Lately, I’ve been pondering the nature of bullshit and the nature of lies. I always new there was a slight difference between them but only recently figured it out.

The difference is in their relationship with the truth.

Lying is saying something that you know isn’t true. You know full well that what you’re saying isn’t true. Taking the last cookie, then telling your mom that it was your sister, is a lie… hands down.

Bullshit is saying something without any regard to the truth whatsoever. In this case, it’s possible that what you’re saying is actually the truth. When asked why the sky is blue and you launch into a lecture on the the particles in the upper atmosphere being more able to scatter shorter wavelengths of light (blue) and therefor making them dominant when we look up, blah, blah, blah… this could be true, or it could be wrong, who knows. It doesn’t matter, it’s still bullshit.

I’ve always been pretty good at lying and pretty good at bullshitting. I decided a long time ago that from then on, I would only lie for good and not for evil. I’ll still bullshit every now and again. And, I’ve been pretty lucky with bullshitting in that more often then not, I turn out to be right…. or at least within arms reach of the truth.

I just thought I’d share my thoughts.

~ Jason