Posted by Jason Weigandt on Wednesday, April 15, 2009
My college professors thought so highly of the public relations field that they were teaching that they actually implored we “young professionals” to revolutionize the way people see PR. They wanted a push to make PR a “profession.” You know, get the same respect as doctors, lawyers.
Anyway, I haven’t heard much of this movement, and indeed I’m still not driving a Porsche. So I guess it’s not working. But now I’m, starting to wonder.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the pirate hijacking of an American cargo ship last week? On Monday, Navy SEALS rescued the ship captain, Richard Phillips, safely, in a scene that usually only takes place in movies (and at one point over the weekend, Phillips even made an escape from the pirates and dove into the water, but they managed to get him back before he could be rescued. What is this, Lost?)
Anyway Captain Phillips has been saved and the pirates holding him have been killed. Then I find this in the New York Times story about the rescue:
In Somalia itself, other pirates reacted angrily to the news that Captain Phillips had been rescued, and some said they would avenge the deaths of their colleagues by killing Americans in sea hijackings to come.
“Every country will be treated the way it treats us,” Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding a Greek ship anchored in the pirate den of Gaan, a central Somali town, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying in a telephone interview. “In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying.”
Okay, wait. Pirates capture a ship and hold the captain hostage in exchange for ransom, and WE are the bad ones? Who the heck came up with that kind of spin? Must have been a professional, for sure. Maybe we can put pirates up there with doctors and lawyers.
Butt then, the lawyers, maybe they’re not much better. After the pirate story, I was reading about former record producer icon Phil Spector going to jail for shooting a woman back in 2003. Here’s a story snip:
Mr. Spector, prosecutors said, essentially confessed when he emerged from the home, gun in hand, and told his limousine driver, “I think I killed somebody.”
The defense disputed the accusations on several fronts, including the account of the limousine driver, Adriano De Souza.
They noted that Mr. De Souza was a Brazilian immigrant not fully proficient in English and said he might have misquoted Mr. Spector, who they suggested might have actually been telling him to “call somebody.” A gurgling fountain nearby and the driver’s fatigue and hunger from working all night may have added to confusion, they told jurors.
Excellent! A gurgling fountain, hunger and fatigue means you can misunderstand “I think I killed somebody” for “I have to call somebody.” Just imagine the crap I can say in Vegas in a few weeks. Those giant Bellagio fountains…up late hours…man, I’m in PR, but I really do need to start thinking like a lawyer.
Posted by Jason Weigandt on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
