What’s the most effective way to reduce the amount of bullshit in contemporary discourse? Be sure to use Frankfurt’s specific notion of bullshit—so in that sense, the question is really asking: What’s the best way to get people to care about truth when they speak or write?
I think the best way to make people care about truth when communicating with others or delivering a message is to emphasize accountability. To make people care about when they personally speak, they have to have an audience that cares about the truth and will make them stay central to the point and remain honest. In order for this to happen, the masses need to care about the truth. To craft this, people have to adopt dedication to the truth as a moral responsibility. A possible way to create this degree of severity would be to make people aware of the consequences of falsehoods. These consequences can vary, but have the ability to gradually degrade the fabric of transparency and trust within a society.
The consequences of falsehoods:
- A disillusioned public
- Eroded trust
- Loss of faith in political institutions
- Potential radicalization as a result
- Difficulty for genuine candidates to affect positive change
