There is second the method of strategy, the disguise of purpose, the
disguise of means. The effort is to shift the attention of the opponent
to another place and then to walk off with the prize. "Possession is
nine points of the law" say these folk. And a straight line is _not_
the shortest way for strategy. Or exchange with your opponent, give what
_seems_ valuable for what _is_ valuable and then fall back on the adage,
"A fair exchange is no robbery."
Third, there is persuasion. Here, by stirring your opponent into
friendliness, he talks matters over, he aligns his interest with yours.
Compromise is the keynote, coöperation the watchword. "'Tis folly to
fight, we both lose by battle; whose is the gain?"
Fourth is the method of the weak, to gain an end through weakness,
through arousing sympathy, by parading grief, by awakening the
discomfort of unpleasant emotion in an opponent who is of course not an
implacable enemy. This has been woman's weapon from time immemorial;
tears and sobs are her sword and gun. Unable to cope with man on an
equal plane, through his superior physical strength, his intrenched
social and legal position, she took advantage of her beauty and
desirability, of his love; if that failed, she fell back on her grief
and sorrow by which to plague him into submission, into yielding.
Children use this weapon constantly; they cry for a thing and develop
symptoms in the face of some disagreeable event, such as a threatened
punishment. In their day-dreams the idea of dying to punish their cruel
parents is a favorite one.
This appeal to the conscience of the stronger through a demonstration of
weakness may be called "Will to Power through Weakness." It has long
been known to women that a man is usually helpless in the presence of
woman's tears, if it is apparent that something he has done has brought
about the deluge. And in the case of some housewives, certain
similarities between tears and the symptoms appear that show that in
these cases, at least, the symptoms of nervousness appear as a
substitute for tears in the marital conflict.
Not that this is a deliberate and fully conscious process, nor that it
causes the symptoms. On the contrary, it is a use for them!
Such a conclusion of course is not to be reached in those cases where
the symptoms arise out of sickness of some kind, or where they follow
long and arduous household tasks. But every one knows that the woman
who gets sick, has a nervous headache, weakness, a loss of appetite, or
becomes blue as soon as she loses in some domestic argument, or when her
will is crossed; these symptoms persist until the exasperated but
helpless husband yields the point at issue. Then recovery takes place
almost at once.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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