"Bullshit"

This is a word that gets thrown around a lot by just about everyone sooner or later. For those of us raised in a gentler, more refined era “bullshit” is a word we rarely heard until well into the 1960s. Now it seems to be more commonly in use than the articles “a,” “an,” and “the.” I seem to be using the word more frequently as I get older.

What do we mean when we declare something to be B.S.? Do we not feel that this teaching about such & such simply is not true for us, no matter how the rest of the world may embrace it?

“Truth,” ultimately, is a personal matter, and my conviction about reality may be for you the epitome of error. All I know is that every day I am amused and/or infuriated by assertions from “authoritative sources” that this panacea or that – recycled with new labels & terminology – is going to cure the world’s ills.

I remember now with great fondness the button wore years ago by a colleague when our school staff were to be presented with a “revolutionary” set of educational paradigms. My friend sat through an endless number of meetings with a sweet smile on her face. On her blouse the button read simply, “Sounds like BULLSHIT to me.”

That’s just about how it all sounds to me these days.