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48 Laws of Power 部分摘要
Law 26 Keep Your Hands Clean
Judgment: You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s paws to disguise your involvement.
Part I: Conceal your mistakes—have a scapegoat around to take the blame
Our good name and reputation depend more on what we conceal than on what we reveal. Everyone makes mistakes, but those who are truly clever manage to hide them, and to make sure someone else is blamed. A convenient scapegoat should always be kept around for such moments.
Occasional mistakes are inevitable—the world is just too unpredictable. People of power, however, are undone not by the mistakes they make, but by the way they deal with them. Like surgeons, they must cut away the tumor with speed and finality. Excuses and apologies are much too blunt tools for this delicate operation; the powerful avoid them. By apologizing you open up all sorts of doubts about your competence, your intentions, any other mistakes you may not have confessed. Excuses satisfy no one and apologies make everyone uncomfortable. The mistake does no vanish with an apology; it deepens and festers. Better to cut it off instantly, distract attention from yourself, and focus attention on a convenient scapegoat before people have time to ponder your responsibility or your possible incompetence.
“I would rather betray the whole world than let the world betray me.”
“The Athenians regularly maintained a number of degraded and useless beings at the public expense; and when any calamity, such as plague, drought, or famine, befell the city…[these scapegoats] were led about… and then sacrificed, apparently by being stoned outside the city.”
The use of scapegoat is as old as civilization itself, and examples of it can be found in cultures around the world. The main idea behind these sacrifices is the shifting of guilt and sin to an outside figure—object, animal, or man—which is then banished or destroyed.
It is an extremely human response to not look inward after a mistake or crime, but rather to look outward and to affix blame and guilt on a convenient object. This profound need to exteriorize one’s guilt, to project it on another person or object, has an immense power, which the clever know how to harness.
The bloody sacrifice of the scapegoat seems a barbaric relic of the past, but the practice lives on to this day, if indirectly and symbolically; since power depends on appearances, and those in power must seem never to make mistakes, the use of scapegoats is as popular as ever. What modern leader will take responsibility for his blunders? He searches out others to blame, a scapegoat to sacrifice.
Whenever a mistake was committed, or a dirty trick contradicting Roosevelt’s carefully crafted image became public, his secretary served as the scapegoat, and never complained.
Besides conveniently shifting blame, a scapegoat can serve as a warning to others.
In fact it is often wise to choose the most innocent victim possible as a sacrificial goat. Such people will not be powerful enough to fight you, and their naïve protests may be seen as protesting too much—may be seen, in other words, as a sign of their guilt. Be careful, however, not to create a martyr.
Image: The Innocent Goat. On the day of atonement, the high priest brings the goat into the temple, place his hand on its head, and confesses the people’s sins, transferring guilt to the guiltless beast, which is then led to the wilderness and abandoned, the people’s sins and blame vanishing with him.
Authority: “Folly consists not in committing Folly, but in being incapable of concealing it. All men make mistakes, but the wise conceal the blunders they have made, while fools make them public. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is seen. If you can’t be good, be careful.”
Part II: Make use of the cat’s paw
In the fable, the monkey grabs the paw of his friend, the cat, and uses it to fish chestnuts out of the fire, thus getting the nuts he craves, without hurting himself.
If there is something unpleasant or unpopular that needs to be done, it is far too risky for you to do the work yourself. You need a cat’s paw—someone who does the dirty, dangerous work for you. The cat’s paw grabs what you need, hurts whom you need hurt, and keeps people from noticing that you are the one responsible. Let someone else be the executioner, or the bearer of bad news, while you bring only joy and glad tidings.
A queen must never dirty her hands with ugly tasks, nor can a king appear in public with blood on his face. Yet power cannot survive without the constant squashing of enemies—there will always be dirty little tasks that have to be done to keep you on the throne. Like Cleopatra, you need a cat’s pawn.
This will usually be a person from outside your immediate circle, who will therefore be unlikely to realize how he or she is being used. You will find these dupes everywhere—people who enjoy doing you favors, especially if you throw them a minimal bone or two in exchange.
There are tow uses of the cat’s paw: to save appearances and to save energy and effort.
A favor done indirectly and elegantly has ten times more power.
One should not be too straightforward. Go and see the forest. The straight trees are cut down, the crooked ones are left standing.
As a leader you may imagine that constant diligence, and the appearance of working harder than anyone else, signify power. Actually, though, they have the opposite effect: they imply weakness. Why are you working so hard? Perhaps you are incompetent, and have to put in extra effort just to keep up; perhaps you are one of those people who does not know how to delegate, and has to meddle in everything. The truly powerful, on the other hand, seem never to be in a hurry or overburdened. They know how to find the right people to put in the effort while they save their energy and keep their hands out of the fire. Similarly, you may believe that by taking on the dirty work yourself, involving yourself directly in unpleasant actions, you impose your power and instill fear. In fact, you make yourself look ugly, and abusive of your high position. Truly powerful people keep their hand clean. Only good things surround them, and the only announcements they make are of glorious achievements.
You will often find it necessary, of course, to expend energy, or to effect an evil but necessary action. But you must never appear to be this action’s agent. Find a cat’s paw. Develop the arts of finding, using, and, in time, getting rid of these people when their cat’s paw role has been fulfilled.
The easiest and most effective way to use a cat’s paw is often to plant information with him that he will then spread to your primary target. False or planted information is a powerful tool, especially if spread by a dupe whom no one suspects. You will find it very easy to play innocent and disguise yourself as the source.
You may well find cases in which deliberately offering yourself as the cat’s paw will ultimately gain you great power. As the instrument that protect a master or peer from unpleasantness or danger, you gain immense respect, which sooner or later will pay dividends. And remember: if you can make your assistance subtle and gracious rather than boastful and burdensome, your recompense will be that much the more satisfying and powerful.
Image: The Cat’s Paw. It has long claws to grab things. It is soft and padded. Take hold of the cat and use its paw to pluck things out of the fire, to claw your enemy, to play with the mouse before devouring it. Sometimes you hurt the cat, but most often it doesn’t feel a thing.
Authority:” Do everything pleasant yourself, everything unpleasant through third parties. By adopting the first course you win favor, by taking the second you deflect ill will. Important affairs often require rewards and punishments. Let only the good come from you and the evil from others.”
Reversal: The cat’s paw and scapegoat must be used with extreme caution and delicacy.
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