Tag: sincerity

The Danger of Bullshit: Revisiting Harry Frankfurt’s Classic Essay

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat) 
‘The liar is inescapably concerned with truth-values. In order to invent a lie at all, he must think he knows what is true.’ (p. 51)

The Danger of Bullshit: Revisiting Harry Frankfurt’s Classic Essay

Harry Frankfurt argues that bullshit is more dangerous than lying. At first sight, this seems counter-intuitive. Surely lying is worse than bullshitting? Liars are intentionally and deliberately trying to deceive us. Normally, doing something bad (e.g. deceiving someone) intentionally makes the action worse than if it is done unintentionally, for example accidentally or absentmindedly. If this is the case, how can bullshit be worse than lying?

The reason Frankfurt gives is that, whereas liars at least pay some respect to the difference between what is true and what isn’t, bullshitters completely disregard it. They simply don’t care about the difference. This, Frankfurt argues, means that compulsive bullshitters become progressively less able to tell the truth than compulsive liars. Liars and truth tellers are playing on opposite sides of the same game. Bullshitters are playing a different game entirely where the rules of truth don’t matter. This lack of concern, Frankfurt argues, is more corrosive of one’s ability to distinguish the truth than deliberately obscuring the truth. Once one gets into the habit of bullshitting, it is difficult to get out of it.

Related:

On Bullshit Booklet (PDF)Download

Defying Niger exit order leaves U.S. troops vulnerable, whistleblower says

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Defying Niger exit order leaves U.S. troops vulnerable, whistleblower says

“We have Army soldiers right now in Niger who aren’t getting their troop rotations, who aren’t getting their medicine, who aren’t getting their supplies, who aren’t getting their mail and the two senior people in the United States Army are sitting before me and it’s like ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil,’” said Gaetz.

Previously:

BBC: Niger’s Junta Revokes Military Agreement With US

He [Col Amadou Abdramane] also alleged that the US delegation had accused Niger of making a secret deal to supply uranium to Iran. Col Abdramane described the accusation as “cynical” and “reminiscent of the second Iraq war”.

BBC: Niger’s Junta Revokes Military Agreement With US

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

Niger’s Junta Revokes Military Agreement With US

“The US presence on the territory of the Republic of Niger is illegal and violates all the constitutional and democratic rules which would require the sovereign people… to be consulted on the installation of a foreign army on its territory,” Niger’s military spokesperson Col Amadou Abdramane said in a damning statement on national television.

He also alleged that the US delegation had accused Niger of making a secret deal to supply uranium to Iran. Col Abdramane described the accusation as “cynical” and “reminiscent of the second Iraq war”.

And finally, he suggested that the US had raised objections about the allies that Niger had chosen. “The government of Niger therefore strongly denounces the condescending attitude combined with the threat of reprisals by the head of the American delegation against the government and the people of Niger,” Col Abdramane said.