Coutrier 1

Asha Coutrier
UWRT 1102
Ms. Voltz
25 February 2016
Journal #7: Stopping Bullshit
Its understandable why the aforementioned is a nearly impossible task. There is no way
on this Earth that the process of bullshitting will ever be stopped or fall out of style. It is
something that is second nature to people, myself included, because it aids in getting people out
of uncomfortable situations, avoiding trouble, and occasionally opening up opportunities that
they might not have had available to them beforehand. Bullshit comes in many forms, even
though, it is most specifically associated with just complete lying. Bullshit can be a mere not
telling of the whole truth, the representation of an issue that favors the person telling it, a
misinterpretation of someones thoughts or using specific trigger words to encourage a specific
emotional reaction. Bullshit can be used in everyday life, but it should not become someones
first option to resort to. When that happens, people lose sight of who they truly are because they
become comfortable with the fact that people have accepted this half-truth of a persona they have
crafted. Since they are not completely lying, these people would not be as inclined to feel guilt
behind paltering.
Politicians are no foreigners to being accused of lying to people. Even though they might
not be outright lying, these people do have a habit of invoking the personal biases and skewing
issues that require support of the common people for it to gain popularity. For example, lets say
someones mom asked them had they been drinking. Obviously they have, but they know that

Coutrier 2
death awaits them if they admit any sort of guilt, so they bullshit. They go, Yeah mom, Ive
been drinking, water that is and while their parents may not believe them, they still did not
technically lie. The difference between bullshitters and liars though, is that there is less of a
chance for a liar to start believing their lies and create a persona around that lie. Eventually lies
fall apart because they cannot be kept up forever, especially since they begin to either a) become
more ridiculous and disconnected from the original lie or b) it becomes evident, through body
language and changes in tone. If youre bullshitting, there is no real severe deviation between
your regular actions and the bits and pieces of lies added on. I feel as if in this case, someone can
genuinely be accused of one of the many forms bullshit comes in.
When it comes to politicians, they would not be bullshitters if they say something along
the lines of an outlandish Donald Trump statement like, Theyre going to build a wall to keep
brown people out and revoke access to the United States for those of the Muslim faith.
Although annoying, Trump could not be called a bullshitter because he is straight up lying when
he says that. No one, regardless of how Conservative they are, is ever going to be able to get
anything passed banning a faith or ethnicity without serious opposition and backlash. Sure he is
appealing to those who not only oppose immigration, but other ethnicities, but he is not doing so
by using grains of truth with those lies, it is literally just all crap. Said crap is meant to get his
popularity bursting through the roof, his name in every households mouth, and he is succeeding
in getting a great deal of press.
If one were to try to stop the process of bullshitting, I say we get muzzles for people or
those shock collars that come with those invisible fences for dogs. Or, legally, people could
practice becoming blunter on calling people out when they begin to bullshit them. If someone is
put on the spot, it leaves them minimal time to concoct a tale that maintains whatever they had

Coutrier 3
said in previous conversation. Personally, I have no problem calling people out, in fact, I take
immense pleasure in catching people in the midst of them spewing garbage and waiting for their
explanation. Obviously, not everyone has the temperament for confrontation, but calling
someone out does not have to be in the midst of some large gathering, it could be just the two
people. It can be over text and it can maintain the forcefulness behind it especially when done
over the phone. When I was arguing with my dad about his sending original copies of my baby
pictures back, he tried to bullshit his way out of it by saying he did not know if I had the pictures.
I did have the pictures, only problem is, it was because my mom had originally taken them,
which was a detail he so happened to omit. I called him out on it, and he continued to bullshit
even more so, by saying oh you know, Im not trying to get rid of you from my life, your
mother is x, y, and z, so on and so forth. He still did not answer the main question as to why he
sent my pictures back to me, all he did do, was piss both my mother and I off. He has not tried to
pull some stupidness like that again, and tries to appease me by sending me organic snacks and
other miscellaneous trinkets in the mail. By confronting him, I made him feel like the absolute
cretin he was acting like and the guilt, still to this day, eats him up. Although nothing has
changed since our confrontation, besides our relationship floating towards the cool side of the
pool, rather than lukewarm, it still caused a cessation in his usage of bullshitting, at least towards
me. Being assertive has many benefits that can be reaped and it is about time we started taking
them.