Robert Peek, a PR professional and Director of Corporate Communications at Jacksonville Port Authority, criticized me for using the word "bullshit" in a recent column I wrote for Talent Zoo on social media ethics. In a post titled On Obscenity in Social Media, Robert suggested I was violating the very same tenets I "espoused," and I was making "gratuitous" use of the word, which was indicative of an alarming trend in social media.
My use of the word was not gratuitous, nor was it indicative of laziness or contempt for my readers. It was a show of respect. I try to write naturally, and authentically. The word was my gut reaction to what I was writing about, communicators who claim ignorance of ethical, legal and professional guidelines. (I do not claim any such ignorance.)
Corporatized business speak can be evasive. I could have written, "Communicators who continue to explore new strategies in social media run put themselves and their companies at great risk. Perhaps they are well intentioned but ill-informed." But that would be disingenuous. (I would have used another word for it, in fact.)
The use by fine writers (I am not putting myself in this class) of such words for emphasis and brevity is not without precedent. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare wrote "out out damn spot," often quoted, as it is here on The Accidental Scientist, a food blog.
I would point Robert and others to Harry G. Frankfurt's book, On Bullshit, a very small but interesting treatise on the topic, which incidentally, won a 2005 Bestseller Award in the philosophy category. Frankfurt is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University and also ought to know better about the gratuitous use of obscenity. Frankfurt quotes Max Black's earlier work, The Prevalence of Humbug, when trying to define the word "bullshit:"
"Humbug: deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious word or deed, of somebody's own thoughts, feelings, or attitudes."
Thus, it was the perfect word for what I was writing about. (Sorry, but I could not have used "humbug." Dickens was the last one to use the word in literary discourse.) And whether my use of the word was appropriate or not, my use of such language in my public writing is so rare and so judicious, I am insulted that Robert would single me out as the lead example for his post. I believe this is indicative of another social media faux pas, inadequately researched writing.
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