What do you call a book that teaches young men to see relationships as master-slave dynamics? A bestseller. Robert Greene’s “48 Laws of Power” dubbed “the sociopath’s bible” and “a puffed-up bible for psychopaths” has sold over 1.2 million copies since 1998.
I have a nonverbal son with autism. Watching him navigate the world has sharpened my pattern recognition in ways I never expected. And I keep coming back to this question: What happens when an entire generation learns to see human relationships through the lens of masters and slaves, predators and prey, winners and losers?
What happens when that generation lacks critical thinking skills and, without questioning the source, blindly follows? What if that is happening right now, in real time?
My son will likely never be able to advocate for himself verbally. He’ll never be able to call out manipulation or articulate when someone is treating him as less than human. But here’s what I’ve learned: the tactics being used on vulnerable people aren’t random. They’re systematic, teachable, and increasingly normalized.
And once you see the patterns, you can’t unsee them.
Like when ‘never outshine the master‘ becomes dating advice. When ‘crush your enemy totally‘ gets repackaged as business strategy. When predatory behavior is called ‘game ‘ (in a good way.)
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The Language of Domination
I started seeing these tactics everywhere when I was going through my divorce. At first, I thought my perspective was skewed by trauma. I wanted to believe that once I healed, the manipulation I was noticing would disappear – that it was just my wounded perception making people seem more calculated than they actually were.
But trauma doesn’t create manipulation tactics – it makes you more aware of them. And as I healed, I didn’t see less manipulation. I saw more. I developed pattern recognition for something that had always been there but was now being systematically taught and normalized.
Greene didn’t accidentally choose the word “master.” Throughout his books, human relationships are consistently framed as hierarchical power struggles where someone must dominate and someone must submit. This isn’t strategy – it’s dehumanization packaged as self-improvement.
When we normalize language that divides people into masters and those to be mastered, we’re not just talking about business tactics or dating advice. We’re reshaping how an entire generation thinks about human worth and dignity.
“Greene’s research sources:
- Julius Caesar (destroyed the Roman Republic)
- Machiavelli (advocated political cruelty)
- Sun Tzu & Clausewitz (warfare tactics)
- Casanova (exploited women)
- Hollywood power dynamics (notorious for abuse)”
The Source Material Says Everything
Greene didn’t develop these laws by studying successful, ethical leaders. His research focused on some of history’s most destructive figures: Julius Caesar (who destroyed the Roman Republic), Machiavelli (who advocated cruelty as political strategy), military strategists like Sun Tzu and Clausewitz (warfare tactics), and manipulators like Casanova (a predator who exploited women).
He also drew heavily from his own observations of Hollywood power dynamics – an industry notorious for exploitation and abuse. Essentially, Greene studied tyrants, con artists, dictators, and predators, then packaged their tactics as a success manual for modern life.
The question we should be asking: Why are we teaching a generation to emulate the methods of history’s most harmful people? When someone creates a playbook based on studying sociopaths and sadists, we shouldn’t be surprised when the results look sociopathic and sadistic.
Where This Leads
These aren’t isolated incidents. This is what happens when manipulation gets rebranded as leadership, when exploitation gets called mastery, when treating people as objects becomes normalized as “winning.”
The Stakes Are Real
For my son and others like him – people who communicate differently, who trust easily, who don’t recognize these games – the consequences aren’t theoretical. They’re the ones who get “mastered” while everyone around them celebrates the manipulator’s success.
But here’s what I want people to understand: Nobody wins when relationships become power struggles. The person doing the “mastering” loses their humanity. The person being manipulated loses their autonomy. Society loses the possibility of genuine connection and mutual respect.
A Different Way
There’s another way to be powerful – through authentic connection, mutual respect, and genuine leadership that lifts others up rather than cutting them down. This kind of power doesn’t require anyone else to be powerless.
My son deserves to grow up in a world that values his humanity, not one that sees him as someone to be “mastered.” We all do.
I need your help documenting how widespread this has become.
Share your observations in the comments. Have you noticed manipulation being framed as leadership in your workplace? Relationships? Social circles? Your stories will shape how I approach the next posts in this series.
Coming next: The specific “leadership” techniques that are actually manipulation tactics, and how to recognize them before you become a target.
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Unlock Your Potential: Transform Your Reality with ‘I Am’ Affirmations (The Ultimate Abracadabra For Your Soul)”
