IS IT BULLSHIT? WELL...

So, been sorta broke down for the past few days, hangin' around the house, completely non-productive.  Bluesy.  A Stationary Front, somewhere between the Top and the Bottom of a Depressive Swing--just ain't exactly sure of the direction, up or down.  (Odd.  The direction is usually pretty damn obvious.)  But, this afternoon, feelin' better (up?), I thought I'd kill a little time by diggin' up a few thought-provokin' (emphasis on "provokin'") historical quotes that I could drop out here on the Ol' Interweb.  (I call it "Stirrin' the Pot...")

With not a lot of time or effort, I soon gathered several bits that I found interestin', even topical.  You know--Venerable Statesmen, Foundin' Fathers, that kinda stuff.  Bona fide--or so some might have you believe...

Never intentionally wantin' to be the Purveyor of Bad Info (though I have been guilty in the past) I set about the task of vettin' my Chosen Slices of Flowery Dead Man Rhetoric.  However, the actual content of these particular Pearls of Wisdom ain't exactly what I've wound up feelin' like sharin'.  Nope, not exactly.

It ain't that tough to do a little fact-checkin'.  Just copy a relevant snippet of text, drop it in the tiny window, search, cross-reference and compare.  (With somethin' as specific as quotes, the results of a query are fairly free of irrelevant material.)   More often than you might expect, results may render strong evidence, or downright proof, that information peddled as Truth is, in reality, a Falsehood. Or, what is better know by it's more descriptive common name--"Bullshit".

So, I shifted gears and went lookin' for it.  (For Bullshit.)

Curious as to just how broad a swath this phenomenon cut, I began to pull up random quotes and claims and statements.  Even dumb stuff;  Stuff you wouldn'ta thought anybody would ever bother to lie about or have any reason to misrepresent.  (I suppose my original pursuit--quotes from historical figures--would be placed in the Dumb Stuff Column by some.)  I found that, with suprisin' frequency, after a little diggin' and the application of some Common Sense...  Yep, some Bullshit.  Sometimes, it's hard to question the validity of a statement or postulation, particularly when it's comin' from somethin' we may consider a "trusted source", or if it should happen to fit a particular pre-conceived notion we may personally hold in favor.  (This would be a polite way of sayin' "what we want to hear.")

"Where'd ya hear that?"

"Read it out there on that Internet."

"Oh.  Well Hell, then it must be true..."

If you can find additional reasonable points of proof, arrived at independently from one another, that either support the original information or contradict it, then you have attempted to do due dilligence when it comes to acceptin' somethin' as a point of fact.  (One nail in a board- not very secure and easy to spin.  A second nail--more secure, much harder to move.  Three nails--damn secure.  Ad infinitum...  A simple, succinct analogy.)

First, I started drillin' down on the really easy things, the kinda stuff saddled with histories rife with subterfuge and manipulation:  Partisan Politics;  the Media--Left, Right, and Center;  Big Business;  Advertisin';  Religion--all of it; the Obvious Bullshitters; Those with Agendas Clear as Chrystal.

Some things were blatantly suspect on the first read, quick and easy to refute.  Other Bullshit was more cleverly disguised.  Some deceits were so subtle, so camouflaged, they were virtually transparent, invisible.  Arguably, Works of Art.  I'm confident that, if confronted, many of the more adept Authors of Bullshit would refer to their "manipulation" of information (I'm bein' extremely gracious) as "Spin".

The more I looked, the more Bullshit I found.  Everywhere.  Absolutely dead up everywhere.  Did I learn anything?  Did I experience an epiphany?  Have a revelation?  Maybe feel just a tiny bit smarter...?

It would appear that the Internet has become the New Roost for all manners of Bullshit: Hate, Commercialism, Religious and Political Dogma, even a place for the promotion of an authoritarian and nationalistic system of government and social organization with a contempt for Democracy.  (Okay, that last one is Fascism.  Just felt like slippin' in a quick definition...)  

Perhaps, regardin' the Distillation of  Legitimate Fact from a Churnin' Sea of Bullshit, it may actually be better, simpler, smarter in this particular scenario, to view the information in question with the help of metaphoric blinders, or as through the center of a narrow philosophical tube.  Somethin' that would assist us in shuttin' out some of the Noise and Flashin' Lights, increasin' our capacity for Focus, intensify Concentration, assist in avoidin' the Intentional Distractions designed and constructed to Influence and Sway.

We have all become active, unknowing participants in a Global Exercise in Gullibility, deployed on the Grandest of Scales.  Suspicion?  Sure.  Paranoia...?  Maybe...

The Internet, in so many ways, has become (relative to Conflict) a reflection of our Contemporary World.  On issues of Morality, Religion, Politics, All Things Devisive, it has become the Forum of Choice, where anyone (includin' Yours Truly) can inject their personal version of "Fact" and "Truth", in almost any style or form they choose, while enjoyin' near-total anonymity.  (Or, even more fun, under the cover of a fictitious personality purely of our own design.  How freakin' cool is that?!  Huh?  Whoa...)  

Yep.  The metaphysical Blunt Instrument of Propaganda.  The Information Highway:  our New Frontier--devoid of the Virtues of Honesty and Civility.  Unencumbered by the Rule of Law, Matters of Conscience, or the Burden of Fact.  Even the very Laws of Physics themselves fall before the Power of Bullshit.

Gotta say--this is startin' to get a little Crazy...

And, you know, a funny thing about Bullshit:  Whether well-intentioned or malicious, it's still Bullshit.  And, Bullshit is Dishonest, Dishonesty is Wrong.  Right?  Wrong ain't Right, right?  It can't be--it's wrong.  That's right, ain't it?  Ain't that a constant?  Wrong is wrong?  Anybody...?

Regretably, this has led me to what appears to be an Inevitable and Unavoidable Conclusion:  To blindly trust anything, anyone, is to do ourselves an injustice most grave.  Even dangerous. 

And yet, it seems that many of us consistently choose to embrace even the most suspect of statements, no matter how absurd or illogical.  Why?  Is it Intellectual Sloth?  Zealotry?  Plain Ol' Dumbass?  All these things, and more?  

Hell, I'll be honest--I ain't got a freakin' clue.  That's an admission of Ignorance and Confusion.  You ain't gotta vet that.

~Fish