A man of many talents

According to my student, Immanuel Kant took time out of his busy schedule of contemplating metaphysics, ethics, morality and epistemology to 'devise the principle that public relations practitioners must fulfil a moral obligation'.

As a public service, here's a handy timeline:
Immanuel Kant: 1724-1804.
PR: appeared roughly 1905.

Given that Kant's main moral insight was that actions are either intrinsically right or intrinsically wrong according to one's sense of duty, it seems unlikely that he both built a time machine and wrote a PR code of ethics. Though if he had, I suspect it would be much better than this meaningless one.

Beyond Pollution?

Doonesbury nails BP's PR effort, which is only slightly less expensive and useless than its clean-up operation.

Click for a larger version.

The finishing line…

I've just done a long and complicated lecture on the recession and its economic origins, while feeling horribly ill.

I suspect the students feel the same - very, very few attended the seminars. Perhaps, though, it's the lovely, lovely snow.

Meanwhile, I've received the new Doonesbury collection, Tee Time in Berzerkistan, which I might use for teaching PR/lobbying: Duke and Earl land the PR contract for a terrible dictatorship and rebrand it a 'global partner in the war on terror', dismissing the (fictional, obviously) dictator's ethnic cleansing as 'a housing problem'. I've also splashed out, on Kerrywoman's recommendation, on Diarmaid Ferriter's Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland, which should explain a lot.

PR Genius of the week

Courtesy of Feministing:

"This dance itself was a successful event."

--West Contra Costa Unified School District spokesman Marin Trujillo looks on the bright side after the brutal gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside of her high school's homecoming dance.

Hurrah! Marathon managed

Finally. Today I've lectured on What is PR?, Theories and Contexts of Communication Studies, How To Be A Spin Doctor and the Consequences for the Public Sphere, and What is Poetry?However, rather than going home to die, I'm off to do more packing. And to eat casseroled venison with Toulouse sausages. Mmmmmmm

Only an English department meeting tomorrow, for some light relief!