Heavenly Mountain, Boone, NC

Ok, keeping with the cult theme.... Transcendental meditation is considered by some to be considered cult-like. According to Steve Hassan, author of several books on cults it "seeks to strip individuals of their ability to think and choose freely. (wikipedia) TM was started by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and was made famous by the Beatles who visited him during their recording of Sgt. Pepper's. People who practice TM meditate for several hours a day and some even practice "Yogic Flying", which basically means levitation. (advanced only, prerequisite required) So, what's all this got to do with Boone? 

The Spiritual Center of America

Heavenly Mountain Resort 

639 Whispering Hills Rd.

Boone, NC 28607

Yes, there used to be a TM school in Boone (right off the parkway) that was started in the late 90's and was active for several years. It was called the Spiritual Center of America and housed members of the women's Mother Divine Program and the men's Purusha programs, as well as residents and visitors. It was a thriving community complete with it's own school for girls. What happened to Heavenly Mountain? It closed in 2004 because of a rift between David Kaplan, who helped start the TM school and the residences of Heavenly Mtn. After Kaplan became so sick he almost died he decided to leave the Purusha Program and was kicked out of the movement. After Kaplan and his brother Earl investigated Maharishi (founder of TM) they decided they could no longer support him or be a part of the TM movement. What did they find out? They never said, but I definitely would like to know. After that, the school failed and residences were asked to vacate the West campus. I believe the East campus is still occupied but is protected by a gate and a guard 24 hours. Yes, I have tried to go there. As for the West campus.... well it's still there. Abandoned temple, buildings, houses and apartments. There is no gate and you can drive up there and see for yourself. Trust me, it's creepy. It's completely untouched but deteriorating slowly. What's it still doing there? Who knows. Someone still owns it and has decided to just leave it sitting there. I've done much research about it on the Internet and can't find anything about who owns it now or why it's just sitting up there. It's probably time for investigative journalism. 

So the point of this story was to show that you don't always know what's happening or what happened in your own backyard. Because I guarantee that none of you knew about this until now. 

Pictures:

http://www.healingtaousa.com/heavenly_mountain.html

Links: 

http://www.enmag.org/01/1sca.htm

http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm98.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/7338/future-of-heavenly-mountain-disputed

Jonestown, Guyana

The other night on MSNBC there was a documentary on Jonestown, Guyana. For anybody who does not know should visit our friend wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

But briefly, Jim Jones, the leader of the cult, The People's Temple and approximately 900 of his followers committed suicide in 1978 almost immediately after Congressman Leo Ryan visited Jonestown. Jim Jones' extreme paranoia led him to convince all of his followers that suicide was the only way after Leo Ryan's visit. He told his followers that if they didn't drink the drink (cyanide) the US would come and torture their children and kill all of them. So they all drank. 

My first questions was 'how in the world did these people believe him? And why would they ever commit suicide and kill their children because of what this one man said?' Then as i thought about it I remembered fear. Fear is how Jones kept the his followers under control. He would stage false attacks on Jonestown to prove that indeed they were in danger if they didn't do everything he said. He successfully controlled the minds of almost 1,000 people for several years. Because of Jonestown's remote location away from the media and far away from concerned family members, it made it easier for Jones to control the people. Eventually the US intervened but it was too late. Jones' extreme paranoia led him to convince everyone that suicide was the only choice. Jonestown and other cults prove that fear is the ultimate communication tool and through inducing fear you can make almost anyone do almost anything.

Pseudo-Events vs. Reality TV

Consider this excerpt from Daniel J. Boorstin's book "The Image":

"Within the last hundred years, however, and especially in the twentieth century, all this has changed. We expect the papers to be full of news. if there is no news visible to the naked eye, or to the average citizen, we still expect it to be there for the enterprising newsman. The successful reporter is one who can find a story, even if there is no earthquake or assassination or civil war. If he cannot find a story, then he must make one–by the questions he asks of public figures, by the surprising human interest he unfolds from some commonplace events, or by "the news behind the news." if all this fails, then he must give us a "think piece"– an embroidering of well-known facts, pr a speculation about starling things to come. 

This change in our attitude toward "news" is not merely a basic fact about the history of American newspapers. it is a symptom of a revolutionary change in our attitude toward what happens in the world, how much of it is new, and surprising, and important. Toward how life can be enlivened, toward our power and the power of those who inform and educate and guide us, to provide synthetic happenings to make up for the lack of spontaneous events. Demanding more than the world can give us, we require that something be fabricated to make up for the world's deficiency. This is only one example for our demand for illusions. 

The new kind of synthetic novelty which has flooded our experience I will call "pseudo-events." The common prefix "pseudo" comes from the Greek word meaning false, or intended to deceive." (pg. 8-9) 

If you consider Boorstin's idea of "pseudo-event", it's safe to say that reality-TV is a modern form of pseudo-events. TV producers have create situations and try to make them look "real". But we all know that the majority of reality TV shows are staged to create drama. Almost all reality TV show contestants are screened or have to audition. The Real World has auditions across the country to find the 7 people whom they know would clash the most. Then they put them in a house for 3 months and stage (I’m sure) confrontations, confessions and hook-ups. The producers have become masters at creating drama and human conflict. So, the “Real” World is in no way realistic. Based on the definition of pseudo, the Real World is most definitely a pseudo-event. Most of the time it is false and does intend to deceive. The producers want you to believe that everything that happens inside the house is completely unscripted. 

Even non-dramatic shows like Cash Cab admit to screening contestants before they enter the cab. So, in a way they "set-up" the show. The majority of the time it's not just random people hopping into a cab and being on a game-show. 

