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Alexina Laliberte

Prof. Voltz

UWRT 1102 Journal

3/16/15

Bullshit

If I were to choose two of the mentioned people in the bullshit repellent ad who would be

truly guilty of bullshitting, I would choose politicians and car salesmen. I believe that out of all

of the people mentioned, these two would definitely be considered bullshitters by Harry Frank-

furt’s definition. Harry Frankfurt says that there is a definitive line between liars and bullshitters.

A liar knows the truth and cares about the truth, but chooses not to tell the truth. A bullshitter, on

the other hand, does not care to know about the truth nor does he care to keep his story straight,

so he will say what he wants with no regard for anyone else. In my opinion, and experience,

politicians and car salesmen have no care in the world about the truth.

A politician uses bullshit every single day whether it be in public or private. I believe that

they use bullshit in private as well as in public because bullshit is bullshit and a bullshitter is go-

ing to be a bullshitter wherever they are. In my opinion, a politician lives on bullshit. I believe

that if politicians did not bullshit, they would not be able to survive in the political world. Now, I

don't really keep up with politics like I should, but I do know that in order for politicians to get

people to get on board with what they are saying, they must make promises and talk about things

the people like. In my little experience with political events, I’ve seen that most politicians will

talk about certain things, but twist the issue multiple times and not care about the repercussions. I

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also know that with the promises they make, they do not care if the promises are followed

through nor do they care about the truth in their promises.

Car salesmen are most definitely the champions of bullshitting. A car salesman, espe-

cially one of those crazy ones at a used car shop, uses bullshit every single day. In order for a car

salesman to make a sale, or any salesman for that matter, they have to intrigue the buyer. In order

for them to do that, they usually have to tell a few white lies. Most of the time, the lies have to do

with the quality of the car, but a lot of the time they bullshit about the cost. When I went with my

dad to buy the car I currently have, we went to a used car dealership. The car was priced at

$6,000. Not too bad for a used car in the condition it was in, so we began talking to the salesman.

My dad talked him down to a price of $4,000, which we purchased the car at, and we were on the

way to signing the papers. But before we could get to the office, the salesman started to talk up

the car. He mentioned that it was extremely safe and worth more than what we were going to

pay. My dad knew that he was bullshitting us the second he opened his mouth. Of course, my

dad being who he is, decided to play along and see how far it would go. Long story short, the

salesman began to talk in circles, going back on a lot of the things he said eventually forgetting

the things he had told us. This is classic bullshit. He didn't care if we caught him, he just wanted

a sale. He had no care in the world for the truth and if it was exposed.

If I were to come up with the best bullshit repellent and have it actually work, it wouldn't

be what you would think. It’s actually a pretty simple concept. It wouldn't be a repellent and it

wouldn't be something that gets rid of bullshitters. It would only be education and care for the

truth. Boring I know, but I believe that the best cure for bullshit is to simply be educated. Not

many people know the difference between bullshit and lying, so if we educated these people on

the difference between the two, there would be no need for an actual repellent per se. Bullshitting

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only exists if we allow it to. So, I think that if people actually care about what is going on and if

they care about what comes out of their mouth, bullshit wouldn't exist.