The Pinocchio profession
The Pinocchio profession
There’s this risqué joke about the little wooden doll, Pinocchio, only child to the childless dollmaker and his homely missus. Pinocchio went forth into the world to seek his fortune and because of his innate charm and cuteness was taken in buy a handsome widow who soon put him to work.
Pinocchio worked hard at his chores around the widow’s cottage but was puzzled by the bouts of demonstrated affection shown to him by the widow. She would snuggle him face down in her lap and sighingly implore him to tell another lie. Now we all know the little wooden boy’s nose grew perceptibly every time he told a lie, something his parents had warned him not to do or he’d have to carry around the evidence for all to see.
Thus a pleasant diversion for the widow poses a dilemma for the little wooden doll. He likes the widow and wants to do her bidding but does not want to tell lies, much less carry around the evidence on his face for all to see. It would not be much of a dilemma if it was agreed that lies which give pleasure are different from and not as bad as ones that cause pain. But Pinocchio’s parents had been unequivocal on the morality of lie-telling. There were no good lies and bad lies in their book. They wanted their child to be truthful, no more no less.
The profession of public relations is faced with the dilemma of Pinocchio. It is clear to all the dream merchants in creativity that the real task is to demonstrate a clear vision and state the relevant issue in a positive manner. Not one of the practitioners of any art wants to tell lies while they’re about it. The moral crisis arises when the facts are not so savoury and have to be packaged and air brushed. Is it legitimate to highlight myths and by inference enhance the stature of a deficient client? Probably not, but then again, in the real world, it might not be easy to decide these things in absolute terms. It might be necessary to position the salient facts in a becoming manner vis a vis the competition. This does not seem so bad and the action lets one skirt the moral issues that plague the little wooden doll.
The true relevance of the profession in present times is to shine light on the knots and gnarlies that block development. These snarl-ups are often a consequence of mindsets which have become outdated, part of ideological positions which have shifted not only stance but content, in short, when policies change but do not transmit.
In such circumstances, a new moral ground is discovered by the practitioners of the Pinocchio profession. They become modern day Galahads out to do justice. They purvey information, clearly, concisely, in balanced perspective, to clarify issues so that the audience can cut through the thorny brambles over the stone work battlements of a discarded ideology. In times of change, as in present day India, there is an immense need for a clear statement on the nature and content of that change. Not only is the concept to be understood widely but also the consequences, the meaning of everyday manifestations, of the new order.
Without this clear interpretation of the consequences of change, you get ironic situations where the architects of worthwhile progress become victimised for their authorship. It quickly becomes apparent that the forces of reaction do not sit idle when anything disturbs the status quo. The centrist approach has traditionally been to appropriate the moral high ground without batting an eyelid, and from this vantage point, try to bludgeon the progressives into retreat and denial.
Having assumed the mantle of righteousness, the reactionaries think nothing of distorting facts, creating convenient collages of selective myth and spuriously passing off the heady cocktail in terms of a defence of culture and character versus a new found and mindless decadence.
We are a nation of great diversity in every conceivable way. This is why it is important to build consensus towards change. Change which is inevitable in its very nature. The time has come to regard the profession of public affairs in its true perspective, not as fancy footwork and smooth talk, but as the method by which we can grasp the issues that affect our lives. If public affairs people can rise to this challenge so can readers of our newspapers.
The fact of the matter is the dollmaker and his missus were quite right. There is no such thing as a “good” lie.
(769 words)
By Gautam Mukerji
First published in THE PIONEER www.dailypioneer.com on Friday, March 22nd, 1996
There’s this risqué joke about the little wooden doll, Pinocchio, only child to the childless dollmaker and his homely missus. Pinocchio went forth into the world to seek his fortune and because of his innate charm and cuteness was taken in buy a handsome widow who soon put him to work.
Pinocchio worked hard at his chores around the widow’s cottage but was puzzled by the bouts of demonstrated affection shown to him by the widow. She would snuggle him face down in her lap and sighingly implore him to tell another lie. Now we all know the little wooden boy’s nose grew perceptibly every time he told a lie, something his parents had warned him not to do or he’d have to carry around the evidence for all to see.
Thus a pleasant diversion for the widow poses a dilemma for the little wooden doll. He likes the widow and wants to do her bidding but does not want to tell lies, much less carry around the evidence on his face for all to see. It would not be much of a dilemma if it was agreed that lies which give pleasure are different from and not as bad as ones that cause pain. But Pinocchio’s parents had been unequivocal on the morality of lie-telling. There were no good lies and bad lies in their book. They wanted their child to be truthful, no more no less.
The profession of public relations is faced with the dilemma of Pinocchio. It is clear to all the dream merchants in creativity that the real task is to demonstrate a clear vision and state the relevant issue in a positive manner. Not one of the practitioners of any art wants to tell lies while they’re about it. The moral crisis arises when the facts are not so savoury and have to be packaged and air brushed. Is it legitimate to highlight myths and by inference enhance the stature of a deficient client? Probably not, but then again, in the real world, it might not be easy to decide these things in absolute terms. It might be necessary to position the salient facts in a becoming manner vis a vis the competition. This does not seem so bad and the action lets one skirt the moral issues that plague the little wooden doll.
The true relevance of the profession in present times is to shine light on the knots and gnarlies that block development. These snarl-ups are often a consequence of mindsets which have become outdated, part of ideological positions which have shifted not only stance but content, in short, when policies change but do not transmit.
In such circumstances, a new moral ground is discovered by the practitioners of the Pinocchio profession. They become modern day Galahads out to do justice. They purvey information, clearly, concisely, in balanced perspective, to clarify issues so that the audience can cut through the thorny brambles over the stone work battlements of a discarded ideology. In times of change, as in present day India, there is an immense need for a clear statement on the nature and content of that change. Not only is the concept to be understood widely but also the consequences, the meaning of everyday manifestations, of the new order.
Without this clear interpretation of the consequences of change, you get ironic situations where the architects of worthwhile progress become victimised for their authorship. It quickly becomes apparent that the forces of reaction do not sit idle when anything disturbs the status quo. The centrist approach has traditionally been to appropriate the moral high ground without batting an eyelid, and from this vantage point, try to bludgeon the progressives into retreat and denial.
Having assumed the mantle of righteousness, the reactionaries think nothing of distorting facts, creating convenient collages of selective myth and spuriously passing off the heady cocktail in terms of a defence of culture and character versus a new found and mindless decadence.
We are a nation of great diversity in every conceivable way. This is why it is important to build consensus towards change. Change which is inevitable in its very nature. The time has come to regard the profession of public affairs in its true perspective, not as fancy footwork and smooth talk, but as the method by which we can grasp the issues that affect our lives. If public affairs people can rise to this challenge so can readers of our newspapers.
The fact of the matter is the dollmaker and his missus were quite right. There is no such thing as a “good” lie.
(769 words)
By Gautam Mukerji
First published in THE PIONEER www.dailypioneer.com on Friday, March 22nd, 1996
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