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'Public Relations' is the result of the word 'propaganda' being given the propaganda treatment. To corporate PR, lying comes as naturally as breathing. Every

'Public Relations' is the result of the word 'propaganda' being given the propaganda treatment. To corporate PR, lying comes as naturally as breathing. Every time an executive gets publicly disgraced they "decide to spend more time with family." Every time an employee is injured, the company "takes safety very seriously." Every time your personal information is sold to data brokers, it's "shared with our trusted partners." These lies are so prevalent they've practically become memes. PR is propaganda. To a propagandist, lying is just another tool for manipulating people. Lying is in their professional DNA. Never give these assholes the benefit of the doubt; assume they are lying until proven otherwise.

JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> 'Public Relations' is the result of the word 'propaganda' being given the propaganda treatment This meme elides over the historical reason Bernays et al eschewed the term propaganda: the fascist regimes were printing outright lies, something he worked to avoid. To differentiate propaganda which doesn’t lie (but still, of course, seeks to influence) from the kind which embraces outright lying, the term “public relations” emerged.
- speedybird 5y ago
  Public relations doesn't distinguish itself from propaganda by not lying; that is itself propaganda about "public relations". Public relations lies nonstop. Public relations is nothing more than a rebranding of propaganda because propaganda became associated with fascism. And Bernays had no qualms about lying. This is the man who endeavored to convince women that cigarettes were "Torches of Freedom." He was an amoral psychopathic dirtbag. And yes, he knew what he was doing was wrong: > Throughout the job, Bernays concealed the fact that he was working for the American Tobacco Company, and succeeded in keeping his own name out of the affair as well. Staff were instructed never to mention his name. Third parties were used, and various notable people received payments to promote smoking publicly as if on their own initiative.[47] (Decades later, however, Bernays boasted about his role.)[48] Bernays did not smoke cigarettes himself, and persistently tried to induce his wife Doris to quit.[49]

JumpCrisscross 5y ago

> 'Public Relations' is the result of the word 'propaganda' being given the propaganda treatment This meme elides over the historical reason Bernays et al eschewed the term propaganda: the fascist regimes were printing outright lies, something he worked to avoid. To differentiate propaganda which doesn’t lie (but still, of course, seeks to influence) from the kind which embraces outright lying, the term “public relations” emerged.

speedybird 5y ago
Public relations doesn't distinguish itself from propaganda by not lying; that is itself propaganda about "public relations". Public relations lies nonstop. Public relations is nothing more than a rebranding of propaganda because propaganda became associated with fascism. And Bernays had no qualms about lying. This is the man who endeavored to convince women that cigarettes were "Torches of Freedom." He was an amoral psychopathic dirtbag. And yes, he knew what he was doing was wrong: > Throughout the job, Bernays concealed the fact that he was working for the American Tobacco Company, and succeeded in keeping his own name out of the affair as well. Staff were instructed never to mention his name. Third parties were used, and various notable people received payments to promote smoking publicly as if on their own initiative.[47] (Decades later, however, Bernays boasted about his role.)[48] Bernays did not smoke cigarettes himself, and persistently tried to induce his wife Doris to quit.[49]