BULLSHIT-19
We’re publishing an original essay today by regular contributor James Alexander, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Bilkent University in Turkey. In this piece, he surveys the academic literature on bullshit – yes, there is a substantial body of work – and concludes that there is a strong strain of bullshit in the response by governments around the world to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is an extract:
Bullshit is obviously essential to politics. Consider the following description, in effect, of a politician: “The bullshitter may not deceive us, or even intend to do so, either about the facts or about what he takes the facts to be. What he does necessarily attempt to deceive us about is his enterprise. His only indispensably distinctive characteristics is that in a certain way he misrepresents what he is up to”. The consequence of the existence of bullshit, of this trading in truth or perhaps untruth in a careless but extremely purposeful manner, is that it creates a bullshit world. Truth has never mattered much in politics. Much is symbol, or magic, or illusion. Consider ‘representation’ for instance: it is nothing but symbol, magic and illusion. Consider crown, unction, sceptre, sword, wig, robe, and the ultimate English bullshit of the phrase ‘My right honourable friend’. Voltaire famously said that the Holy Roman Empire was not holy, not Roman and not an empire. In the same way, our ‘right honourable friend’ is not right, not honourable and not our friend. I jest, so let us quote Frankfurt again: “Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about.” Again, and in the spirit of being generous to politicians, this is eminently political. For politics, certainly parliamentary and deliberative and consultative and counselling politics, involves everyone talking about things they know nothing about: the future, or the facts. Bertrand de Jouvenel brilliantly defined politics as being whatever is left over when the engineers, technocrats and experts have solved all our problems. He defined politics as being composed of problems which cannot be solved but only settled, through compromise and accommodation, and, we might add, in a less decorous age than Jouvenel’s, by bluster, balderdash and bullshit.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Assuming the Guardian wrote Ivermectin is a horse de-wormer that would be no more true than if it wrote hammers are used for hurting one’s thumb: Reducing a complex phenomenon to a single aspect which happens to go along with certain political narrative is lying by omission.
Ivermectin is an antiparasitical substance which can – among other things – also be used to de-worm horse with a sufficiently high dosage. It’s also used to combat human parasites, most prominently, those causing river blindness, and reportedly, also has some anti-viral properties, whatever that specifically means. Intentionally leaving all of this out is not the same as telling the truth.
“Lying by omission” is what it used to be called.
Yep. The general point is we still don’t know whether Ivermectin is quackery or miracle cure or maybe neither. The unsettling part is that nobody seems to bother very much about checking – certainly not the Ivermectin peddlers, but (more shockingly) neither the naysayers nor the press. So yes, it is quite appropriate to conclude the involved parties are “not concerned about the truth” – it’s bullshit.
The Time For Clowning Around Is Over
Brand New Stand in the Park Wokingham
Howard Palmer Gardens Wokingham RG40 2BX
behind the Cockpit Path car park in the centre of the town
Sundays from 10am
Do you think all the Covid restrictions should end?
Are you worried about medical coercion via vaccine passports?
Are you worried about forced injections on children?
Meet fellow anti lockdown freedom lovers, keep yourself sane, make new friends and have a laugh
Join Telegram groups
http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
https://t.me/standindparkreading
Oh dear the raye is rostered for Sunday troll duty. The bullshit meter will be glowing.
jeez – i hadn’t noticed whom i was replying too
When you say “we still don’t know whether Ivermectin is quackery or miracle cure or maybe neither” that is bullshittery too. It has clearly worked against the virus in Uttar Pradesh and there has been research which shows it works too. It seems you are careless of the truth
The Zeneco protocol is / has been used for much of this ‘pandemic’ to almost 100% success – it’s tailored to each patient and ivermectin is a main ingredient- maybe nuance is buried under the bullshit
the ivermectin peddlers include a large number of ahem formerly highly regarded frontline doctors using it in their daily clinical practice – i think they probably check themselves and are highly invested in their patient outcomes
No, that’s not correct. If you are able to find peer reviewed publications by Tess Lawrie or Pierre Kory, you will find higher quality clinical evidence that ivermectin is very useful in covid19 than that the vaccines are & there’s a mere four billion doses worth of safety information. It’s extremely well tolerated. The stories put about that it was resulting in poisonings were lies, I’m afraid.
