The 48 Laws Of Power

204 LAW20‘

rificeisa

ritual,

perhaps

themostancient

ritualof

all;

ritualtooisawell-

spring

of

power.

Inthe

killing

ofde

Orco,

noteCesa.re’s

symbolic

andritu-

alistic

display

of

his

body.By

framing

itinthisdramatic

way

hefocused

guilt

outwardThecitizens

of

Romagnaresponded

instantly.

Becauseit

comesso

naturally

toustolookoutward

ratherthan

inward,

we

readily

ac~

cept

the

scapegoat’s

guilt.

The

bloody

sacrificeofthe

scapegoat

seems

a

barbaric

relicofthe

past,

butthe

practice

livesontothis

day,

if

indirectly

and

symbolically;

since

powerdepends

on

appearances,

andthosein

power

mustseemnever

tomake

mistakes,

theuseof

scapegoats

is

as

popular

asever.Whatmodern

leaderwilltake

responsibility

forhisblunders?

Hesearchesoutothers

to

blame,

a

scapegoat

tosacrifice.WhenMao

Tse-tung’s

CulturalRev—

olutionfailed

miserably,

hemadeno

apologies

orexcusestotheChinese

people;

instead,

likeTs’aoTs’ao

before

him,

heoffered

upscapegoats,

in»

cluding

hisown

personal

secretary

and

higlrranking

memberofthe

Party,

Ch

’en

Po-ta.

FranklinD. Roosevelthada

reputation

for

honesty

andfairness.

Throughout

his

career,however,

hefaced

many

situationsinwhich

being

thenice

guy

wouldhave

spelledpoliticald.isaster—yet

hecouldnotbe

seenasthe

agent

of

any

foul

play.

For

twentyyears,

then,

his

secretary,

Louis

Howe,

played

theroledeOrcohad.Hehandledthe

backroom

deals,

the

manipulation

ofthe

press,

theunderhandecl

campaign

maneuvers.And

wheneveramistakewas

committed,

ora

dirty

trick

contradicting

Roo-

sevelt’s

carefully

crafted

image

became

public,

Howeservedasthe

scape-

goat,

and

never

complained.

Besides

convenientlyshifting

blame,

a

scapegoat

canserveasawarn-

ing

toothers.In 1631

a

plot

washatchedtooustFrance’sCardinalRiche-

lieufrom

power,

a

plot

thatbecameknownas“The

Day

ofthe

Dupes.”

It

almost

succeeded,

sinceitinvolvedthe

upper

echelonsof

government,

in«

cluding

the

queen

mother.But

through

luckandhisown

connivances,

Richelieusurvived.

Oneofthe

keyconspirators

wasamannamed

Marillac,

the

keeper

of

theseals.Richelieucouldnot

imprison

himwithout

implicating

the

queen

mother,

an

extremelydangerous

tactic,

so

he

targeted

Marillac’s

brother,

a

marshalinthe

army.

Thismanhadnoinvolvementinthe

plot.

Richelieu,

however,

afraidthatother

conspiraciesmight

beinthe

air,

especially

inthe

army,

decidedtosetan

example.

Hetriedthebrotheron

trurnped«up

charges

andhadhimexecuted.Inthis

way

he

indirectlypunished

thereal

perpetrator,

whohad

thought

himself

protected,

andwarned

any

future

conspirators

thathewouldnotshrinkfrom

sacrificing

theinnocentto

pro-

tecthisown

power.

'

Infactitisoftenwisetochoosethemost

innocent

victim

possible

asa

sacrificial

goat.

Such

people

willnotbe

powerfulenough

to

fightyou,

and

theirnaive

protestsmay

beseenas

protesting

too

much—may

be

seen,

in

other

words,

asa

sign

oftheir

guilt.

Be

careful,however,

not

to

create

a

martyr.

Itis

important

that

ytm

remainthe

victim,

the

poor

leader

betrayed