Bullshit Detector

Bullshit Detector

Part of a series on Reaction Images. [View Related Entries]

Updated Jul 26, 2020 at 09:10AM EDT by shevyrolet.

Added Apr 10, 2014 at 05:20PM EDT by Don.

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About

Bullshit Detector is a hypothetical measuring instrument that can supposedly determine the validity of a claim or argument. In online forums and comments, the device is most commonly summoned in response to a dubitable claim in the form of a reaction image.

Origin

On February 19th, 2006, a promotional website was launched for the “universal bullshit detector," a novelty wristwatch that makes a mooing sound when activated by the wearer.


Push the button & let the Universal B------- Detector Watch™ speak your mind!

Precursor

In Season 10 Episode 22 of the animated television series The Simpsons, originally aired on May 9th, 1999, the character Professor Frink uses a device to detect sarcasm (shown below).



Spread

On September 18th, 2009, the tech news blog Gizmodo[5] posted an article titled "Scientists Race to Develop Political Bullshit Detector," which contained an image of a "bullshit amplifier / detector" (shown below). On September 22nd, 2009, the fitness blog T-Nation[4] highlighted the same image in an interview with competitive power lifter Jim Wendler.


DETECT TPUT (REL B------- AMPLIFIER / DETECTOR INPUT FREQUENCY 950-2050 FECAL Hz TTOM SCALE S--- X 10

On July 15th, 2011, an Android app titled “Bullshit Detector” was submitted to the Google Play Store,[2] which features a needle indicator that responds to the tilt of a mobile device (shown below, left). On September 1st, a bullshit detector app was released on Apple’s iOS store[3] with a similar interface (shown below, right).


b------- ll Carrier 9:07 PM 50 80 90 20 30 40 tRo 9% B------- DETECTOR WRONG

On May 1st, 2012, a Facebook[6] page titled "The Bullshit Meter" was launched, which features a userpic of a bullshit detection reader (shown below, left). On July 1st, Paracast Forums[7] member stonehart posted a "B.S. meter" image in a thread about an unidentified flying object (shown below, right).


100 PERCN COMPLETE B------- ©STICKERHEADs.cos. Pseudoscientific Nonsense Dazed & Confused Intentionally Misleading 3 2 4 Well Intentioned (but wrong!) Outright Fraud 5 B.S. METER ©Samson Therapeutics

Notable Examples


TALLER GET R SHOVEL TALL BULL SHITIII TRUE 7 8 10 BULSHI-O-METER Buillshit Meter Power 5 3 -2 -1 .1 0 ACS:LAW B------- DETECTOR B------- METER I AM SO CLOSE TO KILLING EUERYTHING 75 Pure %0 25 BOVINE BE EXCREMENT pet

Give-A-Fuck-O-Meter

In 2010, following the emergence of Internet slang expressions like "not a single fuck was given" and "look at all the fucks I give", and the subsequent unitization of the word “fuck," an animated GIF variation of the device dubbed the “Give-A-Fuck-O-Meter” rose to popularity, which exudes a more relaxed, carefree or apathetic attitude towards the claim in question (shown below).


5 3-2-1 o -1 ive-A-F----O-Meter

Search Interest

External References

Recent Videos 1 total

Recent Images 24 total


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