Bullshit

Originally a type of social game, today it is primarily used as a collective term for various manipulative rhetorical techniques in which the focus is not on finding the truth but on distracting from the topic of the discussion.

• Malarkey
• Bunkum
• Humbug

The English term “bullshit” is often understood (and probably also used) as simple profanity. However, the term has a long history that should be known to understand the underlying concept:

Originally, the expression “shitting the bull” was a colloquial term for an activity that today we would just as casually describe as “hanging out with friends”. This included the exchange of gossip and a social game that consisted of sprinkling in nonsensical stories. If such a story was recognised as a fabrication, it was then called out as “bullshit”.

From here it is not far to our modern understanding, in which this term refers to the dissemination of misinformation (alternative facts) or various other rhetorical confusion tactic.

The importance of the concept for a better understanding of certain phenomena in our modern society was recognised above all thanks to Harry Frankfurt’s essay “On Bullshit” (1986). This concept can also be applied to areas other than communication, for example the term “bullshit jobs” (based on a book by David Graeber) describes work that provides no added value to society and is perceived as “useless” even by those carrying it out.

• Brandolini’s Law
• Cargo cult
• Rhetorical confusion tactics
  • Alternative facts
  • Gish-Galopp

• On Bullshit; Frankfurt, Harry G., 1988, Cambridge University Press (Internet Archive)

• On Bullshit; Frankfurt, Harry G., 1988, Cambridge University Press (Internet Archive)