The 48 Laws Of Power

Cesareforesawthefuturewith

amazingclarity

in

Romagna‘.Only

bru-

tal

justice

would

bring

order

tothe

region.

The

process

wouldtake

several

years,

andatfirstthe

people

wouldwelcomeit.Butitwouldsoonmake

many
enemies,
andthecitizenswouldcometoresentthe
imposition

of

such

unforgivingjustice, especially by

outsiders. Cesare

himself,

then,

couldnotbeseenasthe
agent

ofthis

justice-—thepeople’s

hatredwould

causetoo

manyproblems

inthefuture.Andsohechosetheonemanwho

coulddothe
dirty
work,

knowing

inadvancethatoncethetaskwasdone

hewouldhaveto

display

deOrco’sheadona

pike.

The

scapegoat

inthis

casehadbeen

planned

fromthe

beginning.

WithTs’ao

Ts’ao,

the

scapegoat

wasan

entirely

innocent

man;

inthe

Romagna,

hewasthe

offensive

weapon

inCesare’sarsenalthatlethim

get

the
dirty

workdonewithout

bloodying

his

ownhands.Withthis

second

kindof
scapegoat

itiswiseto

separateyourself

fromthehatchetmanat

some

point,

either

leaving

him

dangling

inthewind

or,

like

Cesare,

even

makingyourself

theoneto

bring

himto

justice.

Not

only

are

you

freeofin-

volvement
inthe

problem,you

can

appear

astheone

whocleaned

it

up.

TheAthenians

regularly

maintainedanumber

ofdegraded

anduseless

being:

atthe

publicexpense;

andwhen

any

calamity,

suchas

plague,

drought,

or

famine,befell

the

city

...
[these
smpegoats]

wereledabout..A

andthen

sacrificed,appznvntlybybeing

stonedoutside:the

city.

TheGolden

Bough.SirjamesGemge

Frazer,

1854-19-71

KEYSTOPOWER

Theuse
of
scapegoats

is

as

oldascivilization

itself,

and

examples

of

it

can

be
found
in
cultures
around
the
world.
Themainideabehindthesesacri-

ficesisthe

shifting

of

guilt

andsintoanoutside

fig'ure—object,

animal,

or

man—whichisthenbanishedor

destroyed.

TheHebrewsusedtotakea

live

goat

(hence

theterm

“scapegoat”)upon

whoseheadthe

priest

would

lay

bothhands

while

confessing

thesinsoftheChildrenofIsrael.

Having

thushadthosesinstransferredto
it,
thebeastwouldbeled
away

andaban-

donedinthewilderness.WiththeAtheniansandthe

Aztecs,

the

scapegoat

was
human,
oftena
person

fedandraisedforthe

purpose.

Sincefamine

and

plague

were

thought

tobevisitedonhumans

by

the

gods,

in

punish‘

mentfor

wrongdoing,

the

people

sufferednot

only

fromthefamineand

plague

themselvesbutfromblameand

guilt.They

freedthemselvesof

guilt

bytransferring

ittoaninnocent

person,

whosedeathwasintendedtosat-

isfy

thedivine

powers

andbanishtheevilfromtheirmidst.

Itisan

extremely

human

response

tonotlookinward

after

a

mistake

or
crime,
butrathertolookoutwardandtoaffixblameand
guilt

onacon-

venient

object.

Whenthe

plague

was

ravaging

Thebes,

Oedipus

looked

everywhere

forits

cause,everywhere

except

insidehimselfandhisownsin

of

incest,

whichhadsooffendedthe

gods

andoccasionedthe

plague.

This

profound

needtoexteriorizeone’s

guilt,

to

project

itonanother

person

or

object,

has

an

immense

power,

whichthecleverknowhowtoharness.Sar-

LAW 26 203