PS : The Pseudo-Profound BS

If the early bird gets the worm, then why do good guys finish last? If silence is really golden, then why does the squeaking wheel get all the oil?

There’s a lot of contextual emphasis to such conventional wisdom. These sayings aren’t open to logical investigation. Yet they’re considered truthful. In that case, how do you distinguish knowledge from wisdom? The answer, I suspect, lies in relevant application :

Emotions direct our decisions. Rationalising them comes as an aftermath. We are whimsical in our being. It’s a fact we are conditioned to overlook. After all, we can source pride from the logic we assign to our actions. This is but a natural tendency. However, there are occasions when this tendency strays into trash territory.

Enter Pseudo-profound bullshit.

Pseudo-profound bullshit refers to a class of nonsensical statements, based on the idea “impress, not inform”.

It’s hard to point to my first encounter with pseudo-profound bullshit. But I believe it existed since antiquity. Certain arguments claim social media has aggravated the need to project oneself. However, this need is not particularly novel. On this matter, I find the ideas of Jerome Bruner, an American Psychologist, very convincing. It goes something like this — While speaking about your past, you are likely to adopt explanatory routes. A story which puts your struggle in positive contexts, and spins your failures into a recognisable storyline aka a known script. In other words, we live our lives through the narratives we create.

But pseudo-profound bullshit is different. Randomly strung obscure words are not narratives. They’re not justificatory or profound in any way. They’re deceptive and often misleading. Narratives have a foundation. Whereas pseudo-profound bullshit is built on loose imitations of truthful quotes.

In a lot of ways, pseudo-profound bullshit resembles the archetypical con artist — A well-dressed man with a staged charisma. He’d parade around with a personality so magnetic; you’d barely develop suspicion. And by the time you realise it, he dupes and destroys you. Fortunately, pseudo-profound statements aren’t as damaging (yet).

However, pseudo-profound statements can induce damages in its own ways. The lack of definite meaning encourages independent interpretations, including egocentric reflections. These statements can strengthen beliefs, no matter how flawed they are. Vaguely written words can direct readers to shift blames and eliminate genuine guilt. Pseudo-profound bullshit can further toxic positivity, and create spaces for hurtful ideas to thrive.

High-definition photographs, curated fonts and poorly punctuated statements come together to create an illusionary effect. If you’re the old soul type, vintage paper texture and a typewriter font might do the same trick.

Pretty designs can drive readers towards falsehood. And critical thinking becomes the proverbial road less travelled. And that makes a whole lot of difference.
For instance, read this quote.

Without the calmness implied by the yoga at sunrise, the quote has no profoundness to it. It’s merely crap in brightly coloured packaging.

On that note, I’d like to ask you one last thing.

Does this qualify as pseudo-profound bullshit? You think & tell me!