Those whose business it is to do PR have invested greatly in their craft. Those who buy PR services need them to convey to their audience what they want them to hear. The audiences who are subject to the PR strategies allow themselves to be sold or not based on the effectiveness of such campaigns. In effect PR is part of the fabric of our lives. My question is: whatever happened to simply being open and honest? Well that would put the PR people out of job. It would make the consumers of PR feel exposed and uncomfortable. It would make the audience of PR dubious about the credibility of those they are listening to. So it seems that everyone wants to live in the fantasy that PR can create rather than live in the truth of what is really going on. What does that say for our tolerance for the pain that goes with the truth? Well clearly it says that it is extremely low. Is this a good thing? Well some will say that feeling no pain is definitely desirable. If that's the case then suppose that you are in the middle of the street and a truck is heading right for you. Is it your preference to "pretend" that this is not happening to you? You see that is essentially what it means to "quench" the sadness (i.e. the pain) that you would be feeling knowing that in the next moment you will get mangled badly. So isn't it better to feel that pain? Doesn't it inform you of what actions are worth taking? Isn't that what is going to enhance the quality of your life? I think you'll see that the answers to those questions are obvious. Yet if you look around you you'll see individuals trying to "quench" all sorts of pain with drugs, alcohol, sex, over work, the internet, computer games, sports, food, etc... Are we so afraid to know the truth about our situation? Isn't that the place to start if we stand any chance of steering ourselves in a direction that will help restore humanity and the planet to its rightful state? Out of fear the pain of the truth is made unconscious by many individuals daily. The consequences to them of doing this creates a tremendous amount of stress and illness. At the end of the day there is no PR that will make that feel or appear OK. Well OK, there are some who advocate that there is "good stress". I suppose if you believe that you'll believe anything. |
