bullshitters anonymous overview

8/9/2019 Bullshitters Anonymous Overview

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Bullshitters Anonymous


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BULLSHITTERS SERENITY

PRAYER

GOD, grant me theSerenity to accept the things

I cannot change;

the Courage to stop bullshitting people; and

Wisdom to know when I am.

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting being honest and the search for truth

as the pathway to peace;

Ridding this sinful

world of lies and bullshit,

not as politicians would have it;

Trusting that insincerity, humbug and even white lies are of no benefit to anyone;

That I may be as honest as possible in this life, and therefore happier and making the world a

better place.

Amen.

http://thebullshitbusters.com


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12 Step Program

12 STEPS Of Bullshitters Anonymous

1. "We admitted we were powerless over bullshit - that our lives had become full of shit.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to truth and sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Truth as Aristotleunderstood it.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our bullshit.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of ourbullshit.

6.Were entirely ready to take action and remove bullshitting from my character.

7.Humbly asked Vampires to suck the bullshit blood from my veins.

8.Made a list of all persons I bullshitted and became willing to make amends to them all.

9.Made direct amends to my victims wherever possible except when to do so would injure

them or others.10.Continued to take personal inventory and when we bullshitted, promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through practice and meditation to improve our understanding of the truth andwhy bullshitting and being deluded only hurts myself and others.

12. Having had an awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message tobullshitters everywhere and to practice these principles in all our affairs."


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12 Traditions (edit)

The Twelve Traditions accompany the Twelve Steps. The Traditions provide guidelines for groupgovernance among recovering bullshitters. The Twelve Traditions of Bullshitters Anonymous are as

follows: For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authoritythe truth.

The only requirement for BA membership is a desire to stop Bullshitting.

Our common welfare should come first; recovery depends upon BA unity.

Each BA group one purposeto carry its message to the bullshitter who still suffers.

Each BA group shall be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or BA as a whole.

BA groups ought never endorse, finance, or lend the BA name to any related facility or outsideenterprise unless there is a great deal of money to be made.

Every BA group ought to be fully self-supporting by providing foot massages to old people in nursinghomes.

Bullshitters Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers mayemploy special prostitutes.

BA, as such, ought never be organized; except for good toga and public streaking parties.

Bullshitters Anonymous has an opinion on all outside issues and we are always right.

Our public relations policy is based on attracting attractive people for our toga parties; we needalways to call out bullshitters publicly at the level of press, radio, and films.

Publicly exposing bullshitters is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever making us feelbetter about ourselves and reminding us to place personalities before principles.


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Bullshitters Anonymous


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Bullshit in political communication

Definition of humbug and bullshit

Indifference to truth the essence of bullshit

Replacing correctness with sincerity

Narrowing the concept Bullshit and sophism

Bullshit and spin

Endemic prevalence of bullshit in political speech

Intrinsic necessity to bullshit in politics Irrationality of political leadership

Political communication as enchantment


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Humbug

Max Black The Prevalence of Humbug (1983)

F.G. Baily

Humbuggery and Manipulation. The Art of Leadership (1988) HUMBUG: deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by

pretentious word or deed, of somebodys own thoughts, feelings, or

attitudes (Black 1983: 143)

Conscious deception: when humbuggers say what they themselves

disbelieve, evading the risks of lying while reaping its benefits, the grossdiscrepancy between utterance and actual belief (the speakers stance)

[] I shall call such conscious deception first-order humbug (137-8)

Self-deception: a self-humbugged humbugger producing what I shall call

second-order humbug (138)


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Humbuggery vs. lying

Criteria of lying Truth

Falsifiability of a claim

Knowledge about factual untruth

Deliberate intent to deceive about the truth

Criteria of humbuggery Belief

Impossibility to realize (or to define) a claim

Disbelief of the speaker in his claim

Deliberate intent to deceive (to generate an impression) about

oneself


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Bullshit and humbug

Harry G. Frankfurt On Bullshit (2005)

It is more polite, as well as less intense to say Humbug! than to say Bullshit!.For the sake of this discussion, I shall assume that there is no other importantdifference between the two. (5)

Consider a Fourth of July orator who goes on bombastically about our great andblessed country, whose Founding Fathers under divine guidance created a newbeginning for mankind. This is surely humbug. (16)

It is clear that what makes Fourth of July oration humbug is not fundamentallythat the speaker regards his statements as false. Rather, just as Blacks accountsuggests, the orator intends these statements to convey a certain impression of

himself. He is not trying to deceive anyone concerning American history. What hecares about is what people think of him. He wants them to think of him as apatriot, as someone who has deep thoughts and feelings about the origins andmission of our country, who appreciates the importance of religion, who issensitive to the greatness of our history, whose pride in that history is combinedwith humility before God, and so on. (17-8)


