2010-03-10

The existence of Political PR is the proof of democracy

This is my argument for yesterday's debate, regarding whether political PR is evil and harmful to the democratic system.

First, have a peak of the following video, which recorded the moments when former political leader of North Korea, Kim ll Sund died, the general reaction from the public.




Obviously they were all devastated about Kim's death, despite this leader's controvesial reputation throughout his political life.

I will not talk about the complicated politics here, but it is clear that North Korea cant be counted as a democratic country, and that's why people would have unanimous reaction/opinion towards a rather complicated matter/issue. They dont get to see both sides of the coin, and they dont have a say.

And there is no need for political PR in that country.

In a democratic society, political PR does make politicians into jokers or celebrities, and it does spin or twist the fact under quite a lot circumstances, and sometimes it is not good for the public interests.

But does that mean it's harmful for the democracy?

Spin or not, lie or not, it still is a way of communication, it provides the public options to choose to believe or not, to support or oppose, its own existence is built on a democratic social system where everyone gets to express their opinions, and gets to choose which side of the story they want to believe.

With political PR, politicians can be dressed up really nicely or destroyed in two days. And the public gets to see the whole process of how it's done.

You may not like it, but you cant deny it's part of the democracy.

Coming from a country where is far less democratic, I'd love to have political PR as a proper industry one day in my home country. I wouldn't mind it's being spinning around, because I'd get the right at the same time to stand out and speak out it's wrong.

And that's all about democracy, isnt it, stand up and have your say.

Political PR helps that, so it's helpful to a real democratic system.

For North Korean people, the day they have political PR is the day they wont be shot to dead for using a mobile phone to call people abroad.

1 comment:

Aneta said...

Well Viola, your post is very emotional. I like it. I watched that video and it kinda shocked me how these people reacted to someone's death (I think similar reaction was is Soviet Union when Stalin died). It only shows how these governments were using dictatorship (which I believe is only based on giving orders and not listening or allowing to talk back, so there is no negative opinions or feedback or even thought about such governments)- which is like the opposite to what PR stands for.
I too believe that PR is beneficial to democracy, however there are also some things about PR which make democracy a bit 'fake' or hypocritical. One of them is the fact that government and big corporations (lobby groups) have lots of money to organise a campaign for their purposes. The public doesn't. It makes these battles of opposite opinions a bit uneven and unfair.
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