Bullshit is an argument, statement or act of expression which both pretends to the legitimacy normally accorded to an endeavor concerned with the truth, and is put forth by someone to whom the truth is in fact of no great concern and whose only guiding interest is in having a desired effect on others. There may be much truth to it, or none at all, but the fact is that the authors of bullshit do not much care either way. This fact about themselves is the only truth they are concerned with, and their only concern with regard to it is that it stay hidden.
There is no society where bullshit is not at least sometimes, under some condition, perceived to be a virtue.
Lots of literary criticism is bullshit. This is inevitable. Lots of criticism admits its degree of unconcern with the truth. This is honest.
Lots, though not all, of literature, even great literature, is total bullshit. This is not usually a big deal. But when literature's bullshit is compounded with the label of scripture, credited in some measure to a design greater than a human's, that can be a very big deal. There is no occasion so appropriate, as the development of Holy Writ, for the words Holy Shit, just as correctly spelled Wholly Shit. For there is no bullshit more profound than when humans become ghostwriters for the divine.
Lots of people who insist they're speaking truth to power are bullshitting. This is much of modern public politics, and most of modern activism.
You might think I'm bullshitting about bullshit. I'm absolutely certain that I am not. The worst I could be is flat-out wrong. This I doubt, though I won't say I'm absolutely certain.
There is no society where bullshit is not at least sometimes, under some condition, perceived to be a virtue.
Lots of literary criticism is bullshit. This is inevitable. Lots of criticism admits its degree of unconcern with the truth. This is honest.
Lots, though not all, of literature, even great literature, is total bullshit. This is not usually a big deal. But when literature's bullshit is compounded with the label of scripture, credited in some measure to a design greater than a human's, that can be a very big deal. There is no occasion so appropriate, as the development of Holy Writ, for the words Holy Shit, just as correctly spelled Wholly Shit. For there is no bullshit more profound than when humans become ghostwriters for the divine.
Lots of people who insist they're speaking truth to power are bullshitting. This is much of modern public politics, and most of modern activism.
You might think I'm bullshitting about bullshit. I'm absolutely certain that I am not. The worst I could be is flat-out wrong. This I doubt, though I won't say I'm absolutely certain.
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