Wednesday, September 23, 2015

The GOP’s bullsh*t campaign: Why they’re drowning the country in an ocean of lies

From Salon:

For those of you who can’t see embedded tweets and aren’t familiar with the BAP already, it goes like this: “The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of a magnitude bigger than to produce it.” And if you’ve ever been on the Internet before — or had a conversation with a 9/11 Truther — it’s likely that you don’t need me to explain the BAP to you, because its truth is utterly (and painfully) self-evident.

But if you want a more specific example, look no further than the grotesque and meaningless postmodern spectacle broadcast by CNN and the Republican Party earlier this week. Because with three hours and 11 candidates at its disposal, the former “most trusted name in news” unleashed a Pacific Ocean-size amount of bullshit. It was so voluminous, in fact, that even those in the media who wanted to refute it couldn’t.


More here.

Personally, having come to realize that it takes more effort to refute bullshit convincingly than to sling bullshit, I've taken just to saying "that's bullshit, total bullshit" when confronted with the equivalent of Rambo riding a fanged unicorn that I get from conservatives so often these days. I mean, it's probably not going to persuade the bullshitter, but it lets him know that it's not so easy to do the Goebbels big lie thing in America, and it lets anyone listening in know that things aren't so open and shut.

So yes, in political debate these days, it is perfectly acceptable to call bullshit often and loudly. Conservatives have brought us to this place. So that's what you've gotta do.

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