Power Tactics

I've spent many years teaching people about thoughts in the universe and how they can be powered into our minds. Any thought can filter into our minds. The only way to prevent it is with our mental wall we build to protect ourselves. We learn to do this in order to reject thoughts that go against our education and beliefs or to keep from overly reacting to them. Lately, it seems that many aren't heeding this universal wisdom and are being subjected to by a nefarious, tactical mental warfare.

For instance, below is the actual list by Saul Alinsky regarding power tactics that he outlined in his 1971 book "Rules for Radicals" and not what some are promoting on the internet as his - with their political twist. Alinsky's list is devoted solely to tactics and does not specify any particular targets of those tactics.

I decided to share this list because it's much of what we're seeing going on in many countries. If this wasn't so horrendous, (in some of these places, including America), it would make me chuckle. Only because of this one thought I had while reading them: who's trying to out tactic who and why?

After all, if I understand these power tactics, you can bet others do too. So - who's really fooling who? Read below to see what I mean.

Power Tactics:

Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat.

The third rule is: Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.

The fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.

The fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.

The sixth rule is: A good tactic is one that your people enjoy. If your people are not having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.

The seventh rule: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after which it becomes a ritualistic commitment, like going to church on Sunday mornings.

The eighth rule: Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.

The ninth rule: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

The tenth rule: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.

The eleventh rule is: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every positive has its negative.

The twelfth rule: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. You cannot risk being trapped by the enemy in his sudden agreement with your demand and saying "You're right — we don't know what to do about this issue. Now you tell us."

The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.