Bullshit.

The general stance on ‘bullshit’ (as used colloquially) is that it’s always a terrible thing. That it distracts, wastes time, is dishonest and destructive.

I disagree, and my stance on bullshit comes down to two things.

1) Bullshit is the ability to convince without proving. If you know anyone who can make a good argument, who can ‘work a room’, and who tends to assume a thought leadership position in groups, they are probably very adept with bullshit.

2) It’s possible to construct a bullshit argument that is still correct. If someone convinces you of the truth, without strictly proving it, are they still doing something dishonest or destructive?

When people bullshit for the sake of bullshit, bad things happen. But when people use bullshit out of an inherent understanding that there are often more convincing things than logic, it doesn’t inherently indicate they are a bad person.

It does indicate, however, that they have decided reasoning and argumentation aren’t going to help them in their current circumstance.