Playing the Players
We all know these people, those slick, smooth manipulators who seem to get away with murder, do as little as humanly possible and end up living the life of Riley. For a number of reasons our society is set up in such a way that it is very difficult for them to lose. It is as if life was a huge Game and they were the master players. What is the average person to do when confronted with such practiced charlatans?
The task of beating the Players at their own Game seems at first impossibly daunting. They know the rules inside out, have risen to positions of great power and authority, and are far more experienced than we are. How can someone like you or I hope to prevail in a showdown against them?
We need to find a strategy that allows us to play the game from a weaker position. The Players? strategies are premised upon having the higher ground, having the advantage of leverage. This is at once the strength and weakness of the status quo. On a day-to-day basis it affords them the luxury of being able to win consistently with relatively little risk or effort.
Meanwhile, they become dependent upon this advantageous position; and when the trump is removed from their hand, they really have no idea of how to cope with the situation they find themselves in. They will usually resort to what they know; bluff and bluster, which only serve to worsen their predicament, as they amplify the downward spiral in which they find themselves. The outsider, on the other hand, has no such advantage. Therefore, we must rely upon intelligence and stealth, to create our good fortune.
The good news for us is that most Players have only one strategy, and once it has failed they are left paddleless up the proverbial creak. The Players never imagine that they might be played, and therein lies our advantage. The reasons for this are twofold:
First, the average Player views the rest of us as fools, incapable of thinking tactically. Second, they see themselves as gifted with a shrewdness which the rest of us simply do not have.
For our strategy to work we must first convince the Player to buy into a false sense of security which we will create. To do this we must study our Players, learn what makes them tick, and adjust our approach to deal more specifically with the individual or group concerned. We must then watch how they operate, basing our movements on theirs. Players are never long idle – their constant agenda to seek out more wealth and power is forever propelling them on.
Believing themselves to be infallible prevents them from learning from their mistakes. Add to this their lack of interest in anything that does not immediately benefit them, causes them to lack depth. This then severely restricts their ability to be innovative when problems do arise.
It is also important to observe that Players will only take action if their success is assured – they are, essentially, lacking in courage. By forcing them into a corner we can undermine them completely. So weak is the Player cut off from his advantage in The Game that his cowardice will shine through and he will be destroyed.