Prick Attack 4: Domination Strategy 2: Manipulation

In this article we tease out a strategy pricks are very fond of when they launch their prick attacks. We are taking a look at the use of manipulation in prick attacks.

The word ‘manipulation’ covers a multitude of sins, doesn’t it? It is an umbrella term that covers both deception and lying. But equally, deception is a form of manipulation, and so is lying. And similarly lying is a form of both manipulation and deception. Actually, I like the word ‘bullshit’ because without any fanfare, it covers all three: manipulation, deception and lying. However you wish to word it, the bottom line is that basic garden variety honesty is absent in prick attacks. Whist most people understand that honesty lubricates the social discourse and makes life simple, whereas bullshit jams it up, pricks just don’t care. They launch their prick attack anyway. Getting what they want is the only thing that matters to them, so dishonesty is stock-in-trade for all pricks, and is part and parcel of every prick attack.

There may be grain of truth in what they present to you, but that’s only there to hook you. The rest is bullshit. That makes the grass look greener. Just remember that the grass will always look greener when a prick shows it too you, because bullshit is great fertilizer!

Manipulation used in prick attacks fits neatly into just a few approaches:

?   Going behind your back, defaming you by innuendo, outright lies or by shaming you, making it seem as though you are the bad guy.

?   Making requests which, though in the form of a request, place you in a position of having to comply, because if you don’t, once again you’ll look like the bad guy, or look petty.

?   Engage in bogus negotiation with you, in which it appears they are trying to reach a mutually beneficial solution to an impasse, but all the while their true intention is to get the lion’s share of the deal, leaving you with only the scraps.

?   Manipulate your deep psychological needs. This is by far the most dangerous, and the most difficult prick attack to stop. I call these deep needs your ‘Prick Traps’, and in the book I tell you how they got there, how they’re activated, how they’re triggered, and how to dismantle them.

Next time we’ll look at the various forms of coercion pricks use when mounting their prick attacks.