One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern, or attracted much sustained inquiry. In consequence, we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves.

Modern technology has created a partial  anti-dote to Bullshit, not anticipated by Frankfurt: video. Of course videotape existed in 1986, but unless a TV station could be convinced to broadcast it, enough people would not see it to matter. This is why Bill Clinton got away with so much fine Bullshit in the nineties. The true technological innovation was not recording video but in its mass distribution.

YouTube is a bitch. Sen. Allen would have got away with calling that young man an obscure French slur, even if he had been caught on tape. But Siddharth put in on YouTube, ending Allen's career. (At least, it looks that way for now.) Rev. Wright might have got away with his whacko rants even after his Church started selling his DVD. (They say he was quoted out of context. Really, what context would make his words appropriate?) But it was bound to become a hit on YouTube even if ABC had not picked up on it. Neither of this invloves  Bullshit, but both illustrate how the rules have changed for politicians.

Sen Clinton too would have got away with her Bullshit were it not for YouTube. Because she was getting away with it even after the
reporters who went with her on the Tuzla trip said there was no sniper fire there. Even after Sinbad the comedian who was with her ridiculed her:

"I never felt that I was in a dangerous position. I never felt being in a sense of peril, or 'Oh, God, I hope I'm going to be OK when I get out of this helicopter or when I get out of this tank.

What kind of president would say, 'Hey, man, I can't go 'cause I might get shot so I'm going to send my wife...oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.

What caught her was video tape and the potential of it being publicised on YouTube.

Not all Bullshit can be countered this way. There is the kind that depends on

what the meaning of `is' is.

Ah, this gem could only  come only from a true Master.

You might ask, what about Bush, Cheney and Judith Miller? They are liars. Their lies were  about much more important matters and cost the lives of thousands. Still, at some level even Cheney seems to be aware that such a thing as truth exists. Even if he finds it useful to make stuff up when it suits him. Only the Clintons show  total unawareness of   the very  idea of truth, even about their most intimate feelings.

The most insidious thing about Bullshit is that it can never be refuted. A lie you can disprove. Being totally unrelated to truth, Bullshit can be transformed into anything you want,after you are caught. Even YouTube cannot kill it completely. There will be Bullshit artists who will say till the end of time that Hillary Clinton ran to avoid sniper fire with her head held down in Tuzla that day. Let us have a contest to see who can come up with the best follow on Bullshit to Sen. Clinton. The current leader is this one

Poll Which Clinton Staffer should be fired for the Tuzla Bullshit episode? Mark Penn, the Chief Strategist Howard Wolfson, the Three Diamond Man The candidate herself is to blame It is all Sen. Obama's fault Votes: 10 Results : Vote Link : Polls