Tuesday, September 30, 2008

On Bullshit




Quickie Recap: What is bullshit? Bullshit is less than a lie, but a nontruth nonetheless, that aims to impress and persuade the audience at hand.


Quickie Review: What is bullshit? This essay is bullshit. Nobody seems to call Frankfurt on this, though, which makes me think he's sitting in an oak-panelled office somewhere just gloating and stroking his beard (as if he doesn't have a beard!). But I'll say it. This was bullshit at its finest, and in actually publishing an essay on bullshit that is bullshit and getting away with it, Frankfurt deserves the title of bullshit artist. And I don't mean that in a bad way at all, because it was a very amusing little read and I think the whole concept of writing bullshit about bullshit to be very clever, and I have lots of respect for the person who pulled it off. By his own definition of the word - Frankfurt is never lying, but he is, I dare say, misrepresenting his own thoughts and feelings on bullshit, because let's be honest here, can anyone really have felt a need for a whole book on bullshit? Doubtful. But can anyone have thought it a marvellous little joke to publish a seemingly serious piece on something that can never ever be taken seriously? I think that to be the case. Is it bull? Is it trivial nonsense? Yes, it is. But highly entertaining.


Quickie Recommendation: There is a slim slice of the more literary-minded set who will find this to be all kinds of clever.

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