Frankly I have never heard of perception management until I read a book by David Baldacci titled “The Whole Truth.” Baldacci states, “The Defense Department even defines Perception Management in one of its manuals, so the military folks obviously take it very seriously.”

What exactly is perception management? Basically it is creating facts that are actually not truthful, and then are spun by these firms to the world as the truth. They have internet sites set up to promote their untruthful facts and actually manage the comments so those comments will support their lie. Unfavorable comments or comments that do not fit their narrative will never appear.

Newspapers across the nation have people employed to look for any smoking gun on the internet that will sell papers no matter if the website promotes complete falsehoods. At present, journalists couldn’t care less if something is factual or not, as they are only interested in being the first with the most mud as long as it supports their cause, which is predominately liberal.

This is possibly the reason for the continued unproven and even unsubstantiated proposed relationship of the Trump campaign with Russia. In perception management, a good lie should never be allowed to die until it destroys its intended victim.

Today, it is near impossible to filter out the truth from the lies. Those in the press are basically lazy and only report stories which fit their narrative and are the easiest to obtain.

We live in an era of never knowing what to believe from anyone. Politicians lie. They make promises they never intend to follow through on. Journalists lie and print half truths and untruthful statements to justify the cause they support.

Since we are now aware perception management is in full force, do not make hasty decisions until the truth finally emerges, which it usually does.

Jim Threlkeld
Clarkesville

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