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November 12 - November 24, 2017
Deception was the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of evil. A simple lie was all it took to undo whole nations. Believing a lie could cost you your life.
“Battlefields come in all shapes and sizes. However they present themselves, you must always know the terrain and use it to your advantage to win the day.”
Oftentimes you can force the outcome you desire by framing the question to allow for only two choices, the one you wish and another that is unacceptable.
Power is about perception. Present yourself as a leader and others will follow.”
They seek to buy loyalty, which is an appeal to the baser nature of people. Some will respond to such an offer but they will not speak openly of it. Our enemies fail to grasp the true yearning in the hearts of men. People want to believe in ideals that make their souls sing. They want the feeling of being a part of something great and noble.
Propaganda is a fine art, but it’s more powerful than magic when properly employed. It can move the masses to believe in something. In the end, large numbers of people who are willing to die for a cause they fervently believe in will always carry the day.
“I plan to take the authority that has been so rudely thrust upon me,” he said
A mass of people united in a common purpose was more powerful than magic.
No amount of wishing for the world to be different would cause it to miraculously change. He had to deal in what is.
The simple injustice of it gnawed at him. Phane wanted to rule the world, not to help make it a better place, not to heal people or bring nations together, not to prevent war or establish stability through just and moral law.
He knew from long hours of study that battle is decided by attack, not defense, that life itself is action, not passivity. He meant to take action. He meant to attack.
The only fair fight is one you live to walk away from. There were no rules in the realm of violence except the most basic moral laws that governed the conditions under which violence was acceptable.
Once the threshold was reached, once it was decided that force was necessary to protect life, liberty, or property, then half measures and restraint were imaginary concepts best left to childish fantasy. Violence was a contest with death. The stakes were life itself. There were no rules worthy of being taken seriously in such a contest, only the singular, primordial command to survive.
“There are no contradictions, only false premises. If you believe you are facing a contradiction, you are not. You simply misunderstand some aspect of the situation. Correct your misunderstanding and the contradiction will vanish.”
