from: Bloodstone43956@i-mail.irs
to: Raventrap39996@i-mail.irs
date: 7518.46086
My Dear Raventrap ~
You must never apologize for anything. What’s done is done. You can’t unsay what has been said or un-write what has been written, so just let others deal with it. What counts is the craftiness you summon as you move on. Regarding your comments about your job, you’ve learned not to show weakness again ~ every tempter gets one chance to whine, or maybe not. It depends on their Undervisor’s mood at the time. In the case of your client’s refusal to take sides in the argument over evolution, keep in mind this particular controversy is only one of many temptations to join a faction. Nevertheless, now that you’ve learned he is likely to listen to other points of view than his own, you have your work cut out. You must redouble your efforts to get him to join a faction without even being aware he has done so. Factions can provide all sorts of opportunities to unlearn the habit of being open-minded, so see to it he enlists in one as soon as possible.
As I have said, even families can form factions. Religions often form them as well. We have a long-standing joke here that churches multiply by dividing! As long as “The Church,” representing worldwide unity and acceptance, is not permitted to grow, while various “churches,” representing narrow interests, leading to disunity and exclusion, are allowed to flourish, our future is assured. And, as we all know, politics is the rich bottom-land of factions. It doesn’t really matter what faction your client chooses, as long as the choice to become part of some club, church, party, or interest group enlarges his sense of self-importance. The ideal faction is one that both encourages and enables our clients to reject what others might have to say, to figuratively stand in the corner with their feet planted and their fingers firmly in their ears, childishly humming “La-La-La” so as not to hear any questions about or opposition to their cherished opinions. It’s indeed rewarding to successfully tempt a group not only to repudiate everything another group believes, but also to actively obstruct any idea or proposal they didn’t initiate. Certainly, obstruction is necessary whenever another faction is openly sponsoring harm or violence, but don’t let the little nut-jobs realize this. We want them to act against others on behalf of their faction for no other reason than because it’s their faction. Reason and compromise have no place in our strategy.
In this regard, our aims might seem contradictory at first. Of course we want to multiply the number of available factions in order to increase the chances our clients will join one or more of them. At the same time, we want to foster mega-factions, dividing organizations, businesses, and countries as nearly in two as demonically possible. We need not take the trouble to divide exactly in half, though. All it takes is a little supplementary temptation for a few to switch sides from time to time, and gridlock will be practically guaranteed. The objective is to make sure no meaningful dialog and therefore no agreement can ever occur. The resulting inaction and the frustration caused by it will eventually provoke a lot of clients to sign over their contracts to us.
The irony is, outside of their factions, two humans are likely to find common ground and actually agree to solve a problem together. However, factions have a way of demanding the same individuals follow certain dictates or else lose their support system.
For example, two politicians from rival parties might get together over lunch. In the course of their conversation, they might wander into a discussion of a political problem both are passionate about. {We suspect Our Competitor might have agents at work in moments like these, but we have yet to prove it.} After a little friendly banter, one might suggest a solution the other thinks is an excellent idea. At the end of the meal, they might even shake hands and each might thank his esteemed colleague for his honesty and insights.
Now, the game begins. Tempt one of these obsequious opportunists to actually propose the very same idea in congress and the other can immediately be tempted to denounce it as impractical to implement, detrimental to society, or devastating to life as they know it. It doesn’t matter how good the idea is or how much they agreed about it over lunch. The only thing that will matter is who will take the credit for it! This is the power of faction: the members of each faction feel compelled to make themselves look good while making their opposition look bad. In government the overarching goal must be to get re-elected, not to actually solve problems. If you ask me, I’d say The Corporation has been doing very well in the political arena lately. Even when the little polecats think they have democracy, we have been able to completely subvert it through factionalism.
The key to understanding factions is actually quite simple. Humans have an inborn desire to be part of a group and most will do almost anything to be accepted by others. So, all we have to do is point them towards seemingly innocent or well-intended associations that are likely to grow into factions. We also must be on the lookout for burgeoning groups to bend towards Our Executive’s plans. If we plant the right seeds, we can seduce a small group to meet in His name without knowing it. Just put forward the notion a certain degree of exclusivity is “appropriate” for such a group, for whatever rationalizations you can bring to mind ~ others wouldn’t understand, wouldn’t really fit in, wouldn’t feel comfortable, wouldn’t be as loyal, and so on ~ and you will have made a fine start. Factions need to attract “true believers,” not just camp followers or similarly inclined individuals. The price of acceptance needs to be an abdication of individuality. With a little prompting from us, the faction itself will become each member’s identity.
Do you see the paradox? As they hand over freedom of thought to the faction, our clients can also be induced to develop a new kind of selfishness. This kind of selfishness takes pride in joining the “right” group or choosing the “right” side. Again it doesn’t matter which side as long as your clients take unreasonable and unwavering pride in their decisions to join. As a side dish, it’s often amusing to get brothers, sisters, or husbands and wives to join opposing factions. This kind of temptation is a great form of entertainment. If you can maintain the delusion that each faction is indeed all it’s cracked up to be, their conscious, or better yet, unconscious choice to join it will lead directly to their subsequent choice to sign over their contracts to The Corporation.
Your Devoted Cousin,
Bloodstone
MurrayWorks 