The Mainstreaming of Bullshit
The word bullshit is less about bovine excrement and more about authentically speaking of falsehoods. It's now so common, it's mainstream bullshit.
While walking to the store and listening to The Ezra Klein Show, the host was talking with CNN anchor and commentator Fareed Zakaria about Trump’s foreign policy doctrine and the reasoning behind policy changes. At one point, Zakaria – who comes across as levelheaded and rational on television – said that Trump and other hardliners were tired of the "bullshit " of the liberal world order.
The use of the word bullshit struck me. Like most people, I use it frequently in conversation (okay, maybe hourly). You hear it in business meetings and casual discussions, but it’s still rare in media, formal presentations, and polite company. It generally means something is fantastical, untrue, fabricated, or an outright lie. Yet, despite its meaning, bullshit remains profane and, to many, indecent.
Still, we’re hearing bullshit more and more in everyday life. On podcasts like Klein’s, produced by The New York Times, and The Joe Rogan Experience, it’s used routinely. Zakaria’s use of the word on a New York Times podcast made me wonder – has bullshit gone mainstream? Can someone with a high-profile, professional image like Zakaria now use bullshit openly without damaging his public reputation?
Censorship and the Evolution of Profanity in Media
Comedian and satirist George Carlin was famous for his "Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television" routine (though there are more than seven). One of those words was “shit.” When a New York radio station broadcast Carlin’s routine, it led to the 1978 Supreme Court case FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, which ruled that the government could regulate indecent content on radio and television.
The ruling didn’t impact books, magazines, or newspapers – since those are privately published and require voluntary purchase. But radio and television transmit over public airwaves, making it possible for indecent content to reach unintended audiences, particularly children. This led to the creation of “Safe Harbor” hours (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.), allowing broadcasters to air indecent – but not obscene – content during late-night programming.
Few broadcasters pushed the boundaries. Racy content aired after kids went to bed, but nothing overly explicit or pornographic. TV personalities rarely said anything stronger than damn or hell.
That changed in 2001 when South Park, the raunchy Comedy Central cartoon, broke the taboo. Leading up to the episode "It Hits the Fan", creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker teased that a character would say "shit." Many assumed it would be a quick stunt at the end of the episode. Instead, they opened with Mr. Garrison – one of the boys’ teachers – casually saying "Oh, shit!" after making a mistake on the blackboard. The students were mildly surprised. The audience was shocked. But that wasn’t the big reveal.
Over the course of the 30-minute episode, characters said "shit" 162 times, with a counter in the corner ticking up each time. At the end, Stan – one of the main characters – summed it up: "You know, I learned something today. Sometimes, words lose their meaning if you say them too much."
That’s where we are with shit today. It’s no longer just excrement – it’s a word we commonly use to describe bad, broken, or unwanted things.
The Origins of Bullshit
Bullshit is a different story. While most people associate it with bovine waste, its origins likely come from the Old French boul or Old English bulle, meaning fraud or falsehood. By the 17th century, the English used bull to mean nonsense or empty talk. Some scholars suggest bullshit may have roots in the German words bullen (meaning "bull") and scheiße (meaning "shit"), given the interactions between English- and German-speaking populations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The word bull made its way into the American lexicon in the late 19th century, and bullshit was first documented in a 1915 edition of The New Republic, used to describe empty rhetoric. American servicemen in World War I adopted it to describe things that were bad. By the mid-20th century, bullshit was firmly part of American vocabulary, though mostly confined to casual conversation due to the vulgarity of its second syllable.
Academic Treatment of Bullshit
In 2005, philosopher Harry Frankfurt gave the word academic weight with his book On Bullshit. He argued that bullshit is more dangerous than lying because it reflects indifference to truth rather than deliberate deception. While liars distort facts, bullshit ters speak to impress or persuade without regard for accuracy, eroding respect for truth itself. Frankfurt linked its rise to societal pressure to appear knowledgeable, fueling empty rhetoric in politics, media, and marketing.
Since then, several books have used bullshit to critique modern business and management practices, including Business Bullshit (2017) explores how organizations rely on meaningless jargon; Bullshit Jobs: A Theory (2018) examines the rise of pointless work; Bullshit Management (2012), a Dutch book, critiques superficial business operations; and The A-Z of Business Bullshit (2018) catalogs corporate buzzwords.
Other books use bullshit to emphasize authenticity, like No Bullshit Strategy by Alex M.H. Smith offers a straightforward approach to strategic planning; No Bullshit Zone Internet Password Book by Leon Wild focuses on organizing online credentials; and No Bullshit Social Media by Jason Falls and Erik Deckers provides practical business advice for navigating digital marketing.
Bullshit Is No Longer Bullshit
Bullshit has long been commonplace, but now it’s mainstream. Even major media outlets use bullshit or shit without constraint or repercussions. Some may still find it offensive in open conversations or media, but the word has evolved into something culturally significant while retaining its centuries-old meaning. Bullshit is really no bullshit anymore.
Larry Walsh is the CEO and chief analyst at Channelnomics, a provider of partnership strategy, research, and advisory services. He is a former editor and journalist, having worked at and led several magazines and newspapers. He hosts the Changing Channels and In the Margins podcasts and is a frequent speaker at corporate events. The opinions expressed here are his own and do not reflect the positions of Channelnomics or its clients.