<p>“Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.” ~ Machiavelli </p>
<p>Always mind the people around you, the people who try to associate with you, their potential motives, and NEVER assume that people will treat you with respect or have your best interests in mind. ESPECIALLY the students that are majoring in the same thing as you. They are your competition, so do not aid them unless it makes you come out ahead in the long run. By all means feign friendship, but be aware of their intentions. </p>
<p>The person you’re sitting behind in class and chatting with could be the person you one day compete with to get a job. </p>
<p>Oh and NEVER offend the wrong person. In fact, if you find yourself in a situation where you have to extract revenge, do so in a thorough manner. There are all sorts of crazy people out in the world, some of them are just nuts (like Joker), others are “true believers” of fundamentalism (like Bane). </p>
<p>Not every criminal is after your possessions. There are psychotic people out there who could be after your life. Just looking at them the wrong way, one-upping them during a presentation, or not moving out of there way on the sidewalk could be all that is required to set them off. When you meet these people, they might not want to attack you that instant, but they will remember you, find out where you live, and trust me…those people are not after your laptop or bed frame. They just want to see you burn.</p>
<p>Some of them are driven by ideology, they think they are “alpha”. Others are just crazy nuts. In some places, the law-abiding populace is disarmed. In this case, you’ll have to escape until you have an advantage, either to get defense where it is allowed, or to escape and live another day to call the police.</p>
<p>The truth is, using violent force is not “alpha”. Alpha would be using your power and influence to get someone to do , and remain completely unconnected to the event or have society and the world at large accept your actions as just if discovered. Plausible deniability. An example of this is our (The United States) covert political intervention in the 1964 Chilean election.</p>
<p>Or our monopoly on deciding when democracy is just and when it is not. Our international interests supercede any people’s rights to a fair and free election, especially if the predicted winner is against us. That is REAL power. Being too big to fail. Take a look at our support of the Kingdom’s of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and our support for suppressing democracy in those countries. </p>
<p>In the business arena, convincing the world that you need a bailout and defrauding billions of people and getting away with it, that is Alpha.</p>
<p>Going into a gas station to do an armed robbery or stabbing someone harassing you is not Alpha. Alpha would be opening your own chain of gas stations and petroleum refining rigs and forcing the other gas stations out of business through fraudalent business practices, and destroying the credibility of the guy harassing you.</p>
<p>That is Alpha. Convincing the rest of the world or the law that your use of force and social power is justified and correct.</p>