Public Relations - Propaganda's Teenage Cousin

Interesting Google tech talk.

"People's perception of sizes of risks are based on emotional and not national factors"
"Managing the outrage is more important than managing the hazard"
"Marketing is a battle of perception, not products. Truth has no bearing on the issue"

What we have seen in the last decade, or even the last few weeks, is that we are still quite susceptibility to propaganda techniques. While people may think and claim to be rational and logical, they are inherently biased and tend do gravitate towards opinion sources that line up with their own. There is also the herd effect or the tipping point type behavior that still is stronger than ever. Framing tactics are still used frequently and effectively both by politicians as well as corporations.

Question authority and your own instincts, ask for facts, separate the message from the messenger - and encourage everyone else to do so. One day, we will, as a species overcome the shortcomings of our fish brain.