Toxic Sludge Post Chapter 1&2 - Post #4

In Chapter 1 of Toxic Sludge on page 13, I found it interesting to find out that the PR industry is fairly new however I am not surprised at the amount of money that is dumped into the industry each year. People from all walks of life are involved in the industry - college grads to journalists to politicians. The PR industry requires this variety of people because the college grad can contribute an academic aspect whereas the journalist can appeal to the writing part and the politician can keep the PR work politically correct. The fact that public relations are everywhere is somewhat astonishing. Even at WCU - there are pictures of "happy students" of all sorts posing in pictures to promote students to study at the University. When you walk down the streets in West Chester or Philadelphia - you pass public buses that have advertisements slapped on the sides or stores that have fold out signs promoting a new product. The work of the PR industry is everywhere, its unavoidable!
In Chapter 2 of Toxic Sludge on page 27, I found the section "The Truth Hurts" interesting that the earliest scientific studies occured in the 1950s when the first cancer patients and other fatal illnesses came onto the scene. The fact that the tobacco industry became a mess from these early studies, it kind of proves that they knew their products were harmful, doesn't it? The quote from the industry on page 27 just says it , "In the words of the industry itself, the campaign was aimed at 'promoting cigarettes and protecting them from these and other attacks,' by 'creating doubt and the health charge without actually denying it, and advocating the public's right to smoke without actually urging them to take up the practice." The part of the quote that reminds me of soemthing Dr. Ray said in class is, "advocating the public's right to smoke without actually urging them to take up the practice." As Dr. Ray said, propaganda is meant to not implant thoughts into your head but to get you thinking about the idea.