This from Salon’s Heather Havrilesky:
America’s not on top anymore, because we’ve been exporting nothing but lukewarm fajita platters and spray-tanned celebrity jackasses for decades now. The days of closet-reorganizing professionals and Botox parties and hiring a personal trainer for your nanny’s personal chef are over … and thank God for that.
Full text of the article available at Salon. I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment, even though, as a public relations professional, the knowledge that my specific skill set has no intrinsic value to anyone at all scares the bejesus out of me.
Sam Friday coming after lunch.
Comment by Ryan
Nathan, it’s that kind of attitude that continues to give PR a bad name. How can you expect other people to respect and value the services you provide, if you don’t??
18 April 2008, 3:08 pm
Comment by Ryan
Try telling the PR people at the YWCA or the Oklahoma City National Memorial that their jobs have no intrinsic value.
18 April 2008, 3:10 pm
Comment by Nate
Ryan, I’m sorry if my comment about PR offended you. What I was getting at – and did so very poorly – was that PR is a luxury for an organization, and in times of economic downturn, luxuries are the first things to get cut.
Also – again, poorly said – I was thinking of how, as a writer, my chances at doing well selling writing are much slimmer during hard times.
I honestly wasn’t trying to disparage the field of P.R.; I rather enjoy my work. I was just noting that, when times get hard, PR staffs are often the first ones to get cut.
21 April 2008, 9:16 am