“How to Win Friends & Influence People”
— as told by the ruling class.
They told you to smile more. To hustle harder. To embrace suffering as its own reward. They promised happiness would follow. But deep down, you’ve always known where this path would lead: obedience for you, power for them.
The Psychopath Mantra takes you inside the predatory mind of the ruling class. This is self-improvement through the eyes of professional psychopaths, raw and uncensored. Morality is a trap. Sacrifice is a performance. Resentment is a tool, and envy may be the most powerful force of all. Inspired by Meditations but stripped of its euphemisms, this book reveals the twisted psychology elites use to stay on top.
Satire or self-help? You decide.
-
“Be Yourself,” “Stay True to You,” and “Follow Your Passion” are meaningless euphemisms that will devolve into some variation of “follow the leader.”
—1.2
“If you take on a task that’s perceived as larger than life, you’re more likely to earn the admiration of others, even if the nature of the task violates traditional morality.”
—1.29 -
“People in power are in power because they get to define the boundaries of our imagination. In this way, power is self-evident.”
—2.4
“Every powerful person is a kind of martyr. You can’t seize people’s imagination without making sacrifices. But here’s the secret: sacrifices can happen on the level of ideas. You don’t need to lose anything, except perhaps the comfort of being naive.”
—2.9 -
“It’s easy to believe in the fundamental decency of people when you don’t need to struggle. No wonder our leaders always believe in the people.”
—3.4
“Being resentful is different from understanding how resentment is used. Whether you feel disaffected is beside the point. We live in an age where the authenticity of personal experience no longer dictates the outcome of society. People in power can smirk when their hypocrisy is exposed because they understand that resentment plays a vital role in the accumulation of power. Every powerful person was a detractor to begin with.”
—3.10 -
“The definition of success can always be revised. We do this on purpose to keep you unsettled. It’s a neat, little trick. Happiness, freedom, belonging, equality are merely concepts by which envy is measured. Even when you think you’ve achieved everything you wanted, we still have more ways to make you feel inadequate.”
—4.4
“Give people genuine vulnerability, and they will give you their hand. Presenting vulnerability, it should be noted, is different from admitting fault. Vulnerability is style, perspective, tone of voice.”
—4.6