Bullshit – "an indifference to the truth" – pervades our world, our political world, our corporate world.
Aggregate Industries’ planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm, for example, has contained various amounts of it over the years – as we have so often highlighted.
Greenwashing is another example of bullshit. Aggregate Industries and parent LafargeHolcim engage in plenty of that too:
Today we are celebrating Earth Day's 50th anniversary! The Coronavirus pandemic is reminding us of how fragile our earth is. Despite the crisis, we continue to pursue our climate ambitions & act as the most ambitous international building materials group. #EarthDay2020 #EARTHRISE pic.twitter.com/XFzSuFd40e— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) April 22, 2020
We're committed to tackling #climatechange. Our climate targets reflect that commitment and we have set ourselves two distinct targets as a step towards our 2030 goals https://t.co/AMvvMcFBqM #GreenGB #CleanUK #mpacement @beisgovuk pic.twitter.com/srQrG2brKP— Aggregate Industries (@AggregateUK) October 16, 2018
Of course, in the real world things are different – as we have previously posted: Climate emergency? Not at Aggregate Industries. CO2 emissions increase again and LafargeHolcim: Acting in a way that would "wipe out most life on the planet".
How do we tackle climate change in an age of bullshit? Here’s one answer, published this month:
What a GREAT title for a #climate research paper https://t.co/Ya80PopqxJ— John Gibbons (@think_or_swim) June 16, 2020
For those unfamiliar with Harry Frankfurt, professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University, author of On Bullshit:
On Bullshit is a 2005 book (originally a 1986 essay) by philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt which presents a theory of bullshit that defines the concept and analyzes the applications of bullshit in the context of communication. Frankfurt determines that bullshit is speech intended to persuade without regard for truth. The liar cares about the truth and attempts to hide it; the bullshitter doesn't care if what they say is true or false, but rather only cares whether their listener is persuaded.
