A Helping of Bullshit, Anyone?

I was reading some of the fine articles by the folks over at Language Log, and several times they indicated that such-and-such satisfied the technical definition of bullshit. Intrigued, I followed the link, and was taken to the site for Princeton Philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt's book “On Bullshit”. Amazed that such a book could be written, and that renowned philosopher Wittgenstein evoked in such writing, well, I had to read it. So, as they say, in less than a minute I had called the book from the cloud to my reader, ready for my perusal.

What I learned is that bullshit does withstand a technical definition, and that it is distinct from lying, although it is designed to deceive. Whereas the liar is still intimately concerned with the truth, for the purpose of denying their listener or reader access to it, the bullshitter reveals a blatant disregard for the truth. Instead of verifying the correctness of his or her details, the expounder of dung carries on without concern for the voracity of what they are saying, oftentimes when the exact details, hence the truth, could be easily obtained.

What separates bullshit from mere laziness, however, is the former's intent to deceive. An individual may not know the factual details, and may expound briefly on the subject, but the knowledgeable one must soon give way, knowing they do not know and cognizant of their lack (and unwilling to go look it up). Bullshit, however, is still designed to deceive: To allow the writer or speaker the ability to carry on towards some other goal without concern for the facts; to try on ideas to see how they sound, or, more often in our political world, to throw out ideas just to see if they have carrying power because they further someone's aims.

Coincidentally, while watching the TV last night I was given the perfect example: Rick Santorum, during one of his campaign speeches, expounded on the idea that “I think its seven or eight of the California System of Universities don't even teach an American History course. It's not even available to be taught.”

The details are easily verifiable, in fact numerous people have gone to the effort to look into the offerings of the CA university system, with the demonstrable gain that all except one (a medical school!) offer and require American History of their students.

Does that make Rick Santorum a liar? In all likelihood, no. It was not his intent to deny us the truth, for surely he understands how easily we could look that up. No, his was the desire to float a different idea: The meme that American Colleges and Universities (and those educated by them) are out of touch with some 'real' America and out of touch with the morals and values of said 'real' America. The presence or absence of American History at the universities provides neither proof nor disproof of his idea, but gives a useful hook into establishing the meme.

The idea he is attempting to float is surely as false as his sloppy disregard for the actual offerings by the universities, and now, thanks to professor Frankfurt, I can proclaim, without malice or prejudice, and with technical certitude:

Bullshit, Mr. Santorum!