Some of you may have noticed, by glancing at my sidebar, that I'm currently reading The Daily Show and Philosophy. Those of you who are TDS fans, or those who are interested in the philosophy of language, communications and rhetoric, may enjoy this book. I'm currently reading a section that carries the provocative sub-title, Critical Thinking and the War on Bullshit. In light of the fact that President Bush will be delivering his final State of the Union address this evening, it may be helpful to consider distinctions between lies, bullshit and spin.
In a chapter that examines bullshit and political spin, Kimberly A. Blessing & Joseph J. Marren adopt Harry Frankfurt's (author of On Bullshit) position that, "In the case of a lie, the aim is to deceive people about what's true" (TDSAP, p. 142). What this means is that liars know what is true (or what they believe to be true), but want to lead their audiences to believe that something contrary to that state of affairs is actually the true state of affairs.
Blessing & Marren also agree with Frankfurt's position that "the bullshitter aims at deceiving the listener about what the bullshitter does or doesn't know, yet can succeed without actually going to the trouble of forming a belief either way" (TDSAP, p. 142). In their view, the bullshitter doesn't care, and doesn't need to care, one way or the other about what is true. Rather, the bullshitter's only interest is in selling his or her message to someone. He or she will say anything regardless of its truth value to promote whatever message is being sold. So, the difference between liars and bullshitters is in their stances toward the truth: liars must know the truth in order to compose their lies. Bullshitters do not face such a constraint.
Blessing & Marren part company with Frankfurt on the matter of spin. In an interview with Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, Frankfurt claimed that spin "is a form of bullshit" (TDSAP, p. 140). Blessing & Marren, contend to the contrary that, unlike bullshitters, spinners "must know what's true in order to spin it" (p. 142). They must start from something that they know is true, then proceed to "manipulat[e] a listener's opinion to persuade the listener that their spin is true" (TDSAP, p.142). So, spin is similar to lying in that it must take truth into consideration, and it is similar to bullshit in that it consists of twisting content to suit spinners' purposes. Hence, spin comprises a third category of falsehood, alongside of lies and bullshit.
Are people equally tolerant of all three of these forms of falsehood? More importantly, should people tolerate of all of them equally? Blessing & Marren contend that "Spinners are required to know what is and is not true and then try to color the (commonly known) facts; unlike liars, they don't try to use this knowledge to deceive us about what the facts are. Mere bullshitters would never even bother with the facts" TDPAS, p. 143). In my view, bullshit is the most dangerous of the three types of falsehood. Lies can be uncovered by fact-checking. Spin, being a version of truth, is often obvious and easily countered. In contrast to these, the bullshitters' lackadaisical attitude toward truth is pernicious, and it's often difficult to cut through their verbiage to ascertain which parts of their bullshit, if any, are true and which are false.
I'll conclude by referring back to my opening paragraph and reminding you that President Bush will be addressing the nation tonight. As you listen to him, amuse yourself by seeing if you can figure out how much of what he says is unvarnished truth, spin, lies or bullshit.
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