9/22/2024 addendum: Another important book one should add to your "TBR" list prior to November...

Due to a politically apathetic populace, a Democratic party so intent on electing the first woman president that it completely overlooked and ignored a largely white working-class rural demographic that was---at one point---its own base, and a Republican party so overrun with politicians in the pockets of big-money special interests, an orange tiny-handed reality show host with a face permanently set in a scowl and/or in the throes of chronic constipation was, amazingly, elected to the highest office in the U.S. government.

How this happened would probably take several “War and Peace”-length volumes to adequately dissect and explain, but suffice it to say that a significant portion of the explanation can be linked back to the fact that a large voting bloc of the American public simply grew sick and tired of all the bullshit.

This is why voters in 2016 were attracted to candidates like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump: nontraditional, irreverent, disinterested in playing by the rules.

Whereas Sanders had experience in Washington, D.C. and a lengthy tenure in both the House and Senate, his progressive Independent ideals that he maintained consistently for 30 years were refreshing to voters sick and tired of the flip-flopping of politicians in both parties based less on crises of conscience than on poll numbers and the amount of money they were receiving from special interest groups.

Whereas Trump had a history of being a showy billionaire whose only real talent apart from his self-fashioned “business deal negotiator extraordinaire” persona was perhaps his utterly shameless but brilliantly skillful self-promotion, voters seemed to like his no-nonsense “tell it like it is” anti-political correctness.

One candidate came across as genuine and authentic. The other was a spoiled rich kid with the vocabulary of a 12-year-old. One was honest, the other was a blatant bullshitter.

Ironically, the people who were tired of the bullshit of Washington, D.C. elected the bullshitter.

Go figure.

Now, thanks to President Trump, we are living in a post-truth world in which the very nature of truth and lies has seemingly been altered at the molecular level and rearranged. As someone in Trump’s entourage recently said, there is no such thing, anymore, as facts.

Facts have become bullshit and bullshit has become truth.

This may seem like some incomprehensibly insane alternate dimension plot of the TV show “Fringe”, but it makes complete sense after reading Harry G. Frankfurt’s book “On Bullshit”.

In his extremely short (a surprisingly deep 67 pages that even the notoriously bibliophobic Trump might actually be able to read if it weren’t so erudite and had pictures in it) dissertation on the definition and nature of bullshit, Frankfurt posits that most people incorrectly mistake lying with bullshit and vice versa. Bullshit’s relationship with truth and lies is not so easily apparent.

According to Frank, while similar and with often similar outcomes, lying and bullshitting are not the same.

Both actions stem from the truth and one’s relationship to it.

Liars respect the truth in that they, at least, acknowledge that something is true. A lie can’t be considered a lie if the liar doesn’t believe in the truth, which is the opposite of what he is trying to convey. “A person who lies,” writes Frankfurt, “is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to that extent respectful of it. When an honest man speaks, he says what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false. (p.56)”

Bullshitters, on the other hand, don’t give a shit if something is true or false. They simply want to convince everyone of their own perceived reality: “[The bullshitter] is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose. (p.56)”

When Trump tweeted that his inauguration had the largest attendance of any inauguration in history, despite all evidence to the contrary, he wasn’t lying. He was bullshitting. He didn’t care if his statement conformed to the truth. He was simply trying to convince everyone of the reality that he was seeing in his own mind, as opposed to the reality of Reality.

When Trump claimed that he won the popular vote, once one eliminated the five million or so “illegal” voters, he wasn’t lying. He was bullshitting. He couldn’t care less that his statements flew in the face of all evidence that voter fraud and malfeasance simply did not exist to the extent that he claimed. He was simply trying to convince everyone of his own reality.

Bullshitters like Trump are more dangerous than liars because liars can eventually be called out on their lies. At some point, a liar must admit defeat and acknowledge the very truth that they, in their hearts, know is true.

Bullshitters like Trump don’t need to admit defeat because they don’t care if what they are saying is true or not. They just need to say it loud enough and often enough that people become so inured to it that they eventually accept it as their own reality.

If Trump keeps bullshitting, and if enough people do nothing to countermand his bullshit---if his own party members cowtow to his every whim, if the media refuses to challenge him, if enough bored citizens sit around with their laissez faire “I don’t really follow politics” apathy and disinterest---the minority of those who refuse to buy his bullshit will be too powerless to stop him.

That’s no bullshit...

Pretentious poop. Bullshit, if you will.

Revisited Frankfurt’s On Bullshit for the new year while painting a landscape of Broadway in NYC.

This tiny book does its job in a blip of a moment. The hardback itself is small and filled with a few hours of reading depending on your speed.

Or, enjoy the pleasure of listening. Bought on Audible for a few dollars on sale a year or so ago.

