Bullshit Round two.

My college composition writing class was assigned to read Harry Frankfurt's two essays: On Bullshit, and On Truth, as well as Bullshit and Philosophy. These are my thoughts from what I read.

An Acquired Smell.
“Indeed, one man’s self deception is another man’s bullshit.” – Scott Kimbrough : On Letting It Go, from Bullshit & Philosophy.
After examining the full on ‘shit storm’ of philosophical view points on the topic of bullshit, or yanking of the chain, or humbug, it has become apparent that in modern American society, this act of deception will never disappear. More and more forms of communication are popping up, many in written form; others visual. The art of bullshit is evolving at a rapid pace and in turn, people are becoming more gullible. In a sense, the pile is so large that it is harder to sift through and find the truth. To some, a bigger pile might be a bad thing, for others it could be a cushion. Every day we often come face to face with a choice: Bullshit or Truth. My friends, I choose Bullshit. Before anyone calls me a shameless and self deprecating, sorry, self deceptive human being, hear me out. This is not a new epiphany and I am not a born again Bullshitter. Looking back, I was a pro from an early age. From acting like I knew how to change oil with my grandfather, to thesis papers in high school, bullshit has been bred into me, and I’ll go out on a limb here and say that it has been bred into almost every child in America. In this nation bullshit is accepted: hell, it’s encouraged.
Christmas sweaters hold the essence of bullshit. In this case, both the giver and the receiver of the gift are bullshitters, bullshitting each other. Whoever is giving this marvelous gift, hopefully, knows that no one in their right mind would enjoy this itchy piece of clothing, and the lucky recipient of the sweater knows they must accept it and pretend to like it. Both know the truth about the situation, yet disregard it. This form of ‘humbug’ is needed to keep each party happy. In this situation, truth would start chaos.
We, as a species, need this form of ‘truthiness’ to survive. As Jack Nicholson states, rather yells, in A Few Good Men, “You can’t handle the truth!” is right on point. America has been bred to take the truth as a lie, and bullshit as the truth. If this backwards way of thinking were to be reversed, then people would really be s.o.l. As long as people believe in something, bullshit or the actual truth they are at least believing something, giving them a sense of hope. People need hope, especially now.
The Evolution of Bullshit (not supported by Charles Darwin)
Other species of animals teach their offspring special skills. For instance, birds teach their young to fly, lions to hunt, and elephants teach their calves the ways to find water. Well, humans teach their kids many skills that can be used at the present moment, and further down the line; one of those skills would be the art of bullshitting. As Scott Kimbrough lays out in his essay from Bullshit and Philosophy: “We teach our children to apologize by forcing them to say things they don’t really mean. Truth, in this context, is the last thing we want.” Children, from the time they are born, are as impressionable as a wet mound of clay. Society is the sculptor, and one’s parents are the pedal which turns the table. Two year old children are the most honest members of the human race. Right around this age is where kids become impressionable, but prior to the ‘terrible twos,’ children speak whatever is on their mind. This habit is quickly corrected.
Like Kimbrough said, these children are forced to go against their own beliefs to suit the needs of society. That child has just taken their first lesson in bullshit and passed. Although they know the kick to the shin of their sibling was necessary, the child will apologize because the parents pressures the child into it; showing them that when another person’s feelings are hurt it is mandatory to apologize. Over time, these apologies become more and more frequent as the harm towards others starts to shift into the realm of spoken word and no longer consists of physical violence. To keep the order, these lessons of humbug are absolutely necessary. Kids must be taught to put up with, and dish out an enormous load of this slant on the truth. To raise a child in the twenty first century without instilling this skill in them is to raise a loser (p.6, Bullshit and Philosophy).
“Why you think we need amazing grace just to tell it like it is?” – Dr. Dog, Hang On
Honesty in this day and age is not acceptable. In all forms of communication a slant on the truth is the norm. Many news networks take the truth and slant it in the favor of whatever view their head honcho deems as ‘true’. Fox News and MSNBC are two prime examples; Fox being more conservative, and MSNBC being on the liberal end of the spectrum. These two stations are the two extremes, using bullshit to manipulate the truth into something that supports their own view point. There is no news network that does not use some sort of humbug. The appearance of the anchors themselves is utter bullshit. Who has hair that perfect or posture that straight? I’ll tell you, no one! But the image gives us what we want to see, perfect people. The people look so happy and unchanged as they speak of the five hundredth killing in Philadelphia that year, or the recent case of arson; this sense of happiness makes it all seem okay. This false sense of security instills in people a true sense of security, that nothing can be that bad.
“Always something cooking, but nothing is in the pot!” – John Lennon: Nobody Told Me
After examining all these different views and types of bullshit, I feel as if I am in the eye of the ‘shit storm’. At the moment, there is a general understanding of the topic, its effects, and the pros and cons to each; but in about ten minutes that eye is going to move somewhere else, raining a whole bunch of shit on my parade, so to speak. Following will most likely be pink eye and a sense of confusion. Bullshit is constantly evolving, the truth becoming further and further from the truth. Due to the evolution of communication, this is bound to happen. More and more people are obtaining the means to preach the ‘truth’ from their soapbox; be it an internet blog, radio show, or some sort of printed method of communication. The truth is hidden under so many other ‘truths’ that we have resorted to choosing the ‘truth’ that sounds the best to us, that caters to our needs and allows us to sleep at night.
Kids need to know that Columbus was the Native’s best friend; no way did he take them as slaves and kill, kill, kill! Adults need to know that they too, will be safe; Social Security is here to stay! America needs to know that there is such a thing as normal, and it consists of 2.5 kids, two cars, and that very white, white picket fence. Mother Earth needs to know that we care dearly about her.
You, the reader, the true mind; the future, must know that these statements are bullshit, of which I am sure you do. That being said, what kind of state would we be in if we thought that that was bullshit, not our previous thinking of that as true? Chiropractics would no longer be looked at as bullshit, and new wave recreational drugs would be in full swing: robo-trip anyone? Bullshit just makes a better and more tolerable truth. It’s easier to swallow jell-o than a B12 vitamin.

Day to day communication needs bullshit. Truth needs bullshit. We need bullshit. I need bullshit.