Lying, Misrepresentation, and Bullshit
I just noticed that Harry Frankfurt's classic essay "On Bullshit" has been published as a (very short) book. You can read the orginal essay here, or go see an interview with Frankfurt about the book here.
Lying is usually understood to involve saying something that you believe to be false, although some might add that what you say must actually be false. Misrepresentation, I think, involves saying something that you believe to be true, in order to get your audience to believe something that you believe to be false. Bullshit, according to Frankfurt, involves saying anything at all, with complete disregard for whether it is true or false, in order to get your audience to believe what you want them to believe.
Hmmmm ... I challenge your definition of the bullshit. I don't think there's any requirement that it be used to get people to believe what you want them to believe. It's purpose might equally be to baffle and annoy them. I've seen you use it for that purpose plenty of times.
Comment by Filthy Stinking No.9 — June 26, 2005 @ 1:35 pm
Here's a recent story from the North Korean News. Would you classify this as lying, or bullshit? Or, if they honestly believe it to be true ... then what is it?
"The U.S. set June 25 as the day to start the war from the calculation that, it being Sunday, no one would believe the U.S. and south Korea would launch the war on Sunday because Christians in both countries did not work on the Sabbath. This was aimed to cover up their true colors as a provoker of the war. Based on the detailed operation plan worked out in advance and meticulous military preparations for the war, the U.S. imperialists started attacks against the DPRK on the whole front all of a sudden at the dawn of June 25, 1950. At the same time, the U.S. ordered its air force to carry out large-scale air raids on the front and all areas of the northern half of Korea. The Korean war was a war of barbarous genocide aimed to exterminate the Korean nation and wreck peace.
The U.S. crimes against peace and humanity will be cursed and censured by history and human conscience generation after generation."
Comment by Filthy Stinking No.9 — June 27, 2005 @ 3:13 pm
I think Frankfurt neglected one of the main functions of bullshit - as entertainment or sport. I like to think of it as informal debating.
North Korean press releases are hard to categorise but I will hazard a couple of suggestions:
(1) The North Koreans are trying to sound crazy. Reagan gave the impression that he was a little bit nuts, maybe nuts enough to shoot first, and that made the Reds all a little more cautious. Maybe the North Koreans are trying the same trick. On this view their press releases are bullshit.
(2) The North Koreans sound crazy because they are crazy. On this view it doesn't matter whether their press releases are lies, misrepresentation, bullshit, or even good faith attempts to tell the truth, because the crazy little fucknuts have such a slim grasp on the truth that they can't even make up stuff that sounds like it.
Comment by Dr. Strangelove — June 28, 2005 @ 6:51 am