With the speed set at 2x faster enjoy the firm blunt to the point descriptions and associations humbug, bullshit, and lies bear witness to in similarity and difference is what stuck out this time.

In the midst of caucus and primary season found this a humorous way to reflect on candidates. And, rhetorically entire process this year.

What stood out, not all politicians lie and most bullshit. Rare is a humbug but the vibe they shoot to the masses creates a mindset of delusions and division. Landing on the consumer. If they’re not in tune with the incoming crap and able to sift with intelligence. Rather than reaction.

The difference between lies and BS is mindset and intention. Read the book or shuffle to the previous review below for context.

Reading this book was a comical way of playing pin the term on the politician. Then, consider their positions and begin sizing up the decision to be made in November.

In another way, pinned the phrase on various circumstances and people of applicable to gain a new sense of clarity. This includes myself.

The exercise is meaningful in that my life is constantly improving.

In 2023 a crescendo occurred that opened a review of life the last few years and how goals were impacted. Consider what if any responsibility is mine, and how much was outside of my control.

In 2024 my interest is introspection and a return to great joy absent whoha or shenanigans as my son puts it, aka BS.

Most events were outside my control. Like, Covid changing the trajectory of my book signing and speaking author goals. Derecho at 140 mph wind ripping a house apart I’d recently purchased. Being Power of Attorney for a family member that went south due to the government ineptness, nefarious people, and places stealing among other issues major happenstances meanwhile remaining calm took a toll over 18 months. Major injury to my rotator cup wondering if I’d ever play guitar for children again to write or even draw and paint for the art to the illustrations.

This became overwhelming. Translated into big old bull crap. And, humbug. Though, never into lies.

What I really liked about the read this time is how it occurred. While painting something that gives me great joy. Reminds me of love and gratitude. Happiness.

I was able to see the context in a new way. Created mental pins with the three words. Easily targets the areas applicable. Creating a personal summary in simplistic relatable terms.

Now, applying the information to boosting my 2024 goals and happiness.

I have three primary focuses the first part of the year.

In order to tackle this and be on track it’s imperative not to submit to BS. Creating the focus required meanwhile enjoying the journey.

Playing pin the name - humbug, lie or BS on the noun: person, place, or thing is an enjoyable way to own my choices and have fun in the process.

What surprises me a little about myself, I could see these and sometimes allowed the who-ha because I added an external value to the circumstance. Like, I made this decision to commit and stuck with it even though the things outside my control were causing harm to my well being. Not anymore. The past few years squeezed that type of thinking out of my being.

Now, focused on building toward the dream of traveling as an author visiting readers near and far. Sharing these experiences with others to support their goals to do similar.

I’ve been working on this for many years. Now, I’m much better at weeding the proverbial BS. Making for a happier healthier me.

When someone reminded me of my previous review read it. Thought this time would like to share the impact of application.

Maybe you would enjoy pin the phrase on the noun, too

An inquiry into the nature of BS, elegantly written, and probably of value to anyone who may wish to understand the proliferation of BS in our information/communication saturated day and age. Not sure if this gives the reader more information on how to tell if one is being handed a line of BS (as opposed to lying) - that would depend on having knowledge of the topic. It is useful in explaining what BS is, how it is used, and may be useful in demonstrating how wide-spread it is, and to be on the lookout for it. There is no way to stop it, but it is very important, maybe vital, to be able to tell it apart from the truth.

I didn't expect to get such a kick out of this tongue in cheek little treatise. Definitely a must read for today's news cycle, that's for sure!

"Our natures are, indeed, elusively insubstantial-notoriously less stable and less inherent than the natures of other things. And insofar as this is the case, sincerity itself is bullshit."

This is how the work ends :)

ترجمه قابل قبول است.
جستار مصطفی ملکیان مفید اما بخش اول جستار زائد است.
ویراستاری درستی ندارد
صداقت از دنباله‌دارترین مفاهیم طرح شده در کتاب است که نه معادل‌اش پانویس شده و نه در نمایه آخر کتاب آمده.
Sincerity
کلی بحث و مقاله در مورد نظر عجیب فرانکفورت پیرامون صداقت پیدا می‌کنید
اون جایی که میگه:
صداقت هم حرف مفت است

I got about 25% through this book before I finally said, "Enough."

Two issues primarily influenced my decision:
1) I've graded enough essays to know when someone is utilizing a preponderance of unnecessary verbiage in an attempt to obfuscate an apparent dearth of meaning.
2) This quote: "Thus someone who lies about how much money he has in his pocket both gives an account of the amount of money in his pocket and conveys that he believes this account" (13). If I may be influenced by the title of the book, I must call bullshit. In order to lie, one must be aware of the truth. A lie is intentional. If I say that I have twenty dollars in my pocket while I only have ten dollars, I do not believe that I have twenty.

