The Damn oil spill and the Great Speechifier!!

Sorry I have 2 in a row on the same topic, but I had to get it out of me.

After seeing a post from a friend on Face Book I realized he had a GREAT point - Where are all the “save the gulf” benefit concerts? Where are the celebrities and musicians waxing poetic about this tragedy? Where are the heart felt speeches from the politico’s? I sit, with my friend, in stunning amazement and wonder why? Why would I be surprised by a selective response to this disaster from the famous and powerful. If it is not a pet cause or if it does not provide them with some quantifiable advantage or gain there is usually little said or done. Here is a perfect example of our apathy, and yes I say our apathy. Why us, because we have allowed that behavior to become the norm, acceptable behavior instead of standing up and calling bullshit. I have used that term before and I am POSITIVE that you have heard it before, he’s a bull shitter, that is bullshit and I am going to call bull shit on that, whether you admit it or not I know you have heard it. I have started to examine what, exactly, those terms means and have been quite surprised by my results.

According to Wiki Bullshit is (also bullcrap, bullplop, bullbutter, horseshit, bovine stool) is a common American English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism B.S. Wiki goes on to say, As with many expletives, it can be used as an interjection or as many other parts of, and can carry a wide variety of meanings. Most commonly, it is used in connection with incorrect, misleading, or false language and statements. While the word is generally used in a deprecating sense, it may imply a measure of respect for language skills, or frivolity, among various other benign usages. Hummmmm. Anyone who has researched bull shit knows that field received a tremendous boost from the pioneering work of Harry G. Frankfurt, his seminal theses did however open up more questions than they answered. Harry’s essay, “On Bullshit” is an in-depth examination, at the philosophical level, of bullshit and bull shitter’s and the seemingly more bold faced liars and which is more detrimental to our world.

Now there is a follow-up to that 1980’s treatise, it is “Bullshit and Philosophy” and I am reading it right now. In this follow up some of the most highly trained intellects of our time critique old Harry and take the discourse beyond anything he could imagine. Bullshit and Philosophy has new contributions to the conversation that were previously left not there. I did pull one definition of Bullshit that I thought perfect for making my point about this environmental disaster. “Bullshit is commonly used to describe statements made by people more concerned with the response of the audience than in truth and accuracy, such as goal-oriented statements made in the field of politics or advertising”. There are several key points I find in that. Statements made by folks more concerned with the response of the audience than in truth and accuracy. I think I might prefer to be bold faced lied to than sold a freakin song and dance, I have more respect for a liar because he at least cares about the truth – cares that we do not find it. A Bullshitter does not care about the truth at all, they just sling whatever….. Bullshit they need to in order to advance their cause or issue. And, as the definition indicates, goal oriented statements that are being advertised to us. We are being treated like automatons by the powers to be, we are expected to buy into the line of bullshit we are being feed, just as we are to believe if we do not buy a particular toothpaste our teeth will fall out.

I am fascinated by bullshit, not just because I enjoy picking out the bullshitter amongst us but when you start to analyze bullshit at a philosophical level the conversation sparks a great interest for me. So, back to the oil spill, in my opinion bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. Does that seem the least bit clear in recent times, say the last since April 22nd? I have heard nothing but bullshit from everyone trying to protect the hole, from BP, from the government, from the pundits, who think they know anything at all. It has been a continuous line of BS, they obviously are doing damage control, to protect themselves and their interests and I do not believe any of it has been true. Not the estimated number of barrels to the fact they told us the leak could not be stopped when they meant to say, we cant stop the leak with out loosing our investment in the hole. Over time the rules governing their end of the conversation have quietly been changing so that claims about truth and falsity are minimized to the point of irrelevancy.

Bullshit does not necessarily have to be a complete fabrication all the time, with only basic knowledge about a topic, bullshit is often used to make the audience believe that they know far more about the topic by feigning total certainty or making probable predictions. It is all filler, fodder and nonsense that is being spoon fed to us, waiting and hungry for a tidbit. I believe no matter how well the relevancies are explained or however relevant they may appear, they are still without data and intelligence and that kind of dialog is the quintessential definition of the verb "to bullshit”. They are all (my opinion) feigning concern and conviction that just through simple observation are bullshit on so many levels, this is what I like to call the industrial strength, commercial grade bullshit. It never ceased to amaze me the words coming out of the mouths of BP, the government and most talking heads, why are not many more of us calling BULLSHIT on them? I did read a funny little story on the onion that was pretty funny in one way and scary as hell in another way, here is a link to that story - http://www.theonion.com/articles/massive-flow-of-bullshit-continues-to-gush-from-bp,17564/

So that leads me to another question, why do we allow bull shitters to live among us? Why do we allow and in most cases condone the behavior? I at one time considered myself a master bull shitter but I really do not want that title anymore. I try to live my life being honest above all else, mainly because I am not smart enough to remember lies. I do not want to be lumped into the group of people who are perpetrating, what is see, as the LARGEST scam in the name of the black nectar we all need to survive. The only person I have heard on television mention our involvement in this catastrophe was Jimmy Buffet. I can not remember his exact words but he admitted we are all over consumers of the black gold and BP is out there because of our wants. I later learned he has a hotel he just opened on Pensacola Beach so his being out there with my dipshit governor (my opinion) telling folks to come on down and enjoy the beaches may have been motivated by other interests. Could my man Jimmy be a bull shitter, God I pray not and I will not investigate any further on him, I have to give him the benefit of the doubt on it.

So almost 2 months in we are starting to get the huge outswell of support for the area by way of our President, this calamity is going to wind up being more devastating than Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti and any of the other natural disasters of recent memory. The only difference, this was caused by someone other than Mother Nature, who is exempt from prosecution. There is and are folks who are responsible and I am told they will be held to task, I hope and pray they are held accountable for the GROSS NEGLIGENCE. Meanwhile we need to do something to support the folks whose livelihood has been completely stopped. And I mean now, not when BP or the Government get around to paying out, I mean NOW! Call your state representatives now and raise hell, be a bull shitter if you must to force the mechanisms of big business and Government into action to help the folks that are hurting right now. Here is a link to all their phone numbers and email addresses http://conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm

Will our Presidents righteous indignation and best effort, 2 months late or not, make a difference, I hope and pray he can make that difference but I fear he too may just be a master bullshitter.