Public Relations

Public Relations: the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.  –Dictionary.com

Do I know what PR is? Sure I do because I had to take PR classes while obtaining my Journalism minor. But this post is pertaining to me, of course. The definitions that we previously stated, especially the Google definition, definitely doesn’t apply to me. Should I need to obtain a favorable public image even though I’m no way near in shape or form famous? I tend to not believe so. People bombard me with “the world is looking at you, you are on the internet”. Are we speaking of social media? Because if we are then I’m definitely aware of the aspects of social media because social media is my marketing niche! I’m totally aware of the consequences, good and bad, that social media can have on one’s life. But at the end of the day…people do forget and move on with their lives; believe me I’ve been there and done that. However, let’s talk about Public Relations. If I decided to partake in PR, I could certainly do it on my own. Make a few apologetic videos, do some charities, shakes hands with “the people” of whomever I’ve offended. I make it seem so easy because it can be as simple as that, but that’s not my stance. Don’t get me wrong, I do think about what I say before I say it and who it may offend. I keep my mouth closed when needed, and these situations that have angered people are not things that I feel are needed. I never open my mouth about certain industries or conspiracies, or even politics or religion. Those things are a whole battle I don’t need or want to partake in. But on the things I do speak about, one can say that I am stubborn. When I talk I believe in what I say and I don’t issue apologies, ask my father…been like that all my life. He saw it as me being a rebel; I saw it as me knowing where I stand in my thoughts. People aren’t going to think alike and people have to understand that. But when people don’t understand that, that’s when the PR cops come in to control the situation. I feel there is no situation to be controlled; everyone doesn’t need to understand my thoughts/thought process. So when people want to do interviews with me about the subject matter, I say…WHY? I see it as them wanting to come in and play hero, be a mediator between me and the public. I don’t need you to play hero on my end and I don’t need to set up a mediator meeting. No one, I mean no one thinks about your best interest, they think about their best interest. So what, you get a little promo and hits off the interview, while more people hate me and leave more angry comments…this helps you more than me. I’m exploited by no one; I can only exploit myself. As I’ve mentioned earlier…I’ve been through this before and appeared on a NAACP panel at a university because of a previous video. Who did it help…it helped other people talk and other people with promotion of their event. I sat on the panel with people who hated the video and people who were a part of the subject matter I talked about; people who went to the school that I spoke of in the video. At the end of the day, I walked out of the event feeling more confident in saying what I said because they proved my point. I’ve tried these things and they only make my belief stronger in what I believe in. PR doesn’t help me in any way, it hinders everything. If I wanted PR or any help to make my image seem holier than thou, I could contact my past PR professors, refer to my PR books, or refer to my past PR assignments to make one hell of a PR campaign for me. But once again…I’m not famous…so why would I care to invest the time and patience into that. Dank obwohl!  ☺