Technical, Academic Description of EU Justifications for Palestinian Aid
Last year, Princeton University ethicist Harry Frankfurt put out a nuanced little book on the notion of bullshit. We quote directly:
For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.
If you're having difficulty wrapping your mind around this, please consider the recent, shall we say 'thin', EU justifications for giving money to terrorists that we passed on yesterday:
The European Union threw the Palestinians a short-term aid lifeline on Monday to help stave off imminent financial collapse, despite the appointment of a leader of the Islamist militant group Hamas as prime minister... "Today I have announced a very substantial package of assistance to meet basic needs," European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said after EU foreign ministers discussed how to respond to the impending formation of a government by Hamas, which does not recognise Israel's right to exist and espouses armed struggle."... French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told a news conference it was vital to continue supporting the Palestinians. "There would be nothing worse than not making our contribution," he said. "There would be social, economic, and... security chaos. We must encourage Hamas to evolve."
We think it would be a mistake to assume that Douste-Blazy is just doing something vulgar like lying. It's not that the Europeans know that Hamas will not evolve - although of course they know that. And it's not that the Europeans know that Hamas will get hold of the money that's supposed to go to this much-vaunted caretaker government - although of course they know that:
Any European financial aid granted to the Palestinian Authority will go straight to the PA budget, Hamas and PA officials told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. According to the officials, funds received from the European Union will be deposited with the PA's Finance Ministry, which will then decide how to spend the money. The officials dismissed as "ridiculous" talk about transferring aid directly to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The EU agreed Monday to provide $143 million in urgent aid for Palestinians before Hamas forms a new government.
It's that they just don't care. They'll say whatever will get them through the short-term press conference after a meeting - they'll go through the motions of mouthing the appropriate platitudes about responsibility, evolution, etc - and then they know that nobody will point out a month from now that, yet again, everything they promised turned out to be wrong. It's not a lie. It's just bullshit (in a technical sense, of course...)
For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.
If you're having difficulty wrapping your mind around this, please consider the recent, shall we say 'thin', EU justifications for giving money to terrorists that we passed on yesterday:
The European Union threw the Palestinians a short-term aid lifeline on Monday to help stave off imminent financial collapse, despite the appointment of a leader of the Islamist militant group Hamas as prime minister... "Today I have announced a very substantial package of assistance to meet basic needs," European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said after EU foreign ministers discussed how to respond to the impending formation of a government by Hamas, which does not recognise Israel's right to exist and espouses armed struggle."... French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told a news conference it was vital to continue supporting the Palestinians. "There would be nothing worse than not making our contribution," he said. "There would be social, economic, and... security chaos. We must encourage Hamas to evolve."
We think it would be a mistake to assume that Douste-Blazy is just doing something vulgar like lying. It's not that the Europeans know that Hamas will not evolve - although of course they know that. And it's not that the Europeans know that Hamas will get hold of the money that's supposed to go to this much-vaunted caretaker government - although of course they know that:
Any European financial aid granted to the Palestinian Authority will go straight to the PA budget, Hamas and PA officials told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. According to the officials, funds received from the European Union will be deposited with the PA's Finance Ministry, which will then decide how to spend the money. The officials dismissed as "ridiculous" talk about transferring aid directly to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The EU agreed Monday to provide $143 million in urgent aid for Palestinians before Hamas forms a new government.
It's that they just don't care. They'll say whatever will get them through the short-term press conference after a meeting - they'll go through the motions of mouthing the appropriate platitudes about responsibility, evolution, etc - and then they know that nobody will point out a month from now that, yet again, everything they promised turned out to be wrong. It's not a lie. It's just bullshit (in a technical sense, of course...)
