Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection

Extracts from a talk by Neil Postman at the National Convention for the Teachers of English in 1969. I hope to one day write something, anything, that is as relevant in fifty years as this is today.

First, he notes the importance of identifying bullshit:

As I see it, the best things schools can do for kids is to help them learn how to distinguish useful talk from bullshit. I will ask only that you agree that every day in almost every way people are exposed to more bullshit than it is healthy for them to endure, and that if we can help them to recognize this fact, they might turn away from it and toward language that might do them some earthly good.

There are so many varieties of bullshit I couldn't hope to mention but a few, and elaborate on even fewer. I will, therefore, select those varieties that have some transcendent significance.

Now, that last sentence is a perfectly good example of bullshit, since I have no idea what the words "transcendent significance" might mean and neither do you. I needed something to end that sentence with and since I did not have any clear criteria by which to select my examples, I figured this was the place for some big-time words.

Then he provides a great rundown of the flavors of bullshit we deal with every day.

Pomposity:

pomposity in that they are made to feel less worthy than they have a right to feel by people who use fancy titles, words, phrases, and sentences to obscure their own insufficiencies.

Fanaticism:

The essence of fanaticism is that it has almost no tolerance for any data that do not confirm its own point of view.

Inanity:

with the development of the mass media, inanity has suddenly emerged as a major form of language in public matters. The invention of new and various kinds of communication has given a voice and an audience to many people whose opinions would otherwise not be solicited, and who, in fact, have little else but verbal excrement to contribute to public issues

And superstition:

Superstition is ignorance presented in the cloak of authority. A superstition is a belief, usually expressed in authoritative terms for which there is no factual or scientific basis. Like, for instance, that the country in which you live is a finer place, all things considered, than other countries. Or that the religion into which you were born confers upon you some special standing with the cosmos that is denied other people.

It all has to do with values:

bullshit is what you call language that treats people in ways you do not approve of.

one man's bullshit is another man's catechism. Students should be taught to learn how to recognize bullshit, including their own.

So what’s one to do, against even your own bullshit?

It seems to me one needs, first and foremost, to have a keen sense of the ridiculous. Maybe I mean to say, a sense of our impending death. About the only advantage that comes from our knowledge of the inevitability of death is that we know that whatever is happening is going to go away. Most of us try to put this thought out of our minds, but I am saying that it ought to be kept firmly there, so that we can fully appreciate how ridiculous most of our enthusiasms and even depressions are.

The most concerning part about large language models is that they are thrusting more bullshit into the world because they’re built and trained on human language. Garbage in, garbage out; bullshit in, bullshit out.

Sensitivity to the phony uses of language requires, to some extent, knowledge of how to ask questions, how to validate answers, and certainly, how to assess meanings.