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Defining bullshit

It is just this lack of connection to a concern with truth this

indifference to how things really are that I regard as of the essence of

bullshit. (34-5)

Hot air: Speech that has been emptied of all informative content (43)

Bluff: bullshitting [] is closer to bluffing, surely, than to telling a lie. []Unlike plain lying, it is more especially a matter not of falsity but of

fakery (46-7)

Lying is craft; particular, sporadic, designed under guidance of truth

(52)

Bullshitting is art; panoramic, a program, serial, expansive What he [the bullshitter] does necessarily attempt to deceive us about

is his enterprise. His only indispensably distinctive characteristic is that in

a certain way he misrepresents what he is up to (54)


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The worst enemy of truth

What combines the bullshitter with the liar is That both represent themselves falsely as endeavoring to

communicate the truth. The success of each depends upon deceivingus about that (54)

What divides them is A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to

that extent respectful of it (55-6)

The bullshitter does not care whether the things he says describereality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit hispurpose (56)

Bullshitting is relativistic with regard to truth Through habitual and deliberative ignorance towards

truth, the bullshitter undermines the foundations ofreasoned debate


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Proliferation of bullshit

No systematic evidence about relative or absoluteamount of bullshit in public communication, orabout the rise or decline of it over time

Reasons to believe that bullshit is on the rise Bullshit unavoidable when speaker required to talk about

matters he has no knowledge/expertise about

Rise of punditry in journalism (especially in US), requiresopinionated debate without required expertise

Complexity of economic, social, political world requires

(a) Simplification for public presentation

(b) Breadth of party political programmes superseding expertise ofstaff

(c) Appointments to office are political, not based on policy expertise

(d) Recruitment of celebrities for political causes


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Sincerity

Deeper source of current proliferation of bullshit Skepticism, anti-realism; questioning whether the reality has

any inherent nature

Retreat from discipline required by dedication to the ideal ofcorrectness

To discipline, which is imposed by pursuit of an alternative idealofsincerity (65)

Being true to oneself Assumes that our human nature is more determinate than the

object world

Pretending that truth about ourselves easier to know than truthabout anything else

Sincerity itself is bullshit (67)


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Bullshit and the art of crap-detection

Neil Postman (1969)

Taxonomy of bullshit Pomposity

Bigotry

Eichmannism that form of bullshit which accepts as its starting and ending point official definitions, rules

and categories without regard for the realities of particular situations

Inanity ignorance presented in the cloak of sincerity

Superstition ignorance presented in the cloak of authority


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Bullshit in political speech

The realms of advertising and of public relations, and the nowadays closelyrelated realm of politics, are replete with instances of bullshit so unmitigatedthat they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms ofthe concept. And in these realms there are exquisitely sophisticatedcraftsmen who with the help of advanced and demanding techniques ofmarket research, of public opinion polling, of psychological testing, and soforth dedicate themselves tirelessly to getting every word and image they

produce exactly right (Frankfurt, On Bullshit, p.23)

The nation's hopes are in our hands. People's hopes. Your hopes. My hopes. In eightdays' time I will be forty years old. I have so much to look forward to. My youngfamily. They have so much to look forward to. The world I want for them is the world Iwant for every family and every community. If you want to know what I'm all about, Ican explain it one word. That word is optimism. I am optimistic about human nature.

That's why I will trust people to do the right thing. Labour are pessimists. They thinkthat without their guidance, people will do the wrong thing. That's why they want toregulate and control. So let us show clearly which side we are on. Let optimism beatpessimism. Let sunshine win the day. (David Cameron, Conservative Party Conference(1/10/2006)


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Bullshit in political speech (cont.)

Our rising investment in every school, every pupil, every teacher, so that all our children get thebest start in life. (Tony Blair, 5 April 2005)

I believe that Britain has a great future within our reach. We are poised to embrace that future ifwe have the confidence and self belief to do it. (Tony Blair, 5 April 2005)

I am deeply proud of being British so I suspect are all of you here today. Were proud of ourhistory, our traditions. Were proud of the contribution our country has made to the world. Andwere proud of that essential British value: fair play. Fair play is at the heart of what it means to

be British.(Michael Howard, 15 April 2005)

So the Liberal Democrats will fight this campaign based on real solutions to the real problemspeople face everyday. We're going to address people's hopes, not play on their fears. We'regoing to be the positive force for good in this general election. (Charles Kennedy, 5 April 2005)

Our values are strong. Our mission is clear. Our vision is compelling. Civic pride based on a newage of civic power, not for some of the people, but for all of the people, all of the time. (David

Miliband, Labour Party Centenary conference, 12 February 2006) New Labour is a party of ideas and ideals but not of outdated ideology. What counts is what

works. The objectives are radical. The means will be modern. (Labour Election Manifesto, 1997)

