Blog: Acceptable Truths, Convenient Lies - 2010-04-13
Acceptable Truths, Convenient Lies April 13, 2010,
When we were on the Flagship Apollo in the early 1970's, we were told what we could and could not say about ship activities when ashore. It was called a "shore story." We were not to mention Scientology. If asked, we were the Operation and Transport Company (OTC), an "executive training firm" that brought people in from all over the world for "advanced management training."
In PR Series 2, LRH said, "never use lies in PR." But he also modified this, saying, "Handling truth is a touchy business also. You don't have to tell everything you know — that would jam the comm line too. Tell an acceptable truth. … So PR becomes the technique of communicating an acceptable truth — and which will attain the desirable result."
When we landed in Clearwater, we had a "shore story" too. We were "United Churches of Florida," a pan-denominational religious group. We were not to mention Scientology. That was our "acceptable truth."