President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton speech writer Jon Lovett’s commencement speech at Pitzer College last month blew me away. I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment:
One of the greatest threats we face, simply put, is bullshit. We are drowning in it. We are drowning in partisan rhetoric that is just true enough not to be a lie; in industry-sponsored research, in social media’s imitation of human connection, in legalese and corporate double-speak; it infects every facet of public life, corrupting our discourse, wrecking our trust in major institutions, lowering our standards for the truth and making it harder to achieve anything. And it wends its way into our private lives as well, changing even how we interact with each other, the way casual acquaintances will now say, “I love you,” the way we describe whatever thing as the best thing ever, the way we are blurring the lines between friends and strangers, and we know that. There have been books written about the proliferation of malarkey, empty talk, baloney, claptrap, hot air, balderdash, bunk. One book was aptly named Your Call is Important to Us.
But the cynic in me wondered if any generation is up for this challenge:
But this is not only a challenge to society, it’s a challenge we all face as individuals. Life tests our willingness in ways large and small, to tell the truth. And I believe that so much of your future and our collective future, depends on your doing so.
This article appears in Jun 6-12, 2013.
This coming from a guy that helped Obama and Clinton deliver some of that very bullshit he says is so threatening to us. Talk about playing both sides!
Is Jon Lovett willing to call President Obama on his BS? We live in an age where lying aka BS has become acceptable. I say acceptable because when these lies are told, the people telling the lies are not usually challenged. I can think of only one moment when Obama was called a liar…of course all hell broke out in the media of how dare this man Congressman Joe Wilson say to Obama “YOU LIE”. How many lies have we heard since coming from the lips of President Obama, Hilary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Rice, and Jay Carney…numerous. It is shameful that during the 2012 Election campaign Obama had the gall to call Mr. Romney the biggest BS’ er. No, once again Obama has a habit of calling other what he himself is…the biggest BS’ er. Yes, I’d love to hear Jon Lovett confront President Obama with the truth…the biggest BS’er of a President!
The commencement speech was great, I watch it two days ago in it’s entirety and there wasn’t any BS or lies in it.
If you disagree with his speech you just being a prude.