Re: A Critique of On Bull*** by Professor Emeritus Harry G. Frankfurt, Princeton

>>From Osher Doctorow

Sensation-Materialism leads to bull*** in my opinion through the
motivation to socialize (have parties) with friends and acquaintences
largely.

Am I serious? Of course. People at parties are expected to perform.
Performance goes around in a sort of rotation. The permanently silent
person is "dead". People start asking questions about such a person.

The most common way in which party people deal with expectations of
performing is by telling jokes about "ridiculous categories" of people.
Usually somebody is identified as a prankster - that really carries
the day in parties. The prankster is imitated, and everybody chuckles.
Childish innocence prevails, and "all in a good cause". Everybody is
"good-natured". Of course, if you see the same people in a bankruptcy
court, they're not quite as good-natured. Or if you see them at 5AM,
they're also usually not quite as good-natured. Or if they had to
rescue somebody from a criminal, they'd also usually not be quite as
good-natured.

Of course, one doesn't go to parties without a little "relaxing"
stimulation, usually alcohol. No sense in being self-conscious while
laughing at others, especially other categories. This really helps
discrimination and integration in identifying categories (that's a
joke).

Weekend parties thus tend to have a recipe for bullshitting, including
laughing at categories of other people and drinking alcohol, although
there is now a tendency for certain parties to substitute dope to some
extent. And sexual innuendoes in jokes of course add to the general
lowering of discrimination.

Does a weekend party seem a ripe place for bullshitting to you? It
does to me, and in my opinion it does for most people who engage in
them regularly or fairly regularly.

One of my relatives who is a social worker has said to me: "You didn't
attend parties. You weren't one of the boys." No indeed. I was
waiting for this thread :>)

Osher Doctorow

.

Quantcast