It is possible that this book does go on to contain useful information and intelligent observations, but I just didn't have the patience to get there. If someone tells me it's worth it to continue, I might push on.

I read this piece to get further elaboration on the meaning of bullshit that has been used by Mohd. Affandi Hassan in his work, "Pandirisme dalam Komuniti Dunia", where he criticises the Malay literature particularly the modern one which "lack concern to the truth and reality".

Harry Frankfurt in this essay adds that those who do the bullshit is the one who does not care whether things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.

The real lie according to St. Augustine is the lie which is told solely for the pleasure of lying and deceiving.

Thus, Frankfurt adds, the production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person's obligations opportunities to speak about some topic are more excessive than his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic. They speak extensively about matters of which they are to some degree ignorant.

What is worse is that they deny that we can have any reliable access to an objective reality and which therefore reject the possibility of knowing how things truly are. And the notion of "democratisation of opinions about everything" just exacerbated the condition.

That is why in the Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad SAW said it is better to remain silence if we can't say good words.
( من كان يؤمنُ بالله واليوم الآخِر فلْيَقُلْ خيرا أو لِيَصْمُت)

Even we need to refer something to the one who knows better than us or in the other word – to put the authority in its position.
(فاسئلوٓا أهل الذكرِ إن كنتم لا تعلمون)

This book is really bad, yet still deserves 3 stars, and gets a unique triple rating from me: "thrown aside," "crap" and "must re-read." I think they are all well deserved. I'd give it a fourth star since it made me think and that's worth something, but it's only bullshit after all.

Admittedly, much of my relationship with bullshit is focused on recent policital experiences. Thinking about it (you actually should, that's part of the point) I'll go for a simple definition: uncloaked lies. The point is that you tell an untruth with a wink and a quick flash of pulling away the fig leaf (love that metaphor) so that nobody can say you didn't warn them. Thus legally, such things aren't lies since the "just bullshitting" moniker disavows serious intent to deceive. However, *right behind that* is the quite evil actual simultaneous intent to get away with it, often because the fig leaf is meant to be sufficient. This way you can have your cake and eat it: "Imagine your grandma gives you $10 and your Mom takes $7. Would you still do your chores?!" (that's a paraphrase) "Who's gonna pay for the Wall? Mexico, 100%." (that's a damn quote) So we should just accept things as casual talk & discount them? Hmm. Ok, then, what about the tweet to launch the nukes? Devaluation of communication is the negative consequence of bullshit. "Harmless bullshit?" No such thing. There, I've gone from humor to doomsday in two sentences, so I'll desist.

The book however, though just a little pamphlet, still fails to achieve brevity or clarity. It seems to have been written as much or more to illustrate its topic as to explain it. That is, you have to peel away the bullshit encrusted shrubbery of obfuscation (eew, wash your hands after) in order to get to the points. That's too bad because it's a funny topic, but Franfurt, a philosopher, is unable to access focused, incisive language. Indeed too thick a layer of concealing textual compost creates a faint revealing scent and that caused me to suspect I was being bullshat (dibs) all along. But no, my judgment is it was sincere, and indeed humorous, but only if diabolically complex sentence structure and unnecessary vocabulary sets you giggling, which it usually does me, so that's saying something. ...bad. ...about both me and "On Bullshit."

42 großzügig bedruckte Taschenbuchseiten zur Definition von Bullshit - irgendwie war ich mir sicher, dass hierbei noch genügend Raum bliebe für amüsante und/oder satirische Betrachtungen darüber, wann und wo überall Sprüche abgelassen würden, die als Bullshit zu betrachten wären.
Doch weit gefehlt. Dieses Büchlein ist eine durch und durch ernsthafte linguistische und philosophische Abhandlung über den Begriff Bullshit, wobei alleine die ersten 12 Seiten dazu dienen, die Abgrenzung zu Humbug festzulegen.Weiterhin wird die Herkunft wie auch die Verwandtschaft ähnlich klingender Worte analysiert, was ihn von der Lüge unterscheidet und so weiter und so weiter.
Für Linguisten mag dies durchaus geeignet sein ihren Wissensdurst zu stillen, für Anna und Otto Normalo (zu denen ich mich auch zähle) findet sich jedoch nur recht wenig wirklich Interessantes. So bin ich nun ein bisschen schlauer geworden, unterhalten habe ich mich dabei aber nicht.

This book was a crock of bull. It's basically a definition of bullshit and other euphemisms such as "humbug" and...don't we already have a dictionary? I don't need a tiny dictionary written for just one word.