Review: "On Bullshit" by Harry G. Frankfurt

"On Bullshit" by Harry G. Frankfurt is a short book less than 70 pages long.  It is a small book (4x6).  You can carry it in your pocket.  It can be read in about an hour at a leisurely rate.  The format is thus appropriate for its content.  I got it from the public library.  Bullshit does not deserve a long treatment.  It's not like it is lying.  The person bullshitting obviously has something to gain.  Although the author generally discusses more interesting cases of bullshit, it does not really touch on how much bullshit is just being driven by insecurities.  Truth is irrelevant to bullshitting.  A liar obscures the truth, but at least recognizes its existence.  Politicians and the media are full of bullshit.  Lies are relatively easy to catch.  Bullshit must be put through a sieve if one is to separate truth from lies.  In a sense, if not an actual lie, propaganda may or may not be bullshit.  The effort required to sort it all out is exhausting.  So it can be accepted or ignored.  (Of course, ignoring bullshit is a type of acceptance.)  Absent a positive response, you can call it out for only so long before ceasing to care.  Insincerity is sincerity to those not knowing better.

Read this book.

One thing I learned from the book: Wittgenstein did not apparently understand hyperbole.  (Too much logic perhaps?)

On Bullshit

I just came across the book On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt.   I have not read it, but it looks interesting.  One of the points from the book's description is a good one:

...He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all. 

Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner's capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying does not. Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.

If you've ever been plagued by someone who engages in this behavior excessively, I think you'll agree that he hits the nail on the head.  At least someone who lies knows the truth; the bullshitter does not know the difference.  (Meaning, they have a bright future as a propagandist, a politician, or at least a P.R. hack.)