Tom Watson wrote:
"In the elder days of art
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part,
For the Gods are everywhere."

"The point of these lines is clear. In the old days, craftsmen did not
cut corners. They worked carefully, and they took care with every
aspect of their work. Every part of the product was considered, and
each was designed and made to be exactly as it should be. These
craftsmen did not relax their thoughtful self-discipline even with
respect to features of their work which would ordinarily not be
visible. Although no one would notice if those features were not quite
right, the craftsmen would be bothered by their consciences. So
nothing was swept under the rug. Or, one might perhaps also say, there
was no bull****.

It does seem fitting to construe carelessly made, shoddy goods as in
some way analogues of bull****. But in what way? Is the resemblance
that bull**** itself is invariably produced in a careless or
self-indulgent manner, that it is never finely crafted, that in the
making of it there is never the meticulously attentive concern with
detail to which Longfellow alludes?"


On Bull****
Harry Frankfurt
Princeton University


http://web.archive.org/web/200402120...ticles/bs.html




Tom Watson - WoodDorker
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website)

My only addition would be to add "self-righteous" after "careless or
self-indulgent." The desire to be correct all the time makes some
workers cover up flaws, lying to themselves and the observer.


Bob