Reality Bites: Interview with a Bullshitter

Last week, Authentic Voice posted on Harry Frankfurt's bound essay, On Bullshit:

Bullshitters don't lie, exactly. They simply don't care what the truth might be, which makes them worse than liars. That's the conclusion philosopher Harry Frankfurt reaches in On Bullshit, a 67-page examination of the BS we read and write every day.

This week, AV managed to snare a feral specimen long enough for some face time:

...BS: You still think the truth is out there? You must be younger than you look. Everything's relative, sweetie. It's about time you caught on.

AV: Not everything is relative. There's an objective reality that we can all experience and that—

BS: Spare me. Who experiences reality these days? Look, I spend most of my life sealed in buildings that are connected to some monster grid of pipes, wires, radio transmissions, and satellite feeds—all so I can have constant power, heat, water, phone, TV, and internet. Some guys I pretend not to see take my trash to places I'll never go. Someone else feeds me, makes my clothes, gives me medicine, teaches my kids, and tells me what's happening. Government types that I didn't bother to elect protect me from dirty pictures, bad words, and threats to my way of life posed by people I'll never meet in countries I can't place without a map. Almost everything I know I got from words on a page or faces on TV. What do I know about reality? Where is it? When do I ever do anything with it? [There's more ]

Perfect! The United States of Hermetic Solipsism, with liberty and justice for Me!

And, uh, no--this isn't the argument for Self-awareness. Self-knowledge steels us to engage the world more openly and capably. More confidently, come what may. The above is habitrail. Maybe when the wheel spins fast enough, it doubles as a cuisinart?