Liars Lie, Bullshitters Don't Care

The cosmic energy seems to be coalescing around a couple of flavors of dissembling today.

First, I just read a terrific little book called, On Bullshit, by Harry C. Frankfurt.  In it, Frankfurt, begins with by saying, "One of the most salient feature of our culture is that there is so much bullshit."  He then goes on to explore the concept of bullshit, particularly differentiating bullshit from lying.

Liars and bullshitters are, Frankfurt says, both misrepresenting themselves.  But while the liar is trying to lead us away from what s/he knows to be the truth, the bullshitter doesn't care about truth, because bullshitters don't believe in "truth."  When we're bullshitting, we're trafficking in the world of "possibilities" not in the world of "realities." 

It's possible, for example, that "people are out most important asset," right?  Who can disprove that, "we're committed to superior customer service?"  These are, as Frankfurt puts it:

...assertions that purport to describe the way things are, but that cannot be anything but bullshit.

I love Frankfurt's quote of Arthur Simpson's advise to his young son:

Never tell a lie when you can bullshit your way through.

What matters in bullshit is that it be "sincere," not that it be "correct"; the triumph of form over content.

But marketers, Seth says, are liars.  What he means is that marketers tell stories, like the story that a $10 tube of mascara will make you lovely, or that the $50,000 watch will make you more prestigious than the $49 one.  His point: consumers want to be lied to; we want marketers to tell us enticing stories so that we will feel better about ourselves when we buy their products.

Now, using Frankfurt's construction, is this lying, or is this bullshit?  Do marketers substitute falsehoods for truth, or do they not care about the truth? 

I don't think marketers (or marketing) are serious enough to be liars; I just think they're bullshit artists. 

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Check out Seth's exchange with Hugh on this thread.

Comments

[Paul M. Martin]

Bullshit Example: "Merck: Where we put patients first." This is the pharmaceutical company that sat on the Vioxx heart problem results for two years while they profited from heavy marketing of the drug. I first heard this slogan of theirs shortly after the Vioxx news broke...

I have an uncle who once made an interesting generalization about marketing. To learn the truth, just realize it's the exact opposite of what's claimed. Common example: "Tastes like homemade!" PM Martin www.spiritualdiablog.blogspot.com

[Tom Guarriello]

Great example, Paul. I love your uncle's simple wisdom! Thanks for stopping by.

[Aleah]

Really great post, Tom. I have been thinking about this subject a lot and have been dealing with quite a few "BSers" as of late. Because they deal in possibilities and convincing others of the possibilities, they start to believe the BS too. In that, they aren't lying or BSing so much as subscribing to their own idea of truth. Tricky stuff, but important enough to keep shedding light on. :-)

[dan]

On bullshit-- as the "American Idol" show continues to be popular- Top 2 or 3 Ratings every week, has anyone else, besides me, noticed, that as a particular contestant is "Voted off", the next day on "News" shows, etc., that person is deemed- "IDOL Jessica", or "Idol Bill" was voted off-- so now the failed contestant is known as "IDOL'??? Understanding so much hype and "Branding" (Another new kind of insideous Bullshit)--does this mean that words no longer have any qualitative meaning?? These kinds of Pop-culture shows seem to enlarge and enhance Prof. F

rankfurt's thesis..Agree?

[Tom Guarriello]

Of course, the "reality" which they depict is, in itself, bullshit. Keeping that BS patina going as long as possible keeps up the supply of bullshit celebrities.

Seth Godin calls branding (all marketing, really) "lying," while I prefer "bullshit" for its linguistic distinctiveness from, for example, telling your wife you were "out with the boys" while philandering.