Get Out Your BS Monitor

11 Comments / Blogging, Interesting Things / By

When I was younger (not much younger), we used to play this card game called Bullsh*t. The point of the game was to call out people for what cards they had in their hand. Basically it was a card shuffling game where one could make an educated guess about what cards any given person had at any given moment.

The whole deck is passed out to the participants and each person is asked to lay down a specific card for their turn. The first person is asked to lay down an Ace and it goes up from there until it starts over again. You don’t have to lay down the correct card, but you have to be a good bluffer. At any time someone can challenge you and if you didn’t lay down the correct cards you have to pick up the whole discard pile. However, if you did lay down the correct cards the challenger would have to pick up all the cards. This game is also called by its more politically correct names of Cheat and I Doubt It.

To win it is important to bluff but it is even more important to call people out on their BS! For whoever gets rid of all their cards first wins and it is a near statistical improbablity of having the correct cards to lay down from the beginning.

It is the same in life. Rarely do we have the cards we need to win in any given moment. Heck, some people aren’t even playing with a full deck. Some are even playing with rigged or stacked decks.

BUT, it is really important to be able to call people out on their BS because we can never win if we don’t.

In the end, I think everyone benefits when the truth prevails. So don’t be afraid to call things like you see them. Get out your BS Monitor and start detecting that stuff all the time.

11 thoughts on “Get Out Your BS Monitor”

  1. Barbara Swafford

    Hi Jeremy,

    I find this to be especially true when reading online. Whether making a purchase or deciding to follow advice that is posted, double (and even triple) checking the information is very important as some stuff gets published and it’s often far from the truth.

    Being an informed “consumer” will save us tons of grief and/or money.
    [rq=3542,0,blog][/rq]Living Happily Now

  2. Jeremy Day

    Hi Barbara,

    Thanks for visiting and commenting! This is SO true online! I have recently started enjoying a blog called Bad Money Advice. It is written by a guy with a lot of experience and wisdom in business and finance. He makes his blog simply about pointing out illogical and non factual things in personal finance blogs. I read a lot of personal finance blogs so I love picking up on things he writes. He often gives a very important counter perspective. Here is his link… http://badmoneyadvice.com/

    Again, thanks for visiting Barbara. Im just starting to get back into blogging so you can plan on seeing me around your blog again here soon. AND, I still do want to be a teacher for a day. 😉

    Cheers,
    Jeremy

  4. Srinivas Rao

    Hey Jeremy,

    I came across your blog on the top 50 personal development bloggers list. I noticed you mentioned that you had started this blog after your MBA and I just started mine too right after my MBA. But, bschool is one place where you really learn about to decet people’s BS. Great post.
    [rq=6183,0,blog][/rq]What do you really want?

  5. Kent @ The Financial Philosopher

    Srinivas is absolutely correct and, Jeremy, we’ve discussed “the knowing-doing gap” before, especially with regard to “smart talk.”

    Almost all schools, especially business schools (I also have an MBA), teach students to “talk smart.” Large company executives and politicians are perfect examples of people who know how to talk smart but often have little or no experience is the subject for which they are speaking.

    With the combination of higher-level education and a few good “talking points” anyone can appear to be an expert.

    Whomever is the best illusionist “wins,” at least in the short-term…

    “Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune.” ~ Plato
    [rq=14502,0,blog][/rq]What would Thoreau think of Twitter?

  8. gas card

    I love bullsh*t! Its a really fun game, especially when you are playing with about 4-5 people. Its very important to know how to bluff.. and sometimes to “pretend” that you are bluffing hah…. just by your facial expression etc. I typically do that, just to make the others pick up. Its interesting how you applied the game of bullsh*t to real life.

    -Randy

  9. Mary

    Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say
    that I’ve really liked reading your posts. Anyway
    I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon!

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