ChiliConDarwin: Bullshitometer

We know it’s everywhere, but we can’t always recognize it. The purpose of this tool is to help the victims of bullshit identify it and tell it apart from other common forms of deception. The tool was inspired by Harry Frankfurt's essay “On Bullshit” and consists of a simple quiz that measures the degree of bullshit in everyday discourse. Try it out and, if you like it, send it to a friend and help us reduce the amount of bullshit in our cultural environment. Of course, feel free to analyze the content of this site as some parts, such as the last statement, are full of it.

Instructions: Select what you want to analyze (a politicial speech, a love letter, a friend's comment or a job proposal) and answer the following 10 questions about it as accurately as possible.

Flash design by "El Santo"

Please send us your examples of tricky bullshit and help us build the Bullshit-Spotting Challenge.

“One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern, or attracted much sustained inquiry. In consequence, we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves.”

Harry Frankfurt, On Bullshit