The 48 Laws Of Power

270 LAW 32

REVERSAL

Ifthereis

power

in

tapping

intothefantasiesofthe

masses,

there

is

also

danger,Fantasyusually

containsanelementof

play-thepublic

halfreal-

izesitis

beingduped,

butit

keeps

thedreamalive

anyway,relishing

theen»

tertainmentandthe

temporary

diversionfromthe

everyday

that

you

are

providing.

So

keep

it

1ight~—never

come

too

closetothe

place

where

you

are

actuallyexpected

to

produce

results.That

placemayproveextremely

hazardous.

After

Bragadino

establishedhimselfin

Munich,

hefound thatthe

sober-mindedBavarianshadfarlessfaithin

alchemy

thanthe

tempera-

mentalVenelians.

Only

theduke

really

believed

in

it,

for

heneeded

it

des—

perately

torescuehimfromthe

hopeless

messhewasin.As

Bragadino

played

hisfamiliar

waitinggame,acceptinggifts

and

expectingpatience,

the

publicgrewangry.Money

was

beingspent

andwas

yielding

noresults.

In 1592 theBavariansdemanded

justice,

and

eventuallyBragadino

found

himself

swinging

from

the

gallows.

As

before,

he

had

promised

andhad

not

delivered,

butthistimehehad

misjudged

theforbearanceofhis

hosts,

andhis

inability

tofulfilltheir

fantasyproved

fatal.

Onelast

thing:

Nevermakethemistakeof

imagining

that

fantasy

isal»

ways

fantastical.It

certainly

contrastswith

reality,

but

reality

itselfissome

timessotheatricaland

stylized

that

fantasy

becomesadesirefor

simple

things.

The

image

AbrahamLincolncreatedof

himself,

for

example,

asa

homespuncountry

lawyer

witha

beard,

madehimthecommonman’s

president.

P.T.BarnumcreatedasuccessfulactwithTom

Thumb,

adwarfwho

dressed

up

asfamousleadersofthe

past,

suchas

Napoleon,

andiam-

pooned

them

wickedly.

Theshow

delightedeveryone,rightup

to

Queen

Victoria,

by appealing

tothe

fantasy

ofthetime:

Enough

ofthe vain-

glorious

rulersof

history,

thecommonmanknowsbestTomThumbre-

versed

thefamiliar

pattern

of

fantasy

inwhichthe

strange

and

unknown

becomesthe

ideal. Buttheactstill

obeyed

the

Law,

for

underlying

it

wasthe

fantasy

thatthe

simple

maniswithout

problems,

andis

happier

thanthe

powerful

andtherich.

BothLincolnandTomThumb

played

thecommonerbut

carefully

maintainedtheirdistance.Should

youplay

withsucha

fantasy,you

too

must

carefully

cultivatedistanceandnotallow

your

“common”

persona

to

becometoofamiliaroritwillnot

project

as

fantasy.