Law 5: So Much Depends On Reputation - Guard It With Your Life

Reputation can make or break you, but how can you keep control of it when it's ultimately all about the opinion of other people? In this episode we set our crosshairs on the cult of 'authenticity' and explore where the line lies between creating an image and losing touch with yourself. We puzzle over the cult of social media, the importance of cat videos to our moral lives, and what pro wrestling has to teach us about being genuine. We also dig into:

• How having a reputation can be a self-fulfilling prophecy... for better or for worse
• Can you be generous with your reputation to help others, or does it always backfire?
• Why we can never truly know another person
• Why Edison lost to Tesla on paper, but won in the long-run
• The dangers of pettiness, and the slippery slope towards it
• If you don't craft how other people see you, they'll paint the picture for themselves
• Why you can be completely honest but still be seen as a liar
• Jon's top tip for first dates
• Why you should have multiple reputations and use the right one for the right context
• Why curating your online reputation is often at the cost of real life interactions, and is usually BS anyway
• Authenticity versus performance
• Is it OK to like someone's art if they're also a horrible person?

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Mikhail Bakhtin's idea of the 'alien landscape' of other person's mind features in The Dialogic Imagination.
• The quote Dre was recalling was: 'If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart' – Nelson Mandela.
• The quote Jon mentioned was from George Orwell, but was slightly different: 'The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.'
• Kanye West's somewhat maligned album, Life of Pablo.
• The movies that ruined careers: Alicia Silverstone (and others) in Batman and Robin; Jessica Alba in Fantastic Four; Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in Gigli.

Join us as we continue our exploration of Robert Greene’s provocative and compelling study of the 48 Laws of Power, in which he lays bare the history, practice, psychology, and philosophies of power that ultimately shape all human relations. Often seen as a handbook for the ‘modern Machiavelli’, we take a closer look, beyond the hyperbole, and discuss how understanding and implementing these Laws can actually enrich your life personally, professionally and spiritually.

Jon and Dre aim to get to the heart of each of the Laws, grapple with their sometimes disturbingly amoral nature, and discuss what the Laws mean in everyday life (often revealing their own experiences – good and bad – when they’ve either observed or transgressed them).

 

Full Episode Notes: http://voicesinthedark.world

 

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