🔶 Book of Lord Shang (商君書): The Five Tactics for Ruling the People (馭民五術) ── The Most Vicious Imperial Machiavellianism 🔶 The Five Tactics for Ruling the People (馭民五術): Keeping the people ignorant (愚民), weakening the people (弱民), keeping the people exhausted (疲民), humiliating the people (辱民), and impoverishing the people (貧民). In ancient Chinese philosophy, Legalism (法家思想) was often endowed with a pragmatic color of "enriching the country and strengthening the military" (富國強兵). However, when the sole operational objective of the "state apparatus" (國家機器) shifts toward absolute concentration of power and resource plunder, the people are no longer regarded as the foundation of the state, but rather as objects to be meticulously calculated and managed. Later generations summarized the ruling logic of Legalist doctrines (法家學說), such as those of Shang Yang (商鞅), into the famous "Five Tactics for Ruling the People" (馭民五術). 🔶 [1] Keeping the People Ignorant (愚民) 🔶 ► Unifying thought and closing off the people's wisdom (封閉民智). The government monopolizes education, keeps the common people in ignorance, and deprives them of their ability for independent thinking. 🔶 [2] Keeping the People Weak (弱民) 🔶 ► A strong state makes the people weak; the art of governance lies entirely in weakening the people. Rulers deliberately suppress grassroots organizations and individual influence to prevent the formation of any forces capable of contending with the imperial court. 🔶 [3] Keeping the People Exhausted (疲民) 🔶 ► Creating endless tasks for the people so they are exhausted from running about and have no time to attend to other matters. Heavy labor, military service, or endless warfare compel common people to struggle desperately for basic survival the moment they open their eyes each day, leaving them with neither the leisure to ponder social injustices nor the energy to organize resistance. 🔶 [4] Humiliating the People (辱民) 🔶 ► Destroying dignity, creating fear, and instilling mutual suspicion. By undermining trust between individuals, a sense of insecurity forces everyone to retreat into an isolated state, creating the "atomization of society" where the populace loses the collective structure needed to gather strength and resist tyranny.[Note 1] 🔶 [5] Impoverishing the People (貧民) 🔶 ► Stripping away surplus wealth; poverty breaks a person's resolve. Controlling social wealth to ensure the people can barely maintain a minimum standard of food and clothing. 🔶 Depleting people's strength (殺力) ── If the Five Tactics Fail, Eliminate Them 🔶 If all the aforementioned methods are exhausted and there are still unruly or disobedient strong people or dissidents, the final resort is direct resolution through violence or killing. 🔶 The Book of Lord Shang (商君書): Unveiling Ancient China's Ruthless Path to Power and Its Ongoing Suffering 🔶 🔶 Shangjun Shu (Book of Lord Shang / 商君書) on Five Tactics for Controlling the People 🔶 https://www.douyin.com/video/7403376825725963561 (URL of English videos on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok)) 🔶 Note 1 🔶 The rampant spread of suspected "scams" effectively destroys trust among the grassroots population. Governments may turn a blind eye while cracking down, or even worse, collude with criminal elements and play a double game. Furthermore, this bears a strong resemblance to the growing trend in various countries where governments ban social networks for minors (minors, children, and adolescents), ostensibly under the guise of "protection". Does this comprehensive internet control in the name of "protection" also invisibly deprive the new generation of their capacity for networking and independent critical thinking? View quoted note → #antiexploit_Five_Tactics_for_Ruling_the_People