ShowTime’s Bullshit – An Aptly Named TV-Show
During my lazy time this weekend I watched an assortment of episodes from the Bullshit tv-series starring comedians/magicians Penn&Teller. I think the show is really entertaining and that you can actually learn a little bit about various persuasion techniques (something most marketers are interested in) by watching the show. But I wouldn’t recommend that you take everything said on the show as facts or, even worse, base your own opinion on it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this particular Showtime production could be used in class as an example on how to affect people’s thinking without them really realizing what is going on. In (the current season) of the Bullshit show, the attack on your mind begins right with the opening credits. Words like “trick, science, belief, clarity, intellectual” and finally “TRUTH” are displayed prominently throughout. In this simple way they are priming you to take what is to come as the pure and simple, undisputable facts.
If you have ever watched this show for even a few minutes you can easily draw the conclusion of what it is that you – the viewer – is promised to get when you “buy into” this tv-show; you will instantly be able call other people on their bullshit. With all of the charisma of Penn Jillette you think you will also – as all your friends no doubt watch in deep admiration – be able to promptly label someone who holds another opinion an ignorant asshole.
In short, you become a member of a select group of well informed and smart people who are more or less immune to people who try to sell you snake oil in one form or another.
Because you know better.
After watching several episodes of Penn and Tellers Bullshit show I must confess, it is extremely easy to be more or less brainwashed by these guys. That is why I think it is important to remind yourself that some of it is as much an illusion as the magical acts this same duo entertain people with in Las Vegas.
A Sleight of hand on “the truth”
The tv-channel I normally watch this show on was, by one of my friends, aptly named as “man tv”. He came up with that because it is a channel broadcasting a multitude of shows that (supposedly would) appeal especially to men. You know, like fishing, cars, the world’s most dangerous police videos, be your own carpenter, extreme sports etc.
It is easy to see how Penn and Teller instinctively appeal to such and audience. Many men would probably want to be a little bit like Penn Jilette themselves. And hey, these guys take every opportunity to say “fuck”and show off bare tits! And they certainly aren’t prepared to take shit from anyone…
They probably have won many men over to their cause right there, and imposing their own views on their audience after that is like taking candy from a baby.
I must confess, I don’t really know what the “crack research team” on this show are or how they work. But a plain fact is that much of what is presented in the show has nothing to do with truth. It is certainly a spin on the truth, but it shouldn’t always be taken at face value.
Don’t get me wrong – I love to see and hear Penn make absolute stooges out of people dealing with new age medicine and the like as much as the next guy. But we should remember that this show is entertainment more than anything else, and in some regards the cases presented often really make Fox news appear as “Fair and Balanced” by comparison.
Here’s an example:
In the episode of “Nukes, Hybrids & Lesbians”, there is a segment that seems to try and “prove” that hybrid cars exist mostly for the purpose of cashing in on people’s guilty conscience. But what facts do these truth seekers present to support this? Well, in essence they picked up a Toyota Prius and stated the following:
- You can’t fit a shitload of luggage in this car
- According to the butch lesbian test driving it, it has poor acceleration; it does 0 to 60 mph in 12 seconds (it is supposed to be able to do it in 10.9 seconds, by the way) which is much worse than a Corvette, Mini Cooper or a Harley Motorcycle
- The (supposedly) lesbian women hired to test drive the car didn’t manage to get an impressive mileage out of the car
In addition they also managed to “prove” that an editor of a Hybrid Car magazine actually didn’t know very much about cars and technology overall.
Okay, so all of that was presented in a very entertaining way. But what did we walk away with that actually makes any sense and proves that hybrid cars are bullshit? To be perfectly honest, absolutely nothing!
Ruling out what is essentially a car engine technology based on how much you can fit in the trunk of a particular car model is about as relevant as trying to determine the processing power of a personal computer by how big its case is.
Comparing acceleration of a car intended for mundane, day to day transportation to that of a Corvette is simply childish. If you wanted a meaningful comparison it would make more sense to compare it to a Toyota Avensis of about the same size that, according to the manufacturer, does 0 to 60 mph in 12.2 seconds. So the hybrid is actually faster. And both cars have more than adequate performance for the use they are intended for – both a Mini Cooper and a Corvette are grossly overpowered for most people’s needs, and the Harley is a bike and not a car.
