The 48 Laws Of Power

All

forthwithfellfull

cryupon

theAss:

A

Wolfofsome

book-

learningteslified

Tim!thatcurs:beast

mus!

suffer

Iheir

despite,

That

gullskimzerl

author

of

their

[71'te0L¢s

plight.

Theyjudged

him

fir

fornaught

but

gallows-bail.’

How

vile,

anal/zeris

grass

to

xec1uestrzIlr’.’

Hisdeathalonecould

wcpiale

Acrimeso

heinous,

as

full

wellhelearns.

Tim

(curt,

as

youtz»of

grcal

or

poor

estate,

Willpamtyou

either

whiteorbfllilk

by

turns‘.

III}?-.masr

i=AnLi:s

orLA

FON'IAl\'lZ,

J1-:ANm=

LA

l7()NT.A\lNF,

1621-1695

4!) LAW 5

withouther

noticing.

Butashe

sharpened

the

knife,

thelittle

girl’seyes

poppedopen

andsheran

away,

totheaudience’s

delight.

He

repeated

this

andother

parodies

forseveralweeks.SoonnoonecouldtakePeale’sshow

seriously,

andattendancewent

way

down.Withinafew

weeks,

theshow

closed.Overthenextfew

years

Bamumestablished

a

reputation

foraudac-

ity

andconsummate

showtnanship

thatlastedhiswholelife.Pea1e’s

reputa-

tion,

ontheother

hand,

neverrecovered.

Interpretation

BamumusedtwodifferenttacticstoruinPeale’s

reputation.

Thefirstwas

simple:

He sowed doubts aboutthe museum’s

stability

and

solvency.

Doubtisa

powerfulweapon:

Once

you

letitoutofthe

bag

withinsidious

rumors,

youropponents

areinahorribledilemma.Ontheonehand

they

can

deny

the

rumors,

even

prove

that

you

haveslanderedthem.Buta

layer

of

suspicion

willremain:

Why

are

theydefending

themselvessodes-

perately?Maybe

therumorhassometruthto

it?

If,

ontheother

hand,

they

takethe

high

roadand

ignore

you,

the

doubts,unrefuted,

willbeeven

stronger.

Ifdone

correctly,

the

sowing

ofrumorscansoinfuriateandunset-

tle

your

rivalsthatin

defending

themselves

they

willmakenumerousmis-

takes.Thisisthe

perfectweapon

forthosewhohaveno

reputation

oftheir

owntoworkfrom.

OnceBamumdidhavea

reputation

ofhis

own,

heusedthe

second,

gentler

tactic,

thefake

hypnotism

demonstration:Heridiculedhisrivals’

reputation.

Thistoowas

extremely

successful.Once

you

have

a

solidbase

of

respect,ridiculingyouropponent

both

puts

him

on

thedefensiveand

drawsmoreattentionto

you,

enhancingyour

own

reputation.Outright

slanderandinsultaretoo

strong

atthis

point;they

are

ugly,

and

may

hurt

you

morethan

helpyou.

But

gentle

barbsand

mockery

suggest

that

you

have

a

strongenough

sense

of

your

ownworthto

enjoy

a

goodlaugh

at

your

rival’s

expense.

Ahumorousfrontcanmake

you

out

asaharmless

en-

tertainerwhile

poking

holesinthe

reputation

of

your

rival.

Itiseasierto

cope

withabadconsciencethanwithabad

reputation.

Friedrirh/Vietzsrhrc,

18-44—I

900

KEYSTOPOWER

The

people

around

us,

evenourclosest

friends,

will

always

tosomeextent

remain

mysterious

andunfathomable.Theircharactershavesecretrecesses

that

they

neverreveal.Theunknowablenessof

other

people

could

prove

disturbing

ifwe

thought

aboutit

longenough,

sinceitwouldmakeitim-

possible

forus

really

to

judge

other

people.

Sowe

prefer

to

ignore

this

fact,

andto

judgepeople

ontheir

appearances,

onwhatismostvisibletoour

eyes—-clothes,

gestures,

words,

actions.Inthesocial

realm,

appearances

are

thebarometerofalmostallofour

judgments,

and

you

mustneverbenus-

ledinto

believing

otherwise.Onefalse

slip,

oneawkwardorsudden

change

in

yourappearance,

can

prove

disastrous.