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| | Jonathan Derbyshire: Raging Bull (updated) |
 | | ‘On Bullshit’ is addressed, therefore, not only to Frankfurt’s colleagues, who will no doubt admire its virtuosity, but also to his fellow citizens, who should recognise the desirability, political as much as anything, of being able to tell the difference between a load of bullshit and a pack of lies. |
 | | Moreover, the dictionary definition of ‘bullshit’, which is 'to intimidate, deceive, or persuade somebody with deceitful or foolish talk', closely resembles Black’s definition of ‘humbug’: ‘deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious word or deed, of somebody’s own thoughts, feelings, or attitudes’. |
 | | And bullshit spreads, he argues, when we start to believe that it is the ‘responsibility of the citizen in a democracy to have opinions about everything’ and when we come to regard knowing oneself as more important than accurately representing the world; when sincerity trumps truth. |
| jonathanderbyshire.typepad.com /blog/2005/02/raging_bull.html (733 words) |
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