Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection

Neil Postman had the best take on bullshit and crap detection:

As I see it, the best things schools can do for kids is to help them learn how to distinguish useful talk from bullshit. I will ask only that you agree that every day in almost every way people are exposed to more bullshit than it is healthy for them to endure, and that if we can help them to recognize this fact, they might turn away from it and toward language that might do them some earthly good. - "Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection", by Neil Postman

Why bullshit is no laughing matter | Aeon Ideas:

The book list for Postman is well worth reviewing.  Much of our current debate about culture, causes of malaise and collapse of education have been known, studied and advocated for many, many years.  But, of course we have no memory of history here in America so it is not surprising that we just react.

• Television and the Teaching of English (1961).
• Linguistics: A Revolution in Teaching, with Charles Weingartner (Dell Publishing, 1966).
• Teaching as a Subversive Activity, with Charles Weingartner (Delacorte Press, 1969)
• "Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection" — speech given at National Convention for the Teachers of English (1969)^[12]
• The Soft Revolution: A Student Handbook For Turning Schools Around, with Charles Weingartner (Delacorte Press, 1971).
• The School Book: For People Who Want to Know What All the Hollering is About, with Charles Weingartner (Delacorte Press, 1973).
• Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk: How We Defeat Ourselves By the Way We Talk and What to Do About It (1976). Postman's introduction to general semantics.
• Teaching as a Conserving Activity (1979).
• The Disappearance of Childhood (1982).
• Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985).
• Conscientious Objections: Stirring Up Trouble About Language, Technology and Education (1988).
• How to Watch TV News, with Steve Powers (1992).
• Technopoly: the Surrender of Culture to Technology (1992).