As for the mileage, I don’t think you have to be overly chauvinistic to think that two preoccupied (with each other, the filming etc.) women in a car they are not used to didn’t perhaps manage to pull the optimal mileage out of said vehicle. According to the manufacturer, the Prius averages 4.3 Liter per 100 km (remember, I’m European) which is a very decent figure for a contemporary car of its size. The Avensis I compared to earlier has an average consumption of 7,2 Liters per 100 km.
Determining (or at least making it appear as) that the Hybrid Car magazine editor was an incompetent, hypocritical asshole says nothing about the hybrid technology itself. Basically it is the very common logical fallacy of “guilt by association”. In the Bullshit episode it served as a sleight of hand, just like in a magic trick.
For the record, I can say that I personally am not convinced that the dual engine idea of hybrid cars is a very good one. Mainly because it is expensive and unnecessarily elaborates things. There is also the question of what happens to the old batteries in these cars, but since Penn and Teller didn’t do more than briefly mention this I am pretty sure that those “assholes” over at Toyota in fact have a kick ass recycling program. 
So in conclusion – even though I am no hybrid car fan myself – the Bullshit program’s take on hybrids actually contained more manure from a male cow than the car concept they where trying to ridicule.
Why The Above Doesn’t Matter
But I’m pretty sure that many viewers actually believe that Hybid cars are just bullshit, because they saw it on Penn and Tellers show. And that isn’t because they where right (in truth they where way off), but because they have the skill to present their case in such a manner that we – the viewers – want to believe them. I mean, they are the cool Penn and Teller – why wouldn’t we think like they do?
They do everything in their power, and in their case that is quite a lot, to make us think the same way they do. For example, why on earth do you think they signed up two (supposedly) lesbian women for test driving the car?
I can’t be 100% sure of course, but I think a logical reason was that they wanted the viewer to make the (false but common) association to the notion that “women are the worst drivers”. The way the mind often works, it is thereafter not that difficult to transfer that negative emotion on the car (technology) being discussed. If you further make the women lesbian, you have tossed a useful distraction into the mix that a person skilled with words can use to throw the viewer off from noticing that all you are saying is really completely irrelevant bullshit.
Or how about this line: “Speaking of licking, let’s see how our lesbians are doing”.
It may also be the case that lesbians are somehow considered even worse drivers than heterosexual women, therefore augmenting the desired effect even more. Along with the comparisons to Corvette and Harley they also manage to create an image that the Prius indeed, at the very most, is a car for chicks. Certainly something “a real man” wouldn’t want to be caught dead in the driver seat of.
After all, if even the butch, poor woman driver, lesbian said that the car was shit – how on earth could it be any good?
That last part of this post is the only part of this post that I currently have no way of backing up. But you can rest assured that the creators of the Bullshit tv-show are very knowledgeable in how they in fact can manipulate you in very similar ways to what I just described.
They are magicians – their profession is to make you think you saw things that actually never happened.
In other words: they positively make you crave their bullshit.
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Comments
Well, maybe they should rename the program the “libertarian propaganda show” then…
It is a while since I wrote this post, and in retrospect I think I (perhaps inspired by the show in question) used unnecessarily strong language in some of the segments. I do not habitually label people things like “ignorant assholes”, but on the Bullshit show they do. Tongue in cheek perhaps, but nevertheless.
That said, I think Piotr mostly makes baseless and stereotypical assumptions about me as a person based on this one post.
I stand by my main points that a lot of the things that I have seen on this show is merely a certain spin on the topics in question, and that they are rather good at making their target audience believe in what they are saying.
As Piotr points out it is certainly not the only program to do so, as virtually all media people always presents their stuff from a certain angle.
That was never disputed in my original post. However, having a story angle is not automatically synonymous with making “a spin” on the truth. Good journalists usually fulfill the criteria of objectivity.
Reading this it is clear that you are extremely bias and chose to believe what you want to believe. You make no valid points.
