SILVER OR LEAD, REVISITED

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Dear Friends:

After living for a goodly span of time, I have learned, lamentably, that virtually every human being can be bought. It is usually an issue of price. Sometimes, where greed is the principal motivator, the price must be negotiated and paid to someone in order to have him (or her) "set aside" his or her principles or responsibilities. Where fear is the principal motivator (and it is a faster and generally more effective motivator than greed, requiring less negotiation, and putting one's self at less risk, as any old-school mobster or modern day drug lord will tell you), it is simply a matter of the threat of taking something valuable away.

The best approach tends to be a combination of the above two -- "silver or lead" (plata o plomo). In an extreme example, a government employee is given a choice of receiving a tremendous payment in cash, or having his wife hospitalized. The broader the lattitude between the silver and the lead, the more powerful the inducement.

The most dangerous persons are those who have a perception of nothing to lose (and no fear of death, personally), who are completely unattached emotionally, and who are not greedy -- they cannot be manipulated, they are just too cold. And in some negotiations, ice is far more powerful than fire.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. Apologies to the late Poet Laureate Robert Frost.

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