《The 48 Laws of Power in Practice》Law 22: Use the Surrender Tactic. Transform weakness into Power.
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*Revised* Somehow I skipped this one and went straight to writing about Law 23.
When faced with a stronger enemy, use surrender as a tool. It is better than facing total defeat and allows you to recover and plot for the future.
In the Bible, Jesus teaches his disciples to "turn the other cheek". At that time, this meant more than just responding to violence with non-violence. Hitting someone with the back of your hand was a way of asserting authority over someone of a lower class. And using the left hand was unacceptable. So when people turned their cheek, it created a problem for the one doing the hitting. Given the context, it was a powerful form of surrender. To this day, people use this tactic to prevent their persecutors from getting the satisfaction of a reaction.
Satire can be a surrender tactic that makes a mockery of your enemies. Shows such as The Colbert Report and movies like Borat are good examples. They feature silly characters who seem to be making fun of themselves. But the best way to point out weaknesses is to do so indirectly. In satire, there are often fictional characters with extreme opinions that resemble the real people they are criticizing. The Borat movies are so cleverly done because on the surface they seem to depict a ridiculous character. But everywhere Borat goes, people react to him and show their stupidity as a result.
I had been stuck in traffic on the freeway heading up to Northern California for hours. There was an accident and I was in gridlock with other cars that hadn't moved for half an hour straight. When we finally started to inch forward, I had lost all patience.
I was by an on-ramp so other cars were merging into my lane. I was at my wits and didn't want anyone to slow me down further. So instead of letting the car next to me into the lane, I slowly but aggressively pulled up to squeeze them out. From the corner of my eye, I saw a waving hand so I looked over. Just a few feet away in the car next to me were a couple of guys around my age. The driver was extremely good-looking. Instead of meeting my road rage with anger, he gave me a big smile and a beckoning look.
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At that moment, I felt ashamed. I realized I was dealing with another human being. And I was being an inconsiderate jerk. It was a smile that cut right through me; much more powerful than any act of aggression.
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