Watch the plodding academic size up his nimble and fleet prey on the Serengeti Plains of public discourse, the one who gets the all the attention, the accolades, (the money), the girls, (the money). Watch the intellectual thrash uncomfortably in his sheepskin as he stealthily approaches the watchful foe. Wait! The foe knew he was there the entire time!
The realms of advertising and of public relations, and the nowadays closely related realm of politics, are replete with instances of bullshit so unmitigated that they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms of the concept. And in these realms there are exquisitely sophisticated craftsmen who — with the help of advanced and demanding techniques of market research, of public opinion polling, of psychological testing, and so forth — dedicate themselves tirelessly to getting every word and image they produce exactly right.
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