The only way to see through bullshit is to know what it is. How many forms of BS have you been following without knowing? Have you been BSing yourself? Is someone else BSing you?
BSing and lying — yes, there is an actual philosophical difference between the two. So, if you may, read ahead to a more essay-article-style piece on the nature of lying, BS, being true to yourself and truly seeing through others.
what is BS?
BS is more benign than lying because it has no concern with the truth of reality. Lying is attempting to change reality or replace the truth with falsity, whereas BS is a separate reality presented. To lie is to alter someone’s world; to BS is to present your own.
We get so offended when we’re lied to because we were manipulated and flat-out not given a chance to see through the lie into our own reality. BS, however, acts as a lesser offense. It’s simply a separate perspective we are fed that we can choose to believe, or not. When BS is presented to us, it is up to the receiver’s decision — or susceptibility — to believe it.
I think frat culture is BS, but hey! Those who enjoy it really do enjoy it. Now, nobody is lying to me about the realities of frat culture; I know it’s not nice or glamorous. I see it for what it is; I just choose not to believe in its pros.
Are you Believing Bs?
The dangers that come with BS lie within people’s susceptibility to believe it. The essence of BS is getting people to believe what you say and follow along, and being believable enough with your narrative that people begin to stop questioning you, replacing their reality of beliefs with the false reality of BS presented to them. Like if someone were to really seriously sell me on going to a frat party and I actually ended up having the time of my life.
You either accept or reject BS by seeing through it. If BS is thorough enough, those perceiving it may not even notice that it is BS. If you reject it, you remain separate and in your own world, reality untouched. If you accept it, you have nothing to complain about. A lie does not have this same essence. A lie is infiltrating and violating — it alters your reality.
The danger of BS comes when it’s all-encompassing, like current-day politics. So thorough have our politicians been in feeding us a narrative of left or right, encouraging us to be divided, as opposed to encouraging us to be sensible enough to ask ourselves, outside of left and right labels, “Is this really what I believe?”
Examples
Politics is a belief of reality that comes before and more prominently over someone’s individual voice and values. Politics are BS because they are beliefs fed and framed to the general public as a way to get people to put their left and right labels first and foremost before their own selves. Politics aren’t a lie (always…), but the importance of us playing our roles as party followers so thoroughly that it divides us as people is certainly BS, if you ask me.
Why can’t we all just party together?
Manners and politeness can also be seen as the essence of BS. Consider a girl at a bar politely rejecting a creep, or a woman being courteous to catcallers. Do you really think they want to be nice? This compulsion to be kind that comes before the truth of someone’s inner voice is BS.
Anything that covers up the raw thoughts of what’s really going through our minds is BS.
This assertion also leads to the point that not all BS is bad; sometimes it’s even necessary. Picture a businessman looking all dapper and businesslike to give a speech. Do you think he’s talking about analytics to the crowd the same way he would with his business homeboys? No. He’s BSing, putting on a front, giving you a false reality to believe.
Uncovering Your BS.
It’s this same raw thought that gives us our ability to see through someone else’s BS. This skepticism that comes from knowing your thoughts’ deepest voices and roots allows us to have the authority within ourselves to question others, no matter how believably polite or businesslike they may seem.
If you can see that your own politeness is a form of BS, a form of self that is simply a front overlaying your true feelings, you can see that others are doing the same.
Connection with one’s deepest thoughts and values is what protects us from being susceptible to BS. Someone may not have an inner voice telling them how they truly feel beneath the politeness, or someone may not have a connection with themselves.
Without connection to self and the self’s raw thoughts, without this ability to see and speak deeply through your own mind, you become susceptible to being fed and believing others’ BS.
I invite you, after reading, to come up with some forms of BS you believe. Are they beneficial? Should you be rethinking things? Can you better serve yourself by not BSing? Or perhaps by BSing harder in certain situations? No matter what reflections surface, remember that all is within your power.