The 48 Laws Of Power

LAW
3

Once

you

havelulled

your

suckers’attentionwiththe

familiar,

they

willnotnoticethe

deceptionbeingperpetrated

behindtheirbacks.This

derivesfroma

simple

truth:

people

can

only

focusonone

thing

atatime.It

is

really

toodifficult forthemto

imagine

thatthebland

and

harmless

per~

son

they

are

dealing

withis

simultaneouslysettingupsomething

else.The

grayer

andmoreuniformthesmokein

your

smoke

screen,

thebetterit

conceals

your

intentions.Inthe

decoy

andred

herring

devicesdiscussedin

Part

I,

youactively

distract

people;

inthesmoke

screen,

you

lull

your

vic-

tims,

drawing

theminto

your

web.

Becauseit

isso

hypnotic,

thisis

often

the

best

way

of

concealingyour

intentions.

The

simplest

formofsmokescreenisfacial

expression.

Behinda

bland,

unreadable

exterior,

allsortsof

mayhem

canbe

planned,

withoutdetection.

Thisisa

weapon

thatthemost

powerful

menin

history

havelearnedto

per-

fect.ItwassaidthatnoonecouldreadFranklinD.

Roosevelfsface.Baron

james

Rothschildmadea

lifelongpractice

of

disguising

hisreal

thoughts

be

hindblandsmilesand

nondescript

looks.Stendhalwroteof

Talleyrand,

“Neverwasafacelessofabarometer.”

HenryKissinger

wouldborehis

op—

ponents

aroundthe

negotiating

table

totearswithhismonotonous

voice,

hisblank

look,

his

endlessrecitations

of

details;then,

astheir

eyesglazed

over,

hewould

suddenly

hit

them

witha

listofboldterms.

Caught

off»

guard,they

wouldbe

easily

intimidated.Asone

poker

manual

explains

it,

“While

playing

his

hand,

the

goodplayer

isseldomanactor.Insteadhe

practices

ablandbehaviorthatminimizesreadable

patterns,

frustratesand

confuses

opponents,permitsgreater

concentration,”

An

adaptableconcept,

thesmokescreencanbe

practiced

onanum-

berof

levels,

all

playing

onthe

psychologicalprinciples

ofdistractionand

misdirection.Oneofthemosteffectivesmokescreensisthenoble

gesture.

People

wanttobelieve

apparently

noble

gestures

are

genuine,

forthebelief

is

pleasant.Theyrarely

noticehow

deceptive

these

gestures

canbe.

Theart

dealerjoseph

Duveenwasonceconfrontedwithaterrible

prob-

lem.Themillionaireswhohad

paid

so

dearly

forDuveen’s

paintings

were

running

outofwall

space,

andwithinheritancetaxes

getting

ever

higher,

it

seemed

unlikely

that

they

would

keepbuying.

ThesolutionwastheNational

Gallery

ofArtin

Washington,

D.C.,

whichDuveen

helped

createin 1937

by

getting

AndrewMellontodonatehiscollectionto

it.

TheNational

Gallery

wasthe

perfect

frontforDuveen.Inone

gesture,

hisclientsavoided

taxes,

clearedwall

space

fornew

purchases,

andreducedthenumberof

paintings

onthe

market,

maintaining

the

upwardpressure

ontheir

prices.

Allthis

whilethe

donors

createdthe

appearance

of

beingpublic

benefactors.

Another

effectivesmokescreenisthe

pattern,

theestablishmentofase

ries

of

actionsthatseducethevictiminto

believingyou

willcontinueinthe

same

way.

The

patternplays

onthe

psychology

of

anticipation:

Ourbehav~

iorconformsto

patterns,

orsoweliketothink.

In 1878

the

Americanrobber

baronjay

Gouldcreated

a

company

that

began

tothreatenthe

monopoly

ofthe

telegraphcompany

WesternUnion.

ThedirectorsofWesternUniondecidedto

buy

Gould’s

companyup-