If you believe even the most guilty serial killer deserves a lawyer , why are PR guys 'evil'?

[Taverner]

Essentially it's the same job. The lawyer argues a case, and will in many cases defend a man who is guilty. So why is it in the court of public opinion, the 'lawyer' is a PR firm - is always seen as the bad guy. If you stump for X, who is evil, that evil rubs off on you, the PR guy, but not the lawyer who defends John Wayne Gacy?

[ret5hd]

1. A lawyer forces the state to prove their case...a pr man lies.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Very different issues.

The lawyer is defending the client's rights to a fair trial; the PR person is helping the client to commit the crime.

[havocmom]

5. He shoots! He scores! The crowd goes wild!

:applause: :woohoo:

Yep. Pointing out that PR is often using mind fuck tactics to sell people on stuff that is NOT in their best interest does NOT equal charging people with crimes.

The feeble attempt to equate the two is, IMHO, just more mind fuck tactics to get sell people on stuff that is NOT in their best interest.

Irony is lost on such mind fuckers, evidently.

[Taverner]

6. But shouldn't the 'fair trial' extend to the 'court of public opinion'?

Or should we all be in danger of being "nancy grace'd"?

[mntleo2]

3. Defending someone under the law is different than

...defending someone who thinks they should be ABOVE the law.

My 2 cents
Cat In Seattle

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Because the real job of a defense lawyer is to keep the legal system honest

by forcing the state to prove every element of the alleged crime beyond a reasonable doubt. That's what the Constitution requires. All the evidence is tested by the process of discovery, suppression motions, cross-examination of witnesses and so forth; and even the final verdict is subject to appeal in the event of a conviction.

But there are no such checks on PR flacks (who are not *necessarily* evil). They can say pretty much whatever they want up to the point of outright lies (you can sue a company for things like consumer fraud and false advertising) with virtually no oversight. So, for example, the oil companies' PR guys can make TV commercials that make their bosses sound greener than Al Gore. Of course they have a right to advertise and to present themselves in a favorable light, but even the most egregious spin goes pretty much unchallenged. And that's basically why corporate PR people are often seen as bullshitters at best and evil at worst.

[Mythsaje]

7. A defense attorney exists to keep the system honest.

There's a clear difference.

[Taverner]

8. I always thought that the defense attorney is there because we're "innocent until proven guilty"?

[bread_and_roses]

9. er, that would be because the purpose of a trial is to serve truth & justice; purpose of PR is to

obfuscate, twist, disguise the truth regardless of justice or even life. An inherently ignoble and usually unethecal and sometimes outright evil (as in trying to get pregnant women to consume more mercury) practice.

[mcscajun]

10. The first is defending a higher principle, the second one, simply making money.

The two are not at all the same.