The “reality” TV show is not completely realistic. Every channel has a “reality” TV show that has an obsessed audience. Reality TV has become a guilty pleasure that we all indulge in, even if we know it’s not completely realistic. As ridiculous and “unreal” as it gets we still watch it. Most of us don’t even like it, but something draws us in. Why are we drawn into these "events" that we know are completely false? Why have we deemed reality TV, a pseudo-event, in which we know is false, acceptable?

 

Miss California

Miss USA is the ultimate communicator. When we watch Miss USA and Miss America we want the prettiest, most talented and most articulate girl to win. And winning ultimately means representing your state and your country in the Miss Universe Pageant. Miss USA is suppose to communicate to the rest of the world that she is what the USA is all about… at least that’s the idea.  So when Miss California answered Perez Hilton’s controversial question, truthfully, was she at fault? Some would say no and Perez, well here’s what he had to say on Larry King: 

Is it Perez Hilton's place to judge her? Absolutely. Even though she gave a truthful answer, she was running for Miss USA, a national and worldwide title. Miss USA is also a widely televised event that almost all Americans watch. As a Miss USA contestant, in a pageant that is based solely on other people’s judgment, she should know that whatever she says is open for judgment. If she gives a controversial answer, she should be prepared to take all kinds of criticism, the bad and the good. Is Perez Hilton judging her too harshly? Maybe. But, it was his question, and if you know anything about Hilton, you know how harshly he judges others. If I was a contestant and Perez Hilton was a judge, I would make sure to impress him and win his vote. Because if you didn’t, he would make a fool out of you on his famous and widely read blog on the Internet, PerezHilton.com. I agree with Perez when he says, “Miss USA should be all-inclusive. She should be my Miss USA.” I think Miss USA is supposed to be represented by all Americans, not just the ones she sees fit. 

Response to Dominos Prank

Response to "Video Prank at Dominos Taints Brand"

The New York Times

April 16, 2009

When you have a situation like this one (where two employees completely taint the reputation of an entire brand) strong public relations skills are going to be needed. Dominos is a national chain and the actions of the two employees reflect poorly on the brand and effect them hugely. Social media has played a huge role in this scandal. The video was spread widely and very quickly through Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Therefore, it is going to be much harder to remove the video and to control the comments, groups, Tweets and blogs about the subject. As the article says, Dominos is dealing with a “digital crisis”.

I think that Dominos has done a good PR job of dealing with the situation and the employees. If I was the PR consultant I would have fired both of the employees and filed lawsuits against them, not only because what they did was wrong but to make a point that we do not tolerate things of that nature. Next, I would have advised Dominos to make a public apology on behave of the employees that screwed up and to explain the steps they are going to take to fix the situation. They would have mandatory health inspections of all of their stores and screenings of all of their employees. Yes, this would be very expensive, but it would be worth keeping their valued customers. Dominos would also need to make a statement that they will do a more thorough job of hiring new employees. This would hopefully prevent a situation like this from happening again.

The smartest step that Dominos has taken to deal with the situation is join social media networks like Twitter. This is extremely important and smart because this is how the video was spread so fast. They have started a Twitter account to address questions and concerns from customers. I would advise any company in a crisis communication situation to do this. Dominos is utilizing the Internet and social media and that will help them recover from this.  

"Well I don't know who Edward Bernays is...."

Good morning. 

"Well... I don't know who Edward Bernays is." These were the words that my Public Relations Writing teacher said this morning at 8 am. In Jakki's "CEO Bio" I wrote that her influences were Edward Bernays, "The Father of Public Relations." And points were deducted from my paper because  she said that the title, "Father of Public Relations" was inappropriate and unprofessional. I challenged this because Edward Bernays is the Father of Public Relations. My teacher almost laughed at me when I explained to her that he founded public relations she looked at me blankly. As a PR professional and a PR teacher, I think you should know who, at least started your profession!!! As I am sitting in her class, I keep having to minimize my blog so she doesn't come over, see that I am writing about her ignorance and force me to challenge her again.  

Podcasts

Today I was thinking about all the new ways we get our news... the New York Times online, news applications on our iphones and blackberries, the Kindle, etc. What I haven't thought about are podcasts that we can download straight to our ipods. Podcasts have been around for several years and are very easy to download and listen to or watch. According to apple.com (http://www.apple.com/itunes/whatson/podcasts/) a podcast "is a free free video or audio series — like a TV or radio show — that you download from iTunes and play on your computer, iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV." You subscribe to podcasts and they are automatically downloaded to your iTunes library. Podcasts can be updated daily, weekly or monthly. There are podcasts available for pretty much any topic or interest. On the iTunes Top 100 Podcasts list are almost a dozen different NPR podcasts, The New York Times: Front Page, The Economist, 60 Minutes, Global News by BBC, NBC Nightly News, ABC Nightly News, and President Obama's Weekly Address and Key Speeches. All of these are available to watch at your leisure and can be saved or deleted whenever you want. The best thing about Podcasts is that they are FREE and can provide you with extra info about endless topics and interests.

Customizable news has been talked about as a thing of the future and the direction that news will eventually take. But, podcasts are pretty much that. They can be used for entertainment or your source for news. NPR, The New York Times, The Onion, Reuters, and CNN all have podcasts. In between listening to Anderson Cooper you can watch a "The Best of YouTube" video or learn Spanish. You can quickly find out what's on the front page of the NYT on your way to work, without picking up the paper. 

Podcasts are another source for information readily and easily available to us. We should all utilize this feature of iTunes and our iPods.