PT Barnum
PT Barnum famously said there is a sucker born every minute.
But what’s commonly not said is a couple of very important corollaries to that statement.
The first is that suckers are suckers because they are willing to believe something that is too good to be true.
Now, why would somebody willingly believe something that is too good to be true?
Love Hate Money
A lot of people have a lot of confused beliefs about money.
One common belief about money is that it is bad, or evil, or those who crave money are evil.
But at the same time, very few people would reject an offer of risk free, no strings money.
Similar beliefs exist around ideas surrounding popularity and fame.
Lucky Bastards!
We tend to get angry at people who achieve fame and money relatively easily.
But if somebody came to your house, and said you had the perfect look for their product line, and all you had to do to make a bunch of commercials and you’d be rich and famous, we’d all accept that.
Yet that’s exactly why most people are rich and famous.
Extra Lucky
They are lucky in how they look.
They are lucky in what they can do.
They are lucky in their connections.
One of the Laws of Power is to criticize what you can’t get.
Sour Grapes
This is essentially the sour grapes theory.
We do this because it protects our ego.
We could admit they are lucky, and they a rich, while we are unlucky, and we are poor.
But that would make us feel like crap.
So we pretend we don’t want what they have.
Clever Elites
One common way that rulers and elites and those with wealth keep their wealth is to create ruling ideas that money is bad or evil.
A very common ruling technique was employed in both the Roman Empire and in Samurai Japan.
Once the Roman Empire accepted Christianity as their main religion, they highlighted the idea that it’s good to be poor.
Eye Of A Needle
That the richer you are, the harder it is to get into heaven.
This is something poor people would readily believe.
It worked for both rich and poor.
It kept poor people from wanting to become rich, because being poor was holy and being rich was evil.
But from the rich elite’s perspective, it kept them from needing to worry about competition for power and wealth.
Broke Samurai
The same strategy was applied to feudal Japan.
The Samurai essentially had to take a vow of poverty.
It was considered noble to be a poor farmer, just barely having enough food to live.
The merchants, the people who actually kept goods flowing through the economy, were considered to be the lowest class.
Inoculation Against Competition
It was an ingenious way of keeping them in their place.
A class structure that put the noble poor above the potentially wealthy merchants.
The second corollary to PT Barnum’s statement is that you can’t con an honest man.
Because honest people believe that in order to succeed at anything, you must put in a lot of work and effort.
Risks and Effort
In order to succeed in anything, you must take risks, accept failure learn from your success.
Honest people understand that becoming rich and famous, if done honestly is the most noble thing you can do.
To create something that a large number of people value and are willing to pay you for.
Honest Riches Are Fantastic
To honestly become rich.
To honestly become famous.
To honestly become admired by the masses.
Do this and you’ll prove everybody wrong.
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