Public Relations

[close] Jacques Ellul cracks open political and sociological commonplaces, destructively and wittily demonstrating how our unthinking acceptance of them encourages hypocrisy, smugness, and mental inertia. Among the stereotypes of thought and speech thus exploded are such phrases as "You can't act without getting your hands dirty," "Work is freedom" and "We must follow the current of history". A certain number of these old saws preside over our daily life. They permit us to understand one another and to swim in the ordinary current of society. They are accepted as so certain that we almost never question them. They serve at once as sufficient explanations for everything and as "clinchers" in too many arguments. Ellul explores the ways in which such clichés mislead us and prevent us from having independent thoughts--and in fact keep us from facing the problems to which they are theoretically addressed. They are our "commonplaces." Just as the nineteenth century brought forth many such commonplaces so our century has been busy creating its own. What Ellul has done is to stand still long enough to look at them carefully, attack them with cool reason, and leave them nakedly exposed. His remarkable caustic fearlessness is at the service of truths that often are cruel, but always are lucid and impassioned. He represents the voice of intelligence, and while doing so is often hilarious and always therapeutic about matters of first importance.

[close] This global discussion group has been designed to encourage debates about important and underreported issues of our era. All you need is an enquiring mind and a desire to gain or share “underground knowledge”. This is also a place to discuss the controversial topics explored in The Underground Knowledge Series (non-fiction books) by James Morcan & Lance Morcan as well as the Underground Knowledge podcast show.

[close] DePaul PRSSA aims to help Public Relations students achieve their career goals by supporting them in building their professional network

[close] PRSA Philadelphia News Committee reviews of books essential for PR practitioners.