Lies, damned lies along with an inordinate amount of bull

One of the most noticeable features of our times is that there is so much misinformation. It is inescapable. Social media and the internet are full of it. We all know this. But being confident in our ability to recognize the truth, we all believe we will not be taken in by the lies and bullshit that prevail.

Being the usual hubris that precedes a pratfall, this leads to all kinds of bum steers stampeding out of the virtual world into the real world. All too often, not without harmful consequences.

For those intent on such confidence tricks, what counts is not the fact but what people believe to be the fact. Therefore, outright lies have the disadvantage of being disprovable. Bullshit on the other hand merely requires the chutzpah and charisma to carry off the bluff and the self-assurance to shrug off any opprobrium if caught in the act.

And since bullshitting is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what they are talking about, and it is therefore commonplace to greater or lesser degrees－especially in public life, where people frequently feel compelled to speak extensively about matters on which they are ignorant following a line they know to be acceptable to some－the censure of discovery is less damaging to reputation and trust than being caught in a lie.

Thus bullshit has become the modus operandi of those who are intent on smearing China with misrepresentation and deception. Carefully avoiding any inconvenient truths that might deny them the right to define reality, they present their accusatory complaints against China in the manner of conspiracy theorists, exploiting people's need to make sense of things amid uncertainty and the narcissism that has come to the fore with today's technology, they present China's actions as being intentionally targeted against those willing to believe their claims.

As Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a speech he delivered at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris on Sunday, lies and rumors, no matter how many times they are repeated, are bound to be debunked eventually by facts. Which is why the allegations against China have strayed further and further away from the truth.

For as has become clear, any proposition, no matter how outlandish, will find a receptive ear if it is presented with enough assurance.

Those speaking ill of China are now content to dispense with the truth entirely as they seek to foster a presumption of guilt; presenting their insinuations like levitation tricks rising into people's awareness without any tangible means of support.

Wang's remarks for instance were in response to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's comments casting doubt on China's environmental protection efforts.

On which, as Wang said, "China's commitment is evident", elaborating on some of its achievements.

Those casting aspersions on China are well aware that it is not the country to have withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, nor is it the one that has completely separated itself from the global carbon emissions reduction system and arrangements.

Nor is China the country that has withdrawn from the World Health Organization or the one that is sabotaging any concerted anti-pandemic efforts, the pandemic being another field in which it is hard to avoid their bull.

There is so much bullshit uttered about China. For not only is it startling and brilliant in its bravado, it is also overwhelming. It has become like background noise. To such an extent that even those not predisposed to be receptive to it, are content to let it go in one ear in the belief it will go out the other and fail to ask themselves why there is so much of it and what functions it might serve.

The author is a writer with China Daily.