Underhanded Tactics