Bullshit! We?
Column Loosely conjured up appearances cover up agonizing deficits in communication, although it is becoming increasingly important for everyday life, says Jürgen Häusler.
Column Loosely conjured up appearances cover up agonizing deficits in communication, although it is becoming increasingly important for everyday life. Bullshit" by Harry G. Frankfurt has been on the bestseller list for non-fiction books for weeks. It must not have found many readers for that reason. Optimists rejoice that the number of books being bought is constantly increasing, while realists know that the number of books being read is probably decreasing. And among members of the communications industry, this gap is likely to widen even further compared to the average population. Not necessarily because they are reading less, so the hope goes, but because they are buying more, so the assumption goes. After all, according to Frankfurt, it represents the prototypical producers of "bullshit" (alongside politicians). And on closer inspection - i.e. after reading the book - his accusation is anything but flattering.
Frankfurt does not simply accuse the communications industry of spreading lies. Because lies require a serious relationship with the truth. Anyone who produces bullshit lacks this relationship. The communications industry is "not committed to making the necessary effort to tell the truth". The accusations are thoughtlessness, carelessness and indifference. The author attacks bullshit as a program to circumvent the tiresome and difficult search for the truth.
And this attack is obviously justified. It is the lack of desire for absolute quality and the lack of need for sustainability that are being attacked here. Superficial exaggeration is increasingly replacing the search for the essential core of the matter. The sparkling fireworks of ever new things routinely destroy what is valuable and worth preserving. The quick joy at the friendly nod of the many ends the responsible struggle for what is right in the long term. The appearance conjured up with a light hand covers up the agonizing deficits of the real experience.
And this is despite the fact that the results of professionally managed communication are obviously becoming increasingly important for shaping our everyday lives and even our society. It has long been the big global brands that instruct people on all continents how and what they should do, for example what they should eat.
The global success of fast food is not the result of consumer demand as revealed by market research. And when it comes to combating the worst consequences of this success - obesity in young children in the USA is a national disaster of the first order - all eyes have long since turned to big brands rather than state health institutions. Brands are powerful - we must or may take note of this.
Against this backdrop, we should not lose sight of Wittgenstein's motto, as quoted by Frankfurt: "In earlier times of art / Craftsmen worked with the greatest care / Every smallest and invisible part / For the gods are everywhere."
We do not need this utmost respect for absolute quality out of fear of the gods. We need it because of respect for the consequences of our work. As members of the communications industry, we should increasingly follow the example of the craftsmen quoted by Wittgenstein: they did not get involved in botching things up.
Jürgen Häusler is CEO of the Interbrand, Zintzmeyer and Lux Group and an honorary professor at the University of Leipzig
Frankfurt does not simply accuse the communications industry of spreading lies. Because lies require a serious relationship with the truth. Anyone who produces bullshit lacks this relationship. The communications industry is "not committed to making the necessary effort to tell the truth". The accusations are thoughtlessness, carelessness and indifference. The author attacks bullshit as a program to circumvent the tiresome and difficult search for the truth.
And this attack is obviously justified. It is the lack of desire for absolute quality and the lack of need for sustainability that are being attacked here. Superficial exaggeration is increasingly replacing the search for the essential core of the matter. The sparkling fireworks of ever new things routinely destroy what is valuable and worth preserving. The quick joy at the friendly nod of the many ends the responsible struggle for what is right in the long term. The appearance conjured up with a light hand covers up the agonizing deficits of the real experience.
And this is despite the fact that the results of professionally managed communication are obviously becoming increasingly important for shaping our everyday lives and even our society. It has long been the big global brands that instruct people on all continents how and what they should do, for example what they should eat.
The global success of fast food is not the result of consumer demand as revealed by market research. And when it comes to combating the worst consequences of this success - obesity in young children in the USA is a national disaster of the first order - all eyes have long since turned to big brands rather than state health institutions. Brands are powerful - we must or may take note of this.
Against this backdrop, we should not lose sight of Wittgenstein's motto, as quoted by Frankfurt: "In earlier times of art / Craftsmen worked with the greatest care / Every smallest and invisible part / For the gods are everywhere."
We do not need this utmost respect for absolute quality out of fear of the gods. We need it because of respect for the consequences of our work. As members of the communications industry, we should increasingly follow the example of the craftsmen quoted by Wittgenstein: they did not get involved in botching things up.
Jürgen Häusler is CEO of the Interbrand, Zintzmeyer and Lux Group and an honorary professor at the University of Leipzig