So let's build together a new generation of Conservatives. Let's switch a new generation on toConservative ideas. Let's dream a new generation of Conservative dreams. (David Cameron,Conservative Party Conference 2005)


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Bullshit and spin

Putting a positive spin on some political event,process, outcome

Show it in a desirable light

Neglecting disadvantages/costs; emphasizingadvantages/benefits

Spin (doctoring) is a defensive form of bullshit Aim is to create a perception, irrespective of reality

Secondary task, after the fact of policy making

But policy making is instrumental activity for office seekingpoliticians; hence the emphasis lies on creating a beneficial

perception of the policies made, rather than on generatingbeneficial policies

Spin-doctoring mainly serves to hide potentially negative aspectsor consequences of policy-making; it is hence engaged in to avoidlying (implying truth-awareness of the bullshitter)


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Leadership requires humbuggery

Bullshit/humbuggery is not just endemic in politics,but intrinsic to politics

Politics is about providing leadership Essentially compromising enlightenment

Admitting the unassailability of rational self-government

Enlightenment project was originally about Freeing individuals from superstition and oppression

Disenchantment of the world

Leadership and political competition isenchantment

Remedy amidst complexity of modern world

Artificial differentiation of converging political platforms


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Complexity, convergence and leadership

Normative idea of legal/rational authority

Reducing leadership to management function

Representation assumed to be responsible, responsive, reflective of public

demands and needs

Complexity requires guidance and/or simplification

The end of ideologies does not result in professionalization of

politics as a quasi-bureaucratic function

Political campaigns are not about disenchantment

Not purely informational

Not presenting with policy positions

Need for enchantment, enthusing supporters, providing leadership, vision,

direction

Emphasising candidate qualities over product qualities (sincerity over

correctness)


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Leadership strategy and morality

Strategies of leadership Numenical

Emphasizing the exceptional (the divine) of the leader; that which sets

him apart from followers, and other leadership contenders

Familial Emphasizing familiarity with followers; either fraternising with or

patronising followers

Required strategy in the face of abject failure

Leadership and deception Leader is by definition beyond conventions (morals, values,

rationality) of society

Leader is the main authority in restating/upholding morals, values

Charisma is a display; it cannot be established as an objective

occurrence; it is mediated; perceived charisma


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Impression management and relativism

IdentityNot a material property of the individual

But socially realized

Impression management in job interviewsManipulation, deception

forms of impression management may be authentic, that is, the

applicant presents an identity that closely matches his or her self-

image (Rosenfeld 1997)


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Political impression management

Realizing party identities

Tony Blair (Labour Party conference, 2005)New Labour was never just a clever way to win; it was a fundamental recasting of

progressive politics so that the values we believed in became relevant to the

time we lived in. In the late 20th century, the world had changed, theaspirations of the people had changed; we had to change. We did. We won.And Britain is stronger, fairer, better than on 1st May 1997.

David Cameron (Conservative Party conference, 2005)We have to change and modernise our culture and attitudes and identity. When I

say change, I'm not talking about some slick rebranding exercise: what I'mtalking about is fundamental change, so that when we fight the next election,street by street, house by house, flat by flat, we have a message that is relevantto people's lives today, that shows we're comfortable with modern Britain andthat we believe our best days lie ahead.


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Sophism and marketing

SophismRejection of objective truth

Purpose of debate not to find truth, but to win argument

Not to prove truth of a cause, but its superiority

MarketingTendency towards oligopolistic markets in late 19th/early 20th century

Marketing is a strategy of demand generation in the absence of self-

regulating,perfectmarkets

Models of buying behaviour and consumer psychology

Dispensing with homo economicus


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Political marketing theory

Clinging to Downsian voter

Assuming exogenous preferences

Assuming that market research reveals rational

preferences Adaptive and responsive party model

suggestive of democracy-enhancing potential,towards more citizen input

Prescriptive: recommending move fromproduct-oriented through sales-oriented tomarket-oriented party


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Simulating legitimacy

Post-representative politicsDecline of ideology

Decline of partisanship

Replacing representation of sectional interest which are organized

into politics with CHOICE

Politics of choiceChoice requires information

In absence of political information, use of cues (like ideology and

partisanship)

Disappearance of cues to substitute for informationSimulation of cues: BRAND LOYALTY and PRODUCTDIFFERENTIATION


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The bullshit of choice

Representative politics functions through belief inideology which creates legitimacy of political projects,

manifesting in the form of (partisan) loyalty

Choice politics simulates belief in the form of

perceived policy matches (product differentiation)that is aimed to create potentially long-term, but

conditional commitment (brand loyalty)

Model of choice hides the fact that political system

remains representative, only organizing narrower and

fewer interests into politics, through lobbying and

party funding

bullshitters anonymous overview

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