How to spot a bullshitter--any suggestions?

[raccoon]

I've got some ideas, but I'd like to hear some others' input.

I'm trying to upgrade my people smarts. :-)

[Buzz Clik]

1. I have a feeling a lot of bullshitters will be weighing in. Keep your eyes open.

:eyes:

[lonestarnot]

2. Tee hee

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2941561

[SoonerPride]

3. Fool proof method

If their mouth is moving, they're bullshitting you.

[jgraz]

Look for the HillaryIs44 avatar.

[seabeyond]

16. to claim hillary is 44 yrs old is an obvious line of bullshit. that is true. n/t

[sweetpotato]

18. I think they mean President #44

Like W is called 43 and GHWB is 41.

cute, huh?

[seabeyond]

22. ahhhh. then if that be the case, i would have to call jgraz on bullshit..... lol lol wink

i got what he was saying. it is bullshit. and i am not a fan of hillary, nor rootin for her, nor will i vote for her. but the poster..... full of shit.

and this.... is how one sees the bullshit.

is it bullshit the op of the thread was talkin?

totally forgot what this thread was about. lol lol lol.

[madokie]

4. well what I do upon meeting someone new

I listen to how they talk not necessarily what their message is but what they're saying. Are they talking in facts, truths or innuendo. Then make a decision based on that. Hasn't failed me yet in picking out a bullshiter

wrdchng

[izquierdista]

5. Bertrand Russell said it best

Those that are 100% positive and sure in their belief are ignoramuses while the wise are full of doubts.

[Boojatta]

6. You mean online? For in-person interactions, I suggest poker.

Try playing poker with a variety of people. You could try to get an agreement to play with chips that don't represent money. People spend hours playing games like Go and Chess without wanting money to change hands. If someone will play only for money, then you probably shouldn't play against that person. Check your local gambling laws. Maybe you could play against someone who prefers to play for money, but who is willing to play the first few games and alternate games after that without using money.

[raccoon]

10. I mean in real life.

AFraid I don't know how to play poker. :-)

[Boojatta]

17. So play against someone who is willing to teach you.

People often like to share their knowledge. Also, this way you're definitely not going to be playing for money unless your opponent is callous and you are gullible. After all, the person who might be simply making up (or "interpreting/explaining" the rules) as the games proceed usually has an advantage.

[L. Coyote]

7. They have bumps on their heads from falling out of the horse's arse?

Seriously, usually they have to be in every one of their own stories,
and that is why the story needs some fertilization. :rofl:

[ThomWV]

8. "All we have to do"

Anyone who explains their solution to a problem with the phrase "all we have to do" is about to hand you a line of pure bullshit.

[Redstone]

11. Uh, huh. That's a HELL of a good starting point. Another one is when someone repeatedly

refers to "those people" (though they may not do so in those exact words, and the "those people" are not the same group for each bullshitter).

Good suggestion to the OP on your part.

Redstone

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. some wear little flags on their lapels, and pretend to be patriotic

when they are really nothing but GOP pols and assholes, to boot.

[melody]

12. The little (R) after their name

The worst bullshitters are impossible to detect, however.

[spanone]

13. watch the next bu$h* press conference

[jody]

14. Easy, the person is long on opinion and short on facts supported by credible source links. n/t

[momster]

15. Not To Sound Like One

but if somebody has an answer for every dilemma and backs it up with 'my brother's sister-in-law's friend....' or 'I read on the Internet'....' If they offer tons of advice without listening to your whole story.... If they offer to do something for you or with you and then never quite manage to do it.... When they call you they talk for hours about their problems but time runs out when it's your turn.... if you catch them in an untruth and they try to tell you there's a fault with your perception...

Gee, you'd think I'd met a few in my time? It comes down to this...if you think somebody is, they probably are. Trust those deep instincts that say 'this guy isn't for real' or 'I'm not happy with the way I am treated'. Don't sell yourself short. I think this is less developing 'people skills' and more developing one's self to have less tolerance for being treated as though b.s. is your proper portion in life. Let them go make idiots out of other people; you're not going to be available.

[raccoon]

25. "If they offer to do something for you or with you

and then never quite manage to do it.... "

That's the one I've run into that sticks out in my mind.

When I was unemployed 2 bullshitters said to me something like,

"I know bigshots at XYZ company, I can help you get on there."

"I can help you get on at ABC Company. My son plays golf with Mr. Big, the CEO."

