Ocupa el elevado terreno moral: Estrategia de la Rectitud

OCCUPY THE MORAL HIGH GROUND
THE RIGHTEOUS STRATEGY

In a political world, the cause you are fighting for
must seem more just than the enemy's. Think of this
as moral terrain that you and the other side are
fighting over; by questioning your enemies' motives
and making them appear evil, you can narrow their
base of support and room to maneuver. Aim at the
soft spots in their public image, exposing any
hypocrisies on their part. Never assume that the
justice of your cause is self-evident; publicize and
promote it. When you yourself come under moral
attack from a clever enemy, do not whine or get
angry; fight fire with fire. If possible, position yourself
as the underdog, the victim, the martyr. Learn to
inflict guilt as a moral weapon.
Robert Greene


The central feature of the "exterior maneuver" is
to assure for oneself the maximum freedom of
action while at the same time paralysing the
enemy by a multitude of deterrent checks,
somewhat as the Lilliputians tied up Gulliver. As
with all operations designed to deter, action will
of course be primarily psychological; political,
economic, diplomatic and military measures
will all be combined towards the same end. The
procedures employed to achieve this deterrent
effect range from the most subtle to the most
brutal: appeal will be made to the legal formulae
of national and international law, play will be
made with moral and humanitarian
susceptibilities and there will be attempts to
prick the enemy's conscience by making him
doubtful of the justice of his cause. By these
methods, opposition from some section of the
enemy's internal public opinion will be roused
and at the same time some sector of
international public opinion will be whipped up;
the result will be a real moral coalition and
attempts will be made to co-opt the more
unsophisticated sympathizers by arguments
based upon their own preconceived ideas. This
climate of opinion will be exploited at the United
Nations, for instance, or at other international
gatherings; primarily, however, it will be used as
a threat to prevent the enemy undertaking some
particular action.... It is a point worth noting that,
just as in military operations one captures a
position on the ground and thereby denies it to
the enemy, on the psychological plane it is
possible to take over abstract positions and
equally deny them to the other side. The
[leaders of the] Soviet Union for instance,...have
turned into their own preserve the peace
platform, that of the abolition of atomic weapons
(while themselves continuing to develop them)
and that of anti-colonialism while themselves
ruling the only colonial empire still in
existence.... It may therefore be that these
ideological positions occupied by the forces of
Marxism may one day be "conquered" by the
West; but this presupposes that the latter in their
indirect strategy have learned the value of
thinking and calculating instead of merely trying
to apply juridical or moral principles which their
enemy can use against them at every turn.
INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGY, ANDRE