MSM will never report the statement made by Dr Ryan Cole of the multi faceted anti viral, anti inflammatory benefits to this drug, safely used in over 4 billion doses and counting, responsible as part of a suite of early treatments, documented by Fleming and many others, used in India ( goodness me what happened to the dire reports of a virus out of control in India – come on MSSM, you’re slipping ) the US and elsewhere – but NOT in the UK where the strategy was to protect the NHS – for the early treatment and prevention of hospitalisation for patients who contracted SARS COV2.
Fleming’s peer reviewed papers on this are the most read documents on the treatment of CV19 – part of the indictment of Nuremberg II trial of all UK participants in this cull of humanity – “Failure to consider all possible treatments from all over the world as part of the strategy to deal with SARS COV2”
It’s helpful to Guardian writers that most people don’t know that it’s VERY common for pharmaceuticals to have multiple utilities. Consider the class of compounds called glucocorticosteroids. Inhaled they are useful especially in asthma; topically for atopic dermatitis; systemically for a wide range of inflammatory disorders which are nothing to do with skin or lungs. Most of us do know that Viagra, aka sildenafil, was originally developed for a heart condition, during which process its effects on erection were discovered. There is also a formulation of the very same drug that’s useful to treat a life threatening condition called pulmonary hypertension. I once read that close to half the drugs in the British National Formulary had a primary indication (medical condition) different from that originally conceived by the R&D team who advanced it, often many years earlier. Among the most precious jewels that are occasionally discovered by pharma in its better role are medicines of NEW MECHANISM OF ACTION. This is not only because it’s hoped there’ll be at least one new medicine for a troublesome disease but that it can be tested in several other disorders which plausibly bear common underlying pathobiology. In light of this, it really shouldn’t… Read more »
‘The coincidence of everyone in bullshitting jobs spewing out the same bullshit means we have lived for 18 months in a world of bullshit.’
Amen. And holding on to previously held beliefs when all around you have turned to bullshit is monumentally difficult. Although it’s hard, all of us must be developing incredible coping skills. Hold the line one and all! Bullshit is bullshit, this enterprise is built on bullshit and it will soon sink into its own bullshit*
*or buckshot, as my phone wants to put it.
Its never been about “health” folks…
And they [GloboCap] are so brazen about it… of course they keep having to spell it out for you…
BUILD BACK BETTER
What comes next? The end of cash, and say hello to Britcoin.
https://off-guardian.org/2021/10/01/programmable-digital-currency-the-next-stage-of-the-new-normal/
See where this is going?
No bullshit required….
See where this is going?
We are now firmly on the road to hell and not a single good intention has yet been spotted.
Next comes civil war I believe.
In your dreams. We are the 5%.
The resistance has a disciplined army already, just look at this lot go! They sure showed Dr Hillary who’s in charge!
https://brandnewtube.com/watch/dr-hilary-has-been-served-notice_QZnfHNnNEYoW2L1.html
Dr. Pilloried (he should be)? Not a mention of this incident on this morning’s shiny people brekky propaganda TV prog according to someone who watches it.
I understand the ivory-toothed monster did his usual terror pro jab prods following the tragic death of a healthy 15-year-old girl who apparently died of COVID myocarditis the day she was due to have her first life-saving jab. With faux dour-faced sobriety, they pronounced that “one in 20 children had the virus on any day last week.” HUH???
Queue the fear nudges aimed directly at teens who appear to have stopped falling for the greaseburger kebab for a Jab BS all of a sudden. Instead, they may start dropping in the streets cos they’re dithering about getting the experimental gene therapy. Wait for it…
Right now we are about 10% I think. As we work our way through the boosters and things get increasingly despotic, that percentage will grow.
First prize for falling into the bullshit trap.
First prize to you for being full of it.
Here’s some anti-bullshit: Graham Hood, the Qantas pilot who made the news with a video last month, spoke on Friday at a protest on the Queensland/New South Wales border. We’re rising up in Lockdownunder!
Great speech. That’s how I always imagined Australians; I hope they find a way back.
The problem with group think BS, it encourages in the box mentality and ends up becoming self destructive. It’s obvious conclusion is a predefined, controllable future, but this can’t really be foreseen, when out of the box thinking is needed in order to guess at what may be around the corner.
Few civilisations predict their own demise
There are plenty predicting the downfall but those running the show are deaf to it
A excellent article, the best one on this site for a long while.
Today’s top bullshitter is Juergen Klopp then.
Unless he actually doesn’t believe it and has read the more recent research and the PEI’s, CDC’s&co recent statements in regards of the nonsense he just spouted, then, he would just be a liar.
Possibly, if not even likely, he also got paid for spouting this misinformation, in which case he would also be corrupt.
He is a football manager. I am not a fan of the bullshit jobs theory but if I was this would be close to the top.
HOAX-19 is more accurate, ‘bullshit’ still tries to rationalise the lies of the liars as just incompetence. The pandemic is a worldwide, coordinated hoax to create a false state of emergency under which rights and freedoms can be suspended, simple as that.
You did not read the article, did you?
No I just comment on things based on the article title alone.
“The bullshitter may not deceive us, or even intend to do so, either about the facts or about what he takes the facts to be.”
I used to be a professional bullshitter. I worked in PR and advertising.
So we shouldn’t believe a word you say then…
Or, to precis this pure piece of academic drivel: Bullshit is Bullshit; there is a lot of it about; politicians use it profusely.
Seeing past the bull.
Why Life Jackets Should Be Mandatory!
I just wonder if the author’s last two words (“innocent virus”) were done on purpose to stress his point, or whether perhaps he’s doing a bullshit job himself? Either way, a great article.
Thanks for an insightful article. I think we should also consider the use of the term “misinformation” which means information which is by and large correct but deemed unsuitable for public consumption, and which is major arm of “bullshit”. I think most of these people think that they are pointful and somehow battling for the world’s soul and future, while being morally inert: they fulfil in fact a function mapped out by global oligarchs for their own purposes while these surrogate bullshitters bathe in their own assumed rectitude, and we should not lose sight of that. I think it is important to identify the role of specific bullshitting agencies like FullFact, funded by Facebook, Google, Soros etc and housed in the same building as the Privy Council and the Institute of Government. Of course, people performing mindless acts of evil on the world may not be pointless. I think it is probably more helpful to to talk about “bullshitters” in terms of defining function than “sociopath” or “psychopath”.
“misinformation”, in Covidian terms, is simply something which contradicts (or even merely doesn’t support) the approved narrative. Whether or not it’s true is irrelevant to people such as ‘fact-checkers’ – although in most cases it probably is true – they judge it simply on its relationship to the approved narrative.
I think that is pretty much what I said although I believe the equivocal term began to get major currency about four years ago in preparation.
I feel we should go further and appoint a Government Minister for Bullshit, there are plenty of candidates. Build Back Better, Blah Blah Blah…
Bullshit = Lies and deceit.
End of.
À la my reply to Emerald Fox below:Dr. Pilloried (he should be)? Not a mention of this notice being served on him on this morning’s shiny people brekky propaganda TV prog according to someone who watches it.
I understand the ivory-toothed monster did his usual terror pro jab prods following the tragic death of a healthy 15-year-old girl who apparently died of COVID myocarditis the day she was due to have her first life-saving jab. With faux dour-faced sobriety, they pronounced that “one in 20 children had the virus on any day last week.” HUH???
Queue the fear nudges aimed directly at teens who appear to have woken up and stopped falling for the greaseburger kebab for a Jab BS all of a sudden. Nudge – you may start dropping in the streets cos you’re now dithering about getting the experimental gene therapy. Just wait for it… nudge nudge etc.
Blake Park Bandstand Bridgwater Somerset –
Sundays from 10 am
Meet friends – keep sane – we are awake.
Telegram Connecting Warriors