Guess what? Neither of them did jack shit. (not that I was depending on their efforts, mind you.)

[momster]

29. Sorry This Happened to You

Big Talkers tend to be Small Performers...a lesson women learn early.

[MethuenProgressive]

19. Look for the Obama logo.

:hi:

[lame54]

20. Just go to GD:P - they're on display

[slackmaster]

21. Something I learned growing up in a Republican country-club community

The one with the nicest suit, most expensive shoes, and fanciest car is usually the biggest crook.

[DemoTex]

23. Carl Sandburg called 'em "Bunkshooters" .. and wrote a poem to them:

To a Contemporary Bunkshooter

YOU come along … tearing your shirt … yelling about Jesus.
Where do you get that stuff?
What do you know about Jesus?

Jesus had a way of talking soft and outside of a few bankers and higher-ups among the con men of Jerusalem everybody liked to have this Jesus around because he never made any fake passes and everything he said went and he helped the sick and gave the people hope.

You come along squirting words at us, shaking your fist and calling us all dam fools so fierce the froth slobbers over your lips… always blabbing we’re all going to hell straight off and you know all about it.

I’ve read Jesus’ words. I know what he said. You don’t throw any scare into me. I’ve got your number. I know how much you know about Jesus.
He never came near clean people or dirty people but they felt cleaner because he came along. It was your crowd of bankers and business men and lawyers hired the sluggers and murderers who put Jesus out of the running.

I say the same bunch backing you nailed the nails into the hands of this Jesus of Nazareth. He had lined up against him the same crooks and strong-arm men now lined up with you paying your way.

This Jesus was good to look at, smelled good, listened good. He threw out something fresh and beautiful from the skin of his body and the touch of his hands wherever he passed along.
You slimy bunkshooter, you put a smut on every human blossom in reach of your rotten breath belching about hell-fire and hiccupping about this Man who lived a clean life in Galilee.

When are you going to quit making the carpenters build emergency hospitals for women and girls driven crazy with wrecked nerves from your gibberish about Jesus—I put it to you again: Where do you get that stuff; what do you know about Jesus?

Go ahead and bust all the chairs you want to. Smash a whole wagon load of furniture at every performance. Turn sixty somersaults and stand on your nutty head. If it wasn’t for the way you scare the women and kids
I’d feel sorry for you and pass the hat.

I like to watch a good four-flusher work, but not when he starts people puking and calling for the doctors.

I like a man that’s got nerve and can pull off a great original performance, but you—you’re only a bug-house peddler of second-hand gospel—you’re only shoving out a phoney imitation of the goods this Jesus wanted free as air and sunlight.

You tell people living in shanties Jesus is going to fix it up all right with them by giving them mansions in the skies after they’re dead and the worms have eaten ’em.

You tell $6 a week department store girls all they need is Jesus; you take a steel trust wop, dead without having lived, gray and shrunken at forty years of age, and you tell him to look at Jesus on the cross and he’ll be all right.

You tell poor people they don’t need any more money on pay day and even if it’s fierce to be out of a job, Jesus’ll fix that up all right, all right—all they gotta do is take Jesus the way you say.

I’m telling you Jesus wouldn’t stand for the stuff you’re handing out. Jesus played it different. The bankers and lawyers of Jerusalem got their sluggers and murderers to go after Jesus just because Jesus wouldn’t play their game. He didn’t sit in with the big thieves.

I don’t want a lot of gab from a bunkshooter in my religion.
I won’t take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth and never cherishes any memory except the face of the woman on the American silver dollar.

I ask you to come through and show me where you’re pouring out the blood of your life.

I’ve been to this suburb of Jerusalem they call Golgotha, where they nailed Him, and I know if the story is straight it was real blood ran from His hands and the nail-holes, and it was real blood spurted in red drops where the spear of the Roman soldier rammed in between the ribs of this Jesus of Nazareth.

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967)
#54 of the Chicago Poems
1916

[navarth]

26. wow. that's great stuff.

Thanks for that.

Three cheers for Carl Sandburg

[stillcool]

24. I'm fond of logic...

[Orsino]

27. Anyone calling upon supporter of Clinton or Obama to "face the truth."

Guaranteed to be nothing more than a partisan attack.

[Fire Walk With Me]

28. If they're on video or television, turn off the volume and just watch them.

[Jack Rabbit]

30. He'll tell you Bush is a great president and Cheney is an honest man

That's a good tip off, don't you think?