the bullshitter subconsciously seeks to raise the level of trust before injecting the BS.  

Are you still unclear on this concept? First, watch the video below and then compare it with these stats for a better understanding.

4. Flooding The Zone with BS

Here is a quote from my  good friend Dr. P. Sealy, “Fifty percent of the facts that I make up are real.” How much of his facts are real?

Answer: 0% are real. This is 100% bullsh*t.  Facts cannot be made up.

Were you mentally mixed-up for a second? Understandable, because there is an implication of truth. The words “Facts”, “Real” causes us to look for a conclusion based on objective reality.

Flooding the Zone with Bullsh*t means to pump out so much crap that the audience (you) cannot discern the difference between reality and fantasy. 

Indeed, even the frame of reference that we usually use to reach the truth is obliterated with “Alternative facts” and “Fake news”. The audience is totally confused as to what might be the truth.  The objective of Flooding the Zone with BS (FZBS) is to confuse the hearer to the point that they won’t know a lie when it’s presented.

Unfortunately, the best way to recognize a FZBS campaign is with hindsight.  To put it simply, by the time you recognize this type of Bullshit, it’s too late.  FZBS campaigns are usually well-planned and implemented by a company specializing in these types of actions.  They tend to cover decades of time, which is why they are so expensive.

If you have  your BS detector set on high, you will notice the start of ‘debates’ on previously settled topics, which is usually the first stage of FZBS.

Need an example?  No problem.

In 2003 a United States led ‘coalition’ invaded Iraq.  Why?

Ask this question of your 10 closest friends and relatives and see the variety of answers you get.  A decade after the end of the war there is still little agreement on what happened and few people remember the Timeline of events.  This is an award-winning display of FZBS – with deadly consequences.

Conclusion

The real danger of Bullshit is that, with enough exposure, we, like the Bullshitter will become indifferent to the truth. Even though we hate hearing the truth, it is the only way for us to have an accurate depiction of our world.

Think of this post as a primer on Bullshit Avoidance. If you master just these four areas you’ll be well on your way to earning the Bullsh*t Detector Medal and I will be the first to congratulate you.

What do you think? Did I miss any important areas in which Bullsh*t abounds and how it can be avoided? Let me know in the comments.

Resources

The Skeptic Society & Skeptic Magazine

Wonderful articles that really causes you to think about what you are hearing and why.

A college course on bullsh*t from the University of Washington School of Information. The second and third videos are especially insightful.

On Bullshit – Book by Harry Frankfurt

Special thanks to the following people of my WordPress course for their assistance in naming this post. My idea of calling it “Practical Skepticism”, was indeed boring.

Rachel V – The Klutz Diaries

Rose P – My WordPress instructor

Rita – The Leadless Pencil

Katloyacano – Katloyacano.com – The Kat Files