Burning stake power move: frame your enemies as in-human, fan the flames of hatred, and lead the sheep to the stake-show

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on June 22, 2020, 8:36 am

• Agent: Social firestarter
• Power move: the burning stake is a shame attack delivered against a made-up enemy exclusively for acquiring power

The angrier you seem, the "purer" you seem.

And the more spirited you seem, the more you look like you're going to get some power, which makes people want to follow you to be "part of the movement" and maybe acquire some scraps of status within the new hatred-based group.

The second step, is to frame the target as in-human.
This accomplishes two tasks:

1. You can burn the target on the stake without looking yourself like a mean bastard
2. The more you can frame him as unworthy, the more you can whip people into a frenzy (that frenzy gives you a quick shot of power as the "frenzy leader in chief")

Here is an example with yours truly as the target:

Ie.: "I don't really know much, but of the nothing I know about this guy, it's more than enough to jump to conclusions: he is an undeserving scumbag to be burned on the Twitter stake"

This is an old power move for acquiring power quickly.

The most extreme examples include Charles Manson, and Savonarola.
Manson stoked the flames against society, and Savanorala stoked anger with moralizing shame attacks against all that is "impure".

The so-called "populist" politicians, including Trump, also love to start fires for personal power.

By all effects, the burning stake power move is a shame attack.
But contrary to a shame attacks, which can be motivated by actual moral beliefs, burning stakes are used exclusively as tool for manipulating public emotions and sentiment, and to acquire power.

Unluckily it can be effective.
But I don't recommend anyone who seeks power within a more ethical framework to go for it.
And I don't recommend it to anyone who wants to be a high-quality person, either.
Why not?

First of all, because it's terribly nasty.

And second, because with burning stake power moves you mostly get the sheep to follow you.
More high-quality people embrace shades of grey in life, and before condemning others, they prefer more well-thought analyses (plus, as low-points of human history and nature, they're not exactly fans of "stake shows").