May 15, 2005
Ivy League Prof Sifts Through BS
Morley Safer Talks To Scholars Studying The Subject Of Bull
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Play CBS Video Video Professor Studies BS Correspondent Morley Safer talks to professors who are studying BS.
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The success of philosopher Harry Frankfurt's book on BS suggests that he's touched a nerve in the American psyche. (CBS)
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Frankfurt joined the great American BS celebrity parade for his first live TV interview about the subject, on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show." (CBS)
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Laura Penny has written a book titled, "Your Call Is Important To Us: The Truth About BS." (CBS)
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Jon Stewart: Have you seen it ebb and flow, or does it keep piling?
Frankfurt: I think it keeps piling.
When Safer interviewed Stewart, he asked, "Has it reached a point, for example, in advertising and marketing, or Hollywood, where a BSer doesn’t even know he’s doing it?"
"Oh, sure. I don’t imagine that, you know, they go, 'Another day at the BS factory,'" says Stewart. "I mean, one of, I think, the properties of BS is you live in it long enough and you begin to think it’s grass and sidewalks. You don’t realize that that’s the fuel you’re running on."
"What the worst BSer you’ve ever dealt with? Who is?" asks Safer.
"Ari Fleischer was the press secretary for Bush, is, and I don’t say this pejoratively, but a professional Bser," says Stewart. "His job was basically to use it to deflect any queries, like Wonder Woman."
"He was an artist. And sitting here for six minutes, I’d buzzed around him, you know, and for him it was batting practice," adds Stewart. "You know. 'Do you think you’re gonna try that?' You know, 'Oh really, you’re gonna throw it up around the eyes? Huh. Bang!'"
Picking their way through a blizzard of ads, come-ons and pitches, most people like to think their own BS detector is highly calibrated. For those who aren’t sure, however, there’s yet another academic who’s studied BS and is here to help.
She's Laura Penny, a Canadian university teaching fellow, whose own forthcoming book is titled, “Your Call Is Important To Us: The Truth About BS.”
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