The Principle
Brandolini’s Bullshit Asymmetry Principle: The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.
Jonathan Swift: Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect…
We’ve come so far with near-real time fact checking services. However, even with the same piece, they differ in what questions they fact check. Furthermore, it seems that consumers of debunked false statements accept the debunking, but don’t change their opinions on the subjects.
Therefore, to be effective, we should find ways to make the truth reach the reader first. This is an uphill task given how easy it is to spew lies.
References
- Brandolini's Bullshit Asymmetry Principle. Alberto Brandolini. twitter.com . ordrespontane.blogspot.com .
- The Examiner. Jonathan Swift. quoteinvestigator.com . 1710.
- Fact-checking. en.wikipedia.org .
ordrespontane.blogspot.com
In Essence of Bullshit , Frankfurt posits that the essence of bullshit is lack of concern for the truth, which may explain why bullshit is easier to produce.