In 2005, Princeton professor, Harry Frankfurt, put out a handy, 67 page pamphlet that tackled an often heard, though rarely scrutinized subject, bullshit! Frankfurt acknowledges that it's a challenge to define it properly. Much like porn, you know it when you see/hear it, but he views it as "a lack of a connection or concern for the truth, an indifference to how things really are". He sees similarities with the word "humbug" and offers: "disruptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious word or deed, of somebody's own thoughts, feelings or attitudes". He also references "bluff, bravado, and hot air".
As I read the pamphlet, the parallels to Trump were striking, and it's important to remember that Frankfurt wrote this a decade before Trump's 2016 campaign.
Here the author contrasts the liar with the bullshitter:
"Bullshitting involves not merely producing one instance of bullshit; it involves a program of producing bullshit to whatever extent the circumstances require. This is a key, perhaps, to his preference. Telling a lie is an act with sharp focus. It is designed to insert a particular falsehood at a specific point in a set or system of beliefs in order to avoid the consequences of having that point occupied by the truth. This requires a degree of craftsmanship, in which the teller of the lie submits to objective constraints imposed by what he takes to be the truth. The liar is inescapably concerned with truth-values. In order to invent a lie at all, he must think he knows what is true. And in order to invent an effective lie, he must design his falsehood under the guidance of the truth. On the other hand, a person who undertakes to bullshit his way through has much more freedom. His focus is panoramic rather than particular. He does not limit himself to inserting a certain falsehood at a specific point, and thus he is not constrained by the truths surrounding that point or intersecting it. He is prepared, so far as required, to fake the context as well. This freedom from the constraints to which the liar must submit does not necessarily mean, of course, that his task is easier than the task of the liar. But the mode of creativity upon which it relies is less analytical and less deliberative than that which is mobilized in lying. It is more expansive and independent, with more spacious opportunities for improvisation, color, and imaginative play. This is less a matter of craft than of art. Hence the familiar notion of the "bullshit artist".
Lies still matter to me, enormously, and Trump is the gold medal winner, by far, with WAPO tracking over 30,000 in his first term. But I have to say that I now have a better understanding of his penchant for, and talent with bullshitting, and I have to think he honed it over the decades, as he touted his real estate projects, his "university", his steaks, and numerous other scams that thankfully have left my consciousness. And I know how the cult gleefully embraces the BS, and for them it's not a bug, it's a feature. These newly engaged citizens never realized politics could be so goddamn entertaining!
https://www.amazon.com/Bullshit-Harry-G-Frankfurt/dp/0691122946
Peter T.
