Greene is attempting to adapt Machiavelli for the modern age, but no, I'm not going to invoke #41 on him.
2. Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies – Be wary of friends—they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.
Are we sure that a friend's envy is more dangerous than a former enemy's proven capacity to play for the opposing team? If they went there once, they have it in them to go back. Does Greene give a way to test for sure whether "former" means former?
3. Conceal your intentions – Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelop them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.
People are curious. To much concealing will pique people into probing harder. By "guiding them down the wrong path", what Greene hopefully means is to strike a balance by being open about enough nonessential items to make people think that you don't have anything to hide, but keeping the true lynchpins of your plans to yourself.
6. Court attention at all costs – Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out, be conspicuous at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses.
Explain how this is worth becoming an easy target, especially in light of this:
10. Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky – You can die from someone else’s misery—emotional states are as infectious as diseases. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.
If emotional states are that infectious, what about infamy? Rule 6 suggests courting attention
at all costs. One of those costs easily could be large-scale ridicule, building a hatedom like Miley. Unlike just being around someone miserable, the negative emotions are all pointedly directed at you. According to Greene's own theory of emotional contagion, this would psychologically wear on a person after a while. We are cooperative animals: you can only tell yourself that you don't give a shit for so long. I think the destructive cycle this precipitates could account for the fall of a lot of child stars who lash out against their past in attention-grabbing ways.
23. Concentrate your forces - Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another—intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.
There's a saying about this: "putting all your eggs in one basket". I agree with concentrating your points of attack on a goal down to
a few in the name of efficiency and focus, but the rule specifically says
one key patron, and when you get down to one is the moment when the security of concentration breaks down. If you have one rich mine, you're good until it caves in. Then you've got no mines and are tasked with starting from square one and finding a new direction, and that's a cripplingly stressful task when your stockpile of gold is running out and you know that if you won't be eating if you can't find another source. Better to have two good mines than ten or one.
EDIT: A mad scramble after losing your one patron is one of the contingencies planning to the end is meant to address in advance. I see. But my plan would still deem one backup mine to be worth more than the sacrifice in focus.
If you have false beliefs and fears that are holding you back in life, that's one thing, but if you are held back because you don't want to harm others, well, that's healthy.
People stuck in the former are more likely to seek a book with "laws of power" in the title. They are more concerned with power day to day because they are having such difficulty empowering themselves.
What repulses people about this is merely the notion of dealing with people in a rational, calculating manner. People feel guilty about doing that for several reasons.
First, it requires a bit of distance to detach yourself from your emotional reaction and instead select a rational option that is more effective.
I like some of the laws, but I think that the opposite of what you say above is true about specifically the laws that are done at others' expense. Because of their displacement of discomfort, they will be the emotionally easy choices. Brains aren't stupid: most manipulators don't know that they're manipulating, just that they can't tolerate the pain. Psychological distress chokes your capacity to empathize in the name of pain control (see: some personality disorders). Fight-or-flight mode, unless it is engaged to protect another, makes you temporarily forget other people. Remember the last time you hurt someone while in a state of rage or panic, in a way that you would be morally loathe to do in your regular state of mind? These, for example...
11. Learn to keep people dependent on you – To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.
36. Disdain things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best revenge – Be acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.
43. Work on the hearts and minds of others – Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.
...appeal to frightened people the most. A quiet, rational mind can see the interpersonal factors and how they imperil these strategies in the long run.
