Thursday, July 29, 2010
Self-Deception
As more and more studies indicate, one should never underestimate the extent to which we can deceive ourselves. In this case, those who fake mental illness come to believe that they are ill. Self-deception has no limit. We can believe just about anything. This is why in PR work we need to rely on facts, what can be independently verified, rather than beliefs. Every PR practitioner knows at least one client who has fallen in love with a product or service and is convinced that it is the best in the market. The client is unhappy if anyone dares point out that the product or service might not be any better than competing offerings and in fact, might suffer in comparison. There is an old newspaper cliche that states, "If your mother says she loves you, check it out." We can rarely be certain in PR. There is always the possibility of unknown evidence that can change the interpretation of what we think we know. We assume that even if we don't know those facts, others do, so we proceed cautiously. Whether or not our clients appreciate such respect for evidence, the media do.
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