Is It Management or Is It Public Relations? Only Your Administration Knows for Sure
What is a public opinion? It is an unshaped mass sensitive to the environment conditions and dependent on the information content and distribution channels as well as information sources and initiators. Even a person is prone to change his or her view due to life circumstances, age, state of health and current income not to say about nations. And this peculiarity is successfully used by public leaders to influence mass sentiments with the aim to promote what they need or they think they need. Mass mindset can be changed in a moment as it happened on the 11th of September 2001 with every U.S. citizen’s attitude towards terrorism and Islamists factions.
Public relations are questionably a new managerial skill and are closer to an old if not to say ancient tools to manipulate. For instance, Egyptian pyramids were a good tool pharaohs and priests used to support an illusion of the sovereign rulers' divine origin successfully hiding numerous murders monarchal relatives committed to hitting the top. One of the most illustrating examples of propaganda in later history is an image Lenin created for himself and his communist ideology in the former Soviet Union. Being financed by a mix of German-Austrian authorities he was tasked to play havoc with monarchical system of Russian Empire and he managed not only to destroy it but to sterilize the whole nation mindset by pseudo ideas of total equality and spirit of fraternity. Having killed thousands of «public enemies» he transplanted blind fear of dissidence and fostered godlike respect for rank.
The latest public relation action that proves the old methods are still in use are economic sanctions against North Korea (NK) nuclear weapon testing. The U.S. Treasury Department hardened diplomatic pressure on the NK government so that to demonstrate the world that the United States have enough power to control the global situation. Imposing sanctions will not improve the situation but can escalate open or concealed NK aggressiveness not only towards the US but towards any country that advocates sanctions. Does NK threat or try to defend? Do we see the reports about terrorism in South Korea or other nearby countries? Indeed, if to look contrarywise, the Group of Seven committed to protecting weaker countries from any aggression. But the situation with Ukraine and Syria can be the reason why NK intensifies testing – because commitments are failed or ignored. The sanctions against Russia with regard to military actions on the territory of Ukraine did not succeed but resulted in Syria conflict and increased the inflow of escapees to all European countries that voted for sanctions. But if to travel deeper to Russian Siberia you would not find anything except depressed towns full of parcel drunk citizens who still believe Russia is the greatest country. Is the Bear so frightful as it seems? As a matter of fact, it is an art of public image this country creates. Thus, aggressive and …
