On Public Relations .

seems that the primary purpose of many public relations campaigns is to change the public’s perception about someone or something so that everyone sees him or her or it in a positive way.

For example, Charley Smith is a jerk. But his PR guy tries to get everyone to see him as a sensitive, caring person, concerned about the poor, and so on.

Or Podunk, Inc. is about as predatory as a company ever gets. So its PR consultants go all out to get the public to see it as the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, and St. Vincent de Paul all rolled into one.

But public perception can be altered without a deliberate campaign being waged by anyone. All that has to happen is for someone to start the ball rolling and then have people keep it rolling.

Let me give you one of my favorite examples of this phenomenon.

Take the word "professional." In essence it means someone who’s paid for what he or she does as contrasted with "amateur" being someone who doesn’t get paid for what he or she does.

However the perception of "professional" being fed to us today has little or nothing to do with money.

It has only to do with the image of someone or some company’s employees being expert, without bias, business-like, and full of integrity, and many other Boy Scout attributes.

Not true in most cases, I don't think. But then, again, I tend to be cynical where PR is concerned

So the next time you hear or read about superstar Herman Sosa or billionaire Clara Whittle or international giant XYZ Company being professional, I suggest you turn up your hearing mechanism a bit. If you do, I think you’ll be able to pick up the sound of rattling skeletons in their individual closets.

Think about it.