I agree, penn and teller are mostly bullshit. They get the stupidest person to take up the other side of the argument. And get some semi compentant person for the side argument to make themseleves look good. The Shows Libertarian Bullshit.
I watched a P&T B.S. clip on global warming and it seemed obvious from the start that the B.S. was coming from P (or is it T?) I can’t really stand to watch stupid bully sophistry so I don’t think I will be watching anymore of their programme. What I have noticed is that people believe what they want to believe. I don’t know if it is so much an artful persuasion as it is an excavation of an already existing belief system.
I once saw an entertaining TV show on branding and marketing one segment of which featured a marketing/philosopher who was selling “The Code” which was basically supposed to be the language, (not limited to verbal,) of current human desire which could be exploited to sell stuff. This was a serious business with representatives from household corporate names in anxious attendance of its unveiling. He was credited with marketing of the Hummer by its appeal to the reptilian brain.
What I find so depressing about the interchange you had with plotr is how there is no communication taking place. I think that maybe human culture has two poles, maybe they are masculine and feminine but they are not strictly sex linked. On the one hand you have the need to dominate and on the other you have the need to collaborate, hierarchy vs consensus. I feel like we live in a world with two kinds of people that you could describe negatively as those who are afraid of being dominated, that see society as a zero sum game in status, and those who are so afraid that if everyone doesn’t agree or feel good that they are evil.
The “debate” on environmentalism seems to often break right along this fault. Notice how Plotr calls you a “little environmentalist” and says condescendingly how you “had your feelings hurt”. I would say this is very much the argumentative style of adolescent males. (The bullying banter used to try to sort out who has dominance.) On the other hand environmentalisms abuse by green washing and green guilt marketing exploits the weakness of a more feminine personality in the same way that fashion preys upon adolescent girls fears of ugliness and social criticism of anything but passivity.
It seems to me that we live in a masculine world. (Which would you rather be; a bitch or a prick? P & T have always been aggressive and confrontational I believe. It seems natural that they would be libertarians as I would argue that individualism is a masculine value.
I just realized I have gone on way to long, sorry. Anyway have a good day.
Robert, I think you make several interesting points – particularly the use of “excavation of an already existing belief system”.
I agree that this is what manipulators of all sorts often try to use to their advantage. Because an audience that you already “have in your pocket” doesn’t really need to be persuaded in the first place. We listen to (and buy from) those we like, it’s that simple.
This was what I was (somewhat ambiguously) hinting at with my anecdote about my friend calling a particular tv-channel “man tv”, and that many viewers probably somewhat admire Mr. Jilette for his bluntness.
But you expressed the point much more clearly. 
Here is a link to an interview with the “code” diviner that I mentioned.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/rapaille.html
I don’t know if just jealous of successful people but I find him repulsive. I feel like he is dressing up in intellectual clothing what natural salesmen have intuited since forever.
Its kind of you say I expressed myself clearly, I personally feel I have a predilection for gas baggery.
So you are a little environmentalist who got his feelings hurt because they bashed your ugly car, that’s cute. But I’m gonna have to disagree with you completely especially the part about your language. There is one key theme you have missed in there show and that is the libertarian philosophy. You keep saying things in your blog like they force you to watch the show, change the channel. That is what they are trying to tell you its ok to think what you want watch what you want and say what you want as long as you don’t try to force this upon others because they may think what you have to say is bullshit from there perspective. Not that the world is bullshit and I’m the greatest that’s exactly who they are speaking off, people who feel their way is the only right way to do things. Also the whole idea of this man channel concept, seems you don’t understand scientific thinking you are assuming that all men fit into a certain stereotype that we as men are all the same, how every ignorant on your part. As for your hybrid technology car, they call them bullshit experiments you know why because they aren’t meant to prove anything yet you took it seriously. Plus, you think this show is brainwashing people, what would you say to news channels. If you can name me one news channel that isn’t pushing an agenda and using tricks to do it, well my friend you take the cake. Wake up, these aren’t really tricks of the mind they aren’t doing anything more than anyone else to show their viewpoint, plus I love how you try to explain cognitive psychology when it is obvious you have never opened a book on the topic, you are persuading people using the same technique they do, so tell me what does that make you, no not an asshole but a hypocrite.