The 48 Laws Of Power

Un—American
ActivitiesCommittee-and

approached

itwithconsiderable

canniness.
Having

workedoffandonintheAmerican

film

industryduring

WorldWar
II,

in 1947

Brechtwassummonedto

appear

beforethe

commit-

teetoanswer

quesfions

onhis

suspected

Communist

sympathies.

Other

writerscalledbeforethecommitteemadea
point

of

attacking

its

members,

andof
acting

as

belligerently

as

possible

inorderto

gainsympathy

for

themselves.

Brecht,

onthe

other

hand,

whohad

actually

workedstead»

lastly

fortheCommunist

cause,

played

the

opposite

game:

Heanswered

questions

with

ambiguousgeneralities

thatdefied

easyinterpretation.

Call

itthe

Carnpanellastrategy.

Brechtevenwereasuit————arareeventforhim—-

andmade
a
point

of

smoking

a

cigarduring

the

proceedings,knowing

that

akey

committeemember

had

a

passion

for

cigars.

Intheendhecharmed

thecommittee

members,

wholethim

go

scobfree.

BrechtthenmovedtoEast

Germany,

whereheencounteredadiffer-

entkindof

Inquisition.

HeretheCommunistswerein

power,

and

they

crit»

icized
his

plays

asdecadentand

pessimistic.

Hedidnot

argue

with

them,

butmadesmall

changes

inthe

performancescripts

toshutthem

up.

Mean«

whilehe

managed

to

preserve

the

published

textsaswritten.Hisoutward

conformity

inbothcases

gave

himthefreedomtowork

unhindered,

with

out

having

to

change

his

thinking.

Inthe

end,

hemadehis

waysafely

throughdangerous

timesindifferentcountries

through

theuseoflittle

dancesof

orthodoxy,

and

proved

hewasmore

powerful

than

theforcesof

repression.

Not

only

do

people

of

power

avoidtheoffensesofPausaniasand

Salk,

they

alsolearnto

play

thecleverfoxand

feign

thecommontouch.Thishas

beenthe

ploy

ofcon

artists

and

politiciansthroughout

thecenturies.Lead-

erslike

Julius

Caesar

andFranklin

D.Roosevelthaveovercometheirnab

uralaristocraticstancetocultivatea

familiarity

withthecommonman.

They

have

expressed

this

familiarity

inlittle

gestures,

often

symbolic,

to

showthe

people

thattheirleadersshare

popular

values,

despite

theirdiffer-

entstatus.

The

logical

extensionofthis

practice

istheinvaluable

ability

tobeall

things

toall

people.

When

yougo

into

society,

leavebehind

your

own

ideasand

values,

and

put

onthemaskthatismost

appropriate

forthe

group

in

which

you

find

yourself.

Bismarck

played

this

gamesuccessfully

for

yearsmthere

were

people

who

vaguely

understood

whathe

was

up

to,

butnot

clearlyenough

thatitmattered.

People

willswallowthebaitbe-

causeitflattersthemtobelievethat
you

sharetheirideas.

They

willnot

take
you

asa

hypocrite

if

you

arecareful~——forhowcan

they

accuse

you

of

hypocrisy

if

you

donotletthemknow

exactly

what

you

standfor?Norwill

they

see

you

as

lacking

invalues.Ofcourse

you

have

values~——thevalues

you

sharewith

them,

while

in

their

company.

Authority:

Donot

givedogs

whatis

holy;

anddonotthrow

yourpearls

before

swine,

lest

theytrample

themunder

footandturn

to

attack

you.Uesus

Christ,

Matthew

7:6)

LAW 38

323