Law 21: Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker, Seem Dumber than your Mark

This law advises that in certain situations, it can be advantageous to appear less intelligent or less capable than you actually are.

The idea is to not intimidate or threaten others with your intelligence or abilities, so they let their guard down.

This can provide you with more room to manoeuvre, influence the situation, and potentially capitalise on their underestimation of you.

The phrase "play a sucker to catch a sucker" means to pretend to be naive or gullible in order to lure others into a false sense of security.

When they believe they can take advantage of you, they're more likely to expose their own weaknesses, vulnerabilities, or plans, which you can then use to your benefit.

For example, in a negotiation scenario, if the other party believes they are more knowledgeable or cunning than you, they might reveal more information or try to manipulate the situation in a way that you can anticipate and counter.

4 Ways to Appear More Stupid Than the Mark

1. Subliminally reassure people that they are more intelligent than you are.

Subliminally reassuring people that they are more intelligent than you falls under Law 21 because it's a strategy of appearing less threatening or less capable, which can make others more comfortable and open.

When people perceive themselves as more intelligent or superior in some way, they often let down their guard.

They may feel more confident, less threatened, and more willing to share information or insights. They may also underestimate you, which can give you an advantage, especially in situations where negotiation or persuasion is involved.

To delve deeper into why subliminally reassuring people that they're more intelligent than you aligns with Law 21, you need to understand the psychology involved.

A) Ego Stroking: People, generally, like to feel important and intelligent. When someone feels they are intellectually superior, their ego is boosted. 

This often leads them to be more talkative, share more information, and be less defensive. They're more likely to trust you and may even start underestimating you. 

This gives you the chance to observe and learn more about them, their behaviours, thoughts, and strategies. If you do this effectively, they will tell you everything you want to know about them.

B) Lowering Defences: When you appear less intelligent or less capable, people are less likely to see you as a threat. 

They may lower their defences, making them more approachable and open. This can be advantageous in situations where you need to gain someone's trust or cooperation. 

When you display a high level of intelligence and capabilities, it can unfortunately intimidate some people which makes them raise their guard.

C) Surprise Element: By letting others believe they are smarter, you hold the element of surprise. If a situation arises where you need to assert your knowledge or power, they may not see it coming, giving you an upper hand.

D) Building Connections: This strategy can also help in building connections. When people feel superior, they may also feel more comfortable and relaxed around you. 

This can enhance your relationships and make interactions smoother. Often, when you come across people of similar level (or even higher) they may see you as competition or a threat. 

It’s not about dumbing yourself down and saying stupid things, it’s mainly about not being super braggy and instead, focus on complimenting them, asking them questions, getting to know them and stroking their ego without licking their ass.

Convince them that you are low IQ, and you can run rings around them.

The idea behind this phrase is that by making others believe that you're less intelligent or capable than you actually are, they will underestimate you.

When people underestimate you, they're more likely to let their guard down, which can give you an opportunity to manoeuvre situations to your advantage.

In this scenario, "running rings around them" means to outsmart or outmanoeuvre them.

If they believe you to be less intelligent, they may not anticipate your actual abilities or strategies, and thus you could potentially get ahead or gain an advantage without them realising it.

This is why when I come across most girls and people of my age, I avoid starting or bringing up conversations which require you to actually THINK because most young men and women are not familiar with engaging in high IQ conversations.

It makes them lower their guard and before you know it, I know everything about them.

2. The feeling of intellectual superiority you give them will disarm their suspicion-muscles.

This phrase means that when you make others feel intellectually superior, they are less likely to be suspicious of your actions or intentions because they underestimate you.

They may believe you're not capable of cunning or deceit due to their perceived intellectual advantage. This sense of security can lower their defences, making them more open and less cautious in their interactions with you.

When people's "suspicion-muscles" are disarmed, they might share more information freely, act more genuinely, and expose weaknesses or vulnerabilities that you can learn from and potentially use to your advantage in specific situations.

3. Intelligence most people's vanity

People generally want to see themselves as smart and capable. This is a part of their self-esteem and vanity. 

When you play into this desire by appearing less intelligent or capable, you flatter their vanity. They feel superior and smarter, which often leads them to let their guard down.

A) Leveraging Vanity: People often take pride in their intelligence. By allowing others to believe they are intellectually superior, you're stroking their ego and making them feel good about themselves. This is a powerful for influencing their behaviour and perceptions.

B) Creating a Safe Space: By appearing less intelligent, you can create a safe space where others feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and ideas without fear of judgment or criticism. This can foster more honest and meaningful interactions.

C) Avoiding Threat Perception: When you allow others to feel intellectually superior, they are less likely to perceive you as a threat. This can help to reduce conflict and competition, and can make others more willing to cooperate with you.

4. Make people feel they are more sophisticated than you are and their guard will come down.

The idea here is that if you allow others to believe that they are more sophisticated or experienced than you, they will feel a sense of superiority.

This feeling of superiority can lead them to lower their guard, as they may not perceive you as a threat or believe that you're capable of outsmarting them.

People will downplay the talents, skills and achievements of others to avoid the pain of feeling bad about their lack of character, skills and accomplishments. People do not like to feel like they are inferior to others.

There is a time a place for everything. Sometimes you HAVE to talk your shit.

Sometime exaggerating and boasting about your skills and talents is needed especially when you are trying to accomplish something that is based off leaving a positive impression of your achievements and character. 

Example, an interview for a scholarship or a trial for a competitive spot you are competing for, is usually NOT a good time to downplay your talents.

However misdirection is one of the most valuable strategies for business, marketing, and even dealing with men/women.

Play stupid. Stay quiet. 

Act like you don’t already know about something and have other people explain it to you, they’ll reveal all that they know: people are suckers for gossip.

Showing off all that you know, immediately, is a fools game.

I can do this, I can do that, I drive such and such car. I’m guilty of this as well.

But people do not want to know everything about you, especially at first.

People want mystery, they want to feel like they’re uncovering a great conspiracy, or that they’re revealing parts of your life and personality on their own. 

If you wana brag, it’s cool, but do a ‘humble’ brag. 

I am not really a fan of being ‘humble’ but what I mean by this, is by bragging in a way which doesn’t come across like you are a try hard or even worse…. Corny.

Example:

Don’t brag about how much money you are making. Instead, show your happy customers and clients or show off your money via experiences, holidays, restaurants, shopping trips, nice days / nights out.

Don’t brag about how much women you can attract. Take pictures and videos hanging out with them.

Don’t brag about how clever you are. Let your further education credentials do the speaking.

Don’t brag about how cool your life is. Let your instagram do the speaking.

If you speak multiple languages, slowly inject it into conversations.

You get the idea...

Conclusion

Many people see this book as ‘manipulative’ and even ‘evil’. 

Most read statements from this book out of context, making it very easy to believe this. 

Part of my interpretations today of law 21 is aiding in removing ambiguity and adding secondary meanings to what lines like this (LAW 21) can potentially mean.

No one likes feeling stupider than the next person. 

'The trick, then, is to make your victims feel smart—and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.'

Contrary to popular belief, sometimes it’s good to be a Wolf in Sheep’s clothing.

- Till Next Time.