On Bullhit Harry Frankfurt Summary

On Bullshit is a 1986 essay written by Princeton University professor Harry Frankfurt in which he attempts to define the idea of bullshit and explain the cultural use and context behind it. Using a variety of sources, including the Oxford English Dictionary as well as other older essays, Frankfurt examines the use of the term bullshit and how it simply cannot be replaced with another word, especially “lie”. Frankfurt begins by stating that, “…we have no theory,” or any other formal writing on the word “bullshit” because of its crudeness, despite being a widely used saying. As such, he dives into examples of bullshit’s use and how these can define the meaning of bullshit. One example of bullshit that Frankfurt gives is an anecdote about philosopher …show more content…
A few examples come from the episode “Where my Country Gone” which follows Mr. Garrison, the boys’ teacher, dabble in politics and immigration reform when an influx of Canadian immigrants move to South Park. In the episode, Mr. Garrison himself states, “I may not understand politics, or immigration policies, or the law, or basic ideological concepts, but dammit I understand there are a bunch of Canadians here and I’m gonna do something about it” (Parker, “Country Gone”). This clearly represents bullshit in the sense that Mr. Garrison is not at all informed about how the country is run or how immigration works, yet he continues to believe that he is correct. Even after it is revealed that the reason Canadians are coming to America is to escape a Donald Trump-like president that won on the same ideology of Mr. Garrison and subsequently ruined the country, he continues to proclaim his ideas to be the answers to America’s problems (Parker, “Country Gone”). This shows that Mr. Garrison does not consider reality at all but instead makes statements that he believes to be right and makes him look