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Five Lessons on Aggression and Dominance “There is a point in the history of society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that… it sides even with those who harm it.” Friedrich Nietzsche wrote this nearly 140 years ago, yet it still sounds contemporary. In *Chimpanzee Politics*, Frans de Waal shows that dominance, aggression, hierarchy and confrontation—often dismissed in humans as “toxic masculinity”—also appear in our closest relatives. These behaviors may reflect deep-rooted drives, not merely social constructs. **1. The threat of violence can keep the peace** Most chimp confrontations are displays, not fights. Only about 0.4% of male confrontations become physical. Rank depends on strength, alliances, displays and recognition. Violence matters partly because it is rare: conflict must be allowed to resolve before it escalates. **2. When respect disappears, violence rises** Chimpanzees maintain hierarchy through formal greetings, including bowing. At Arnhem, 22 of 37 serious male fights occurred when males had stopped greeting one another—even though such periods made up less than a quarter of observation time. Violence was nearly five times more likely when recognition rituals broke down. **3. Power requires alliances** Before challenging the dominant male, a chimp often grooms females and plays with their young. Like Machiavelli’s political challengers, he builds support before attempting to seize power. **4. Influence can replace force** Female chimps sometimes recruit males to attack rivals, signaling distress and flattering the enforcer while avoiding the fight. Power can operate through alliances and influence, not just strength. **5. Concentrated resources create conflict** Chimpanzees normally forage for scattered food, limiting competition. When humans provide concentrated food, aggression rises. Larger groups are also harder to govern because familiarity declines and hierarchies become unstable. Stable societies may require hierarchy, respect, controlled confrontation and distributed power. Suppressing every expression of dominance may not eliminate conflict; it may remove mechanisms that keep conflict contained.

Compassion as a Weapon Western civilization is increasingly trapped in a culture of entitlement, where victimhood can become a route to status, privilege, and power. Some elite universities report unusually high disability registrations—e.g., 20%+ at Brown and Harvard and around 40% at Stanford—far above community colleges. Whatever the causes, it raises a troubling question: when systems meant to protect the truly vulnerable become incentives, what happens to everyone else? Rob Henderson describes how accommodations can turn into “status games.” Extra time, special housing, and exemptions can make diagnosis feel like the logical choice, and the lesson travels outward: tomorrow’s leaders in journalism, HR, law, academia, and politics may learn that displaying weakness is rewarded. Research links habitual victimhood displays with traits associated with the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy). That doesn’t mean genuine victims are manipulative—it means rewarding victimhood gives manipulators an incentive to enter. In the “virtue game,” grievance becomes currency. Pity can also function as covert power: the weak person gains leverage, while the giver gains moral superiority. When compassion is treated like a currency, it can become a mutually reinforcing racket. The danger isn’t helping the weak. It’s teaching that appearing weak is the surest way to gain power.

The Victimhood Economy: Why Young People Prefer Socialism Western civilization is increasingly shaped by entitlement and a culture that rewards displays of victimhood. At elite universities, disability claims have risen: 18% of male and 22% of female undergraduates report a disability, and 54% of non-binary students, with higher rates at some wealthy schools than at community colleges. The issue isn’t genuine disability; it’s what happens when accommodations become status and advantage. Extra time, separate housing, and exemptions can turn diagnosis into leverage. When weakness is rewarded, some will learn to perform it. This matters because today’s students become tomorrow’s institutional elites. If grievance produces rewards, the lesson may spread into journalism, government, HR, academia, and business, letting beneficiaries inherit the power to expand the system. Research on victimhood signaling raises uncomfortable questions: people who habitually emphasize victim status, on average, show higher narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—not to say genuinely suffering people are manipulative, but that systems rewarding victimhood create incentives for manipulators to exploit the category. Rob Henderson describes this as a status game: in elite institutions, grievance can become the currency of virtue signaling. For some, the rational strategy is to manufacture grievance and convert it into status. Nietzsche similarly argued that displays of helplessness can become covert power, while pity can create moral superiority for the caregiver. The danger isn’t compassion; it’s a culture that turns suffering into currency and teaches ambitious people that the easiest route to power is to claim they are powerless.

Kärringjävel. Kan journalistkåren göra sitt jävla jobb och syna det här machiavellianska dubbelspelet sossarna kör där de lovar svensk medelklass stängda gränser och hårda tag mot kriminella för att i nästa stund rövslicka nån somalisk klanledare i valfritt somalitown? https://t.co/B2qzw5fgEN #Sverige #politiken #media

Certo che se Berlusconi avesse trattato Fini e Bossi come oggi qualcuno vorrebbe trattare Vannacci non credo sarebbe andato molto lontano. Fini era molto più "fascista" del generale e Bossi fece addirittura cadere il governo quasi subito e passò con la Sinistra (anche nelle amministrative). Evitiamo le categorie morali o emotive in politica che Machiavelli se no si arrabbia... #politica #Berlusconi #Machiavelli

Ihanko oikeasti nyt Orpo aikoo päästä pälkähästä kun hallitus jakaa sisäpiiriläisille muhkeita bisnesavustuksia ilman läpinäkyviä prosesseja samaan aikaan kun kansaa kuritetaan, järjestöjä syyllistetään ja tutkijoita pilkataan? Ihme machiavellistinen todellisuus taas paljastuu. #politiikka #läpinäkyvyys #suomi

No, to teraz tylko Sopocki Machiavelli ogłosi wielkie kontrole w służbie zdrowia, potem pisana na kolanie ustawa o ograniczeniu zarobków lekarzy z jakąś wrzutką pod weto i wszystkie Wielowieyskie czy Kamile z Onetu napiszą artykuły w opcji NAWROCKI BLOKUJE i zaraz znowu święta #zdrowie #Polska #media

Článek analyzuje, jak pocit absolutní beztrestnosti a arogance bývalého premiéra Rodrígueze Zapatera, který se věnoval machiavellistickým praktikám s finančními machinacemi, představuje hrozbu pro současného předsedu vlády Pedra Sánchez, jehož odolnost vůči tlakům a korupčním skandálům, pokud nepřistoupí k vypsání voleb, může podkopat samotné základy Socijalistické strany (PSOE). #Impunidad #Sánchez #PSOE

"The Supreme Court is engaging in politics, this is Machiavelli in its purest form." (Original: "El Tribunal Supremo está haciendo política, esto es Maquiavelo en estado puro". Entrevisto a @ErnestoEkaizer. https://t.co/T9qdwSofha) #SupremeCourt #Machiavelli #Politics #Thearticledoesnotstronglymentionanyspecificcountries.Therefore #therearenocountrycodestoreturn.

The Ministry of Education has requested an immediate investigation into a controversial assembly at the Machiavelli-Capponi high school, which allegedly resembled a "blacklist" event and involved political discussions that raised concerns over the treatment of right-wing movements, while school principal Francesco Giari defended the proceedings as orderly and democratic. #Education #FreedomOfSpeech #PoliticalDebate #IT

Filip Turek: "Normálně bych zplynoval všechny židy" Matěj Gregor: "On tím 'židy' samozřejmě nemyslel židy, a to plynování je v podstatě taková metafora pro hloubkový audit, to snad chápe každý, kdo není úplně retardovaný." Petr Macinka: "Jé, abyste se neposrali, levicová média! Filip Turek je v podstatě takový český Machiavelli, vy libtardi." Boris Šťastný: "Já bych tu debatu vrátil do nějakého racionálního rámce, kdo ví, co vlastně řekl, nebo neřekl, nebo jakkoliv to bylo vytrženo z kontextu." Filip Turek: "Já jsem samozřejmě nemyslel všechny židy, jen většinu. A nejednalo se o židy" Oto Klempíř: "No... já bych... asi bych řekl že jo, ale když se na to opravdu zaměříme, tak spíš ne, nebo jakkoliv to vypadá, tak spíš možná, ale nechci předbíhat. Andrej Babiš (po průzkumu veřejného mínění): "Tohle by pan Turek asi neměl říkat. Já si s nima o tom někdy možná promluvím." Radek Vondráček: "Pane Řezníčku, dávejte si velký pozor!" Patrik Nacher: "A víte kolikrát mně třeba lidi nadávali do mé výšky? Tak na co si to hrajete?!" Tomio Okamura: "Já bych podobná vyjádření nepoužil. My za SPD bychom s židy rozhodně nezačínali." Jindřich Rajchl: "Ale že jsou na Ukrajině nacisti, to nikdo neřeší. Náhoda?" Karel Havlíček: "Radši řešte dozimetr!" Daniel Vávra: "Ňo, zase se tu bude někdo umlčovat za neškodný názor, jo?! Zasraný sněhový vločky!" Petr Markvart: "Tady je generovaný AI obrázek Petra Pavla, jak kouří Petra Fialu. To vám sklaplo, co? Šach mat!" Všechny postavy a události v tomto příběhu jsou smyšlené. Jakákoliv podobnost se skutečnými osobami, živými či mrtvými, nebo skutečnými událostmi je čistě náhodná. #diskuze #svobodaSlova #mediálníStereotypy

Americký prezident Donald Trump nedávno umožnil Rusku prodat ropu za deset miliard dolarů, čímž podkopal evropské snahy o omezení ruských příjmů a ukázal, že jeho zahraniční politika ignoruje zájmy Evropy a Ukrajiny. Tímto krokem, v kontextu zhoršující se situace na Ukrajině, Trump demonstroval své bezohledné machiavellistické přístupy a oslabil evropskou jednotu, což představuje vážné důsledky pro regionální stabilitu a bezpečnost. #AmerickáPolitika #ZahraničníVztahy #Ukrajina

9. Chanakya (371 – 283 BCE) <p>Chanakya or Vishnu Gupta or Kautilya was the teacher of Chandragupta Maurya. He served as a minister in the court of Chandragupta and Bindusara. He authored the ancient Indian political treatise called Arthasastra. Chanakya is considered as the pioneer of the field of economics and political science and his work is thought of as an important precursor to Classical Economics. Chanakya’s works predate Machiavelli’s by about 1,800 years. Chanakya was a teacher in <a href="https://www.themysteriousindia.net/takshashila-worlds-oldest-university/">Takshashila </a>, an ancient centre of learning. </p>