IMHO the best book of the summer is Harry G. Frankfurt’s On Bullshit.
This book is essential reading if you watch television “news,” work in a university, or just happen to be alive in the 21st Century.
Frankfurt attempts to build a theory of bullshit that distinguishes it from “humbug” and “lying”. He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all.
Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant.
In the end, Frankfurt muddies the water as to whether George W. Bush is merely a liar or bullshitter–but for Frankfurt a bullshitter is a more insidious threat to the truth than a liar is.
Either way it’s obvious that the majority of Americans are in need of reading this book.
Are bullshiitters more reprehensible than liars? A short video interview with Harry G. Frankfurt.
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My momma always told me that the difference between liars and bullshitters:
Bullshitters admit to their lies, while liars lie about their lying.
So, my Momma would (and does) call Bush a liar. (actually she uses the midwestern term “fibber”)
pmm