how aware are people in power of ...

After reading a bit on marketing, spin ,public relations and media manipulation of public opinion etc.. I've come to agree with certain points about how people in power produce certain outcomes like..

removal of federal power to promote the ability of large business to affect local government policy

Noam Chomsky's assertion that the role of sports is to get people away from things that truly affect everyday life..

We all know that spin can produce any particular feeling in the general public towards or against a policy or opinion. I often wonder how many people in positions of power believe their own BS, or are really unconcerned with the effects of what they do? Is it just coincidence that certain things happen to the detriment of the population at large, or is it a conscious decision to put profit and greed over humanity again and again....

they all recognize that the message(s) spun out to the public are just angles and half-truths and distractions and obfuscations, etc.

they're all busy battling each other for power, and to get their favorite bill passed and so on. getting the public involved when it serves them is just one part of the strategy.

if it benefits no one, then a deal happens quitely.
if it benefits someone for the public to back something, then someone will spin the positive side.
if it benefits someone (else) for the public to oppose something, then that someone will spin the negative side.

either (both) side(s) will paint a picture that benefits them. they paint such pictures with truths, with lies, and with partial truths, whichever is most cost-effective for them.

sometimes we end up with a relatively truthful picture. usually this happens when everyone's working for the common good, trying to do what's really best for all of us.

other times, we end up with a mess of lies and distractions. usually this happens when someone's, working against the common good ... and knows it.

guess which kind of time we're in now?

what really gnaws at me is i want to know the thought process that goes on in these people's heads.

take a PR shill for example..

does this person really think of all the harm they do during the course of thier work, or are they "just doing their job"..

its like when they lobby the EPA to allow them to poison the world.. i wonder just how much thought goes into the ramifications of what they do vs. how much more money they will make that they could never spend and don't need.

who's trying to get an obviously guilty client off. They tell themselves they were hired to do a job, and they'll do it.