Law 32, “Play to People’s Fantasies”, talks about how one can gain power by promising the something incredible to people who are willing to believe in it due to ignorance and false hope. Their own fantasies blind them from seeing the true and harsh truth behind their lives. As said in the book, “Change is slow and gradual. It requires hard work, a bit of luck, a fair amount of self-sacrifice, and a lot of patience.” With these thoughts of ignorance and false hopes, however, it would be very easy to manipulate men. Many people would like to believe in doing things the easy way- where no amount of blood and sweat is needed since the only thing you truly need is luck. But in reality, how lucky can you really get in this life? Lucky situations without manipulation are very rare. This kind of situation is very seen even in history.
Caesar, Crassus and Pompey wanted to expand their political power by reforming the tribunate of the people. However, due to the conflict between Crassus and Pompey for their belief that they are increasing their popularity at the expense of the other, Caesar found the way into playing their fantasies by giving them positions next to his. He was able to become consul due to their combined influence and wealth.
This power, however, requires extreme caution. There is no telling when people will be oblivious to your plan. If you plan to control this power, you must keep the people suspended in their fantasy. Keep your distance, play it safe. Can you control this power?
-Alan Mamonluk, IIBS MIS
27 comments:
With this law, I remember one instance from Martial Law. During the height of mass demonstrations against late president Marcos, bold films flourished. Why? To keep the attention of the people away from politics, that is, to give them a fantasy that this world may not that harsh. Another thing is what happened to our province. To keep the attention of the people from the corruptiono of the dynasty (the governor of our province is the father, his son is the congressman of the first district of the province, his other son is the mayor of the only city in the province), they created a program called "Iskolar ng Bayan" wherein, they give stipends to college students studying in and out of the province. The stipend is big enough (5-10K) and it deceives people that the province is really doing good, that there's no corruption.
This might be good, but this is not what our country needs.
Joan Medalla
Hi18 N
This law works on the constant need of people to be in a better position than they are in. In using this law, a lo9t of effort goes into making yourself credible, and getting people to believe you can accomplish the promises you make. In playing to others' fantasies it is a given that we must make sure that they are not aware that we are doing this. I agree with Alan when he said that to accomplish this, we have to keep our distance. We always have to appear confident to assure others that we know what we are doing and ultimately, get their trust.
Patty Geollegue
Hi18-N
I for one cannot control this power but people who know how to tap in to other's fantasies can. For one to do so, he must spend a great time to know that person. It takes great effort and discipline. Once he knows his target to a great extent, that is the time when he'll know the fantasies of that person. When the time is right, he'll play with that person's fantasy, eating him up slowly. The power of this law is the seemingly inexhaustible power of manipulation gained once executed flawlessly.
Dexter Tanengsy, Hi18-N
yes, playing with people's fantasies can be a good strategy in gaining power. however, as alan said, we must play it safe and control this power. this, from what i hear, is what some, if not, most, politicians in our country do to earn the favor (and usually the votes) of the people. they usually take advantage of the poor, promising to make their lives better but, of course, never completely sticking to what they say. i believe that if you make a promise to someone or if you offer to make their lives better you should stick to your promises. sometimes if you don't fulfill these, the people you fooled will not be very happy about it and will most likely turn on you. so much for trying to gain their loyalty and favor! if this does happen, make sure you're in a place or position where you're sure they can't get to you or harm you. still, playing with people's fantasies (and psyche, for that matter) is very dangerous. indeed we should be very careful in using this tactic.
Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Always make things seem better than how they really are. Create an illusion that will gain you their favor. This law is exemplified by our current situation in the Philippines, although it is not as effective as it can actually be.
Politicians in our country always make it a point to please people and gain votes/approval. They tend to “dress things up” and making situations seem under control and in place. This is a good tactic if you want to maintain a certain level of trust from the people you are heading. In order to be a good leader, you must know how to manipulate situations to make it better for the group. This is one way of looking at this law, about playing to people’s fantasies of control, stability, and order, or even as simple as wealth and security!
The only problem about this law is, knowing when to stop, when to actually show the reality of things and allow everyone to accept it.
Can we actually say that what the people don’t know can’t hurt them? Think about it.
Marian Janelle C. Aliwalas
HI 18 N
The idea of playing to people's fantasies is best seen in our current situation in the Philippines, and yet, I do not see how it can be good on the long run. Sure, it can be used to divert people's attention regarding certian issues (like the ZTE deal), but overtime, using such strategy would eventually be worn out, as slowly people will be able to realize that you are actually making a fool of themselves through these fantasies. It may work but it doesn't mean that you can use it 100% of the time
Duey T. Guison
II AB PoS
Playing to People's Fantasies is a good way of motivating people. But make sure that your short-term fantasies have a long run. Show progress with what you said to them. I mean, if the people find out that you're playing with them, well bye bye power.
Don Faylon
Hi18N
This is certainly a cruel law. You're basically letting someone enjoy his or herself before delivering the fatal blow. But as long as you're able to pull it off, that fatal blow could well be the only one you need. If your attack misses however, you'd be facing an even more threatening foe. Timing and patience is crucial when applying this technique.
Marvin Velasco
Hi18 N
I think this law is primarily used by many campus heartthrobs and matinée idols. They play with the women's fantasies and thus, increasing their popularity and influence in the community. True, instant power could be gained through this law; but there is also an underlying instant consequence on this - the "instant celebrity" gets blinded easily by his/her shining career. S/he thinks that s/he could already conquer everything; while in the process, not only s/he is playing with people's fantasies but s/he is also suspended in his/her own fantasies.
I agree with Alan that extreme caution is needed in this law. But I doubt if this law is really controllable. It's quite hard to control something which, in the first place, is intangible and fictitious.
Miriam R. Reyes
Hi18-O
hThis law is very similar to mine, in fact, this law can actually be a key component to my own law, which is to subdue your opponent's intellect and willpower, through deception and manipulation. and make them come to you. Looking at it, this law is probably one of the less complicated laws, one just needs to identify what the other wants to see and hear, and exploit this weakness. The trouble here comes from the difficulty of utilizing the accomplishments one has achieved while observing this law. Like what Alan said, this power has a need to be controlled. Simply playing to people's fantasies, leads to a rather useless chain of actions. Done without any preemptive thinking, it will eventually lead you nowhere, a loss of credibility at the very least of it.
I'd like to see this law applied everywhere. Especially in the Philippines. I seriously believe that filipinos deserve a fantasy of inevitable success. Presidential ratings are down. Basically you can say that all around population morale is down. Solutions to our national problems are seriously far from immediately achievable. The people need to believe we can get somewhere, for any positive action to actually take place, they need motivation, real or not, motivation will act upon it's purpose.
At grave situations, sometimes the people just need to believe. Reality is often not the pragmatic road to follow.
Mark Bantayan
Hi18 N
I definitely agree to this law. playing fantasies is an easy way to manipulate those who around you. Many people in the philippine gov't have used this technique. Filipinos today are mostly blinded by money. One example of this would be Joseph Estrada, he played people with money. In his case, he gave money to many people in order for them to support him. But his biggest problem occured when his partner chavit singson was not blinded by money anymore, as a result, he was the one who turned his back away from estrada and told the media about his corruption.
marion adalia
bs mgt
o
i don't think i could use this law as it requires you to have total control over everyone. just as Marion's example says, it only takes one person to bring you down. because of this you have to be sure that everyone is in a constant state of blindness of your fantasies. but with the more followers you have, the harder it takes to monitor everyone
On a different point of view, i don't totally believe that one needs to thoroughly know his target to execute this law. Although it would be a lot easier for someone to do that first, I think persuasion and one's charm would also be useful in this law.
Marie Dacquel HI18-O
Here in the Philippines, many people are already aware of what the higher ranking officials are doing. So basically, its harder to use it when a lot of people use it. Dinadaan nalang natin sa People Power eh.
Alan Mamonluk
Hi18-O
@Don's comment(for he asks what my reaction is)
This law doesn't ask you to stay in power. However, if you want to stay in power, look for the next bunch of fools and idiots who would fall for your tricks. Play to their fantasies, and kaboom. Problem solved? Adjourned.
@ alan's comment of my comment
it doesn't tell yeah but as long as you have power and gain more why not? if you want to extend the power given, just like alan said, go with the next batch. A master of this must know what fantasies to play with to be very powerful and effective.
a very cool law to gain the favor of the fools supporting you.
@Don's 2nd reply
Theres a law of power which states that do not go beyond your target. I choose not to do so while in the power itself. One must use all kinds of laws of power to truly become powerful.
Alan Mamonluk
Hi18-O
A problem arises when the people you trick realize that the fantasy is just that: a fantasy. This is a very risky law to follow, to be used sparingly in my opinion. Useful, yes, but chancy.
@Majic
(Off topic)
Actually, I don't think Chavit betrayed Erap because he was "no longer" blinded by money. He's still very much blinded by that. Money and power. He just wasn't satisfied anymore with what he was getting from Erap...I think. I'm not quite sure of what the circumstance really was back then. I did hear some bits of info from people here and there. All I'm certain of is that it's not because "he's no longer blinded by money". Asa pa tayo. HAHA.
@Blog entry itself
This is quite mean. But. I guess in reality, this happens a lot. So yes reality is mean (lol). This law isn't applied in politics alone in fact. It's applied in many other areas. If you want to sell anything, from the concrete (product) to the intangible (idea), you've to be able to wrap it in an attractive package to make it marketable. Yes, this is used in marketing as well.
Hmm. Perhaps this isn't really "mean". You're just giving what people want after all. You're making them happy, right? Just make certain that you can keep this up. Follow through.
Jennifer Stacy Tan
Hi18 N
@Jennifer
Even in sci10, we are being taught that people use these techniques like in making different kinds of water like magnetic water and other such foolishness.
@majic
i think erap also used the this "para sa mahirap" delusion in which the mass fantasized him as the "robin hood" type of leader.thus winning the presidency in a landslide.
@carl siy
i agree.the perfect execution for this law requires a great amount of chance for the basis of the fantasy to be use and the frequency of usage in this fantasy.
Yeah, I agree to the Erap example. Erap really played to the people's fantasies as "for the poor" as ton said.
Playing to people's fantasies can actually have really scary consequences--once they realize you're not really going to make their fantasy come true, they turn away from you in a blink of an eye.
Our laws are related in a sense that it talks about YOU as a leader doing the necessary things to make sure that what you implement is followed and obeyed. Mine - as I have come to understand it - talks on how to implement change disguising it with the comfort of the past while yours takes it to a higher and more interesting degree - people's lucid and absurd dreams and fantasies.
Trying to put myself in the shoes of a leader hungering for power:
I believe that this law makes absolute sense and it should one of the foundations that a leader must use to ensure that what he wants, he gets. By doing this, not only do you allow people to see things your way, you also convince them to surrender themselves to you since you promise them that they'd get what they want.
On the current happenings around us:
I believe that everybody makes use of this tactic to ensure that they'd stay in their places. The government - I bet this crossed all of our minds - makes excessive application of this. "The Philippine economy is at its all time high in a span of this many years!" - What a load of poop. But we can't entirely blame them - they are after all, being a bit cunning about it - except for the part that now we do know better.
This law is very present in society. Ever watched one of those Home Shopping channels? They always say that their products will alleviate the user from all their misery. I remember seeing this potato-peeler on sale; they made peeling potatoes look like an impossible chore (“Ever get sick of peeling potatoes which takes forever? You might accidentally chop off your fingers when using an ordinary knife! NOW WE HAVE A SOLUTION”) Of course, in reality it’s not an impossible chore to peel the skin off a potato with an ordinary knife. I don’t know if this advertisement works or not, but it shows corporations’ observance of the law (and just how stupid they think we are).
Pat Reyes Hi18O
Using ADOBE Photoshop is one good example of playing to people's fantasies. One will look fair in a print ad even though she is not that fair in person. Photoshop-ing then is used by the business industry to deceive consumers for profit making. As long as many people are deceived by unreal ads, firms will not stop producing. Playing to the consumer's illusion is a good way to increase revenues and empower the "unreal" product.
:joanne atienza N
Thanks for another wonderful post. The place else could anybody get that type of information in such
an ideal way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the
look for such info.
Feel free to visit my blog; cash loans with bad credit
My website - payday loans in pa
These are some great tips. For those who could use some more specific advice, tips and information about great article thanks for posting.
Cook at 48 Laws of Power foods.
Post a Comment