Bullshit
Disclaimer: yes, this post will contain "cursing." It will contain multiple occurences of the word "bullshit." If this offends you, please stop reading now. Am I concerned about my children reading this? My children see images of war, instances of violence and hatred, and people being cruel to each other everywhere they look. I'm much more concerned about those things than about them reading the word "bullshit."
If someone were to ask me what my favorite curse word - heck, maybe my favorite word altogether - is, it would probably be "bullshit." I guess that gives some insight into my current frame of mind.
In the movie, "The Talented Mr. Ripley," Phillip Baker Hall's detective character has a great line: "I don't care for bullshit; I don't care to hear it. I don't care to speak it." If only we all, as a society, would adopt this mindset. It just seems that no matter where we turn, we are bombarded by bullshit. Our government bullshits us. We bullshit each other. Our schools are bullshitting our children, and our children are learning the art of "the bullshit."
Author and philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt, in his short treatise, "On Bullshit," writes: "One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share."
People say things, not because it's true or relevant, but because it seems like something they should say, or just because they enjoy the sound of their own voice. No one wants to be real anymore, they just want to smile, open their mouths, and let the bullshit spew forth.
So how do we stop it? We can't. All we can do is recognize when we're being bullshitted and try to see through it. We can also try to eliminate the bullshit from our own worlds. Ah... a bullshit-free life... sounds pleasant, doesn't it?
If someone were to ask me what my favorite curse word - heck, maybe my favorite word altogether - is, it would probably be "bullshit." I guess that gives some insight into my current frame of mind.
In the movie, "The Talented Mr. Ripley," Phillip Baker Hall's detective character has a great line: "I don't care for bullshit; I don't care to hear it. I don't care to speak it." If only we all, as a society, would adopt this mindset. It just seems that no matter where we turn, we are bombarded by bullshit. Our government bullshits us. We bullshit each other. Our schools are bullshitting our children, and our children are learning the art of "the bullshit."
Author and philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt, in his short treatise, "On Bullshit," writes: "One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share."
People say things, not because it's true or relevant, but because it seems like something they should say, or just because they enjoy the sound of their own voice. No one wants to be real anymore, they just want to smile, open their mouths, and let the bullshit spew forth.
So how do we stop it? We can't. All we can do is recognize when we're being bullshitted and try to see through it. We can also try to eliminate the bullshit from our own worlds. Ah... a bullshit-free life... sounds pleasant, doesn't it?
3 Comments:
My favorite cuss word is 'Christassfuckpiss."
Look it up...
Great. You had to go and take a nice, polite discussion and turn it nasty. Shame on you. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
I have seen poor old women in India use Bull---- to fortify village walls. They used it as a kind of spackle.
They, apparently, have a use for it.
Then again... maybe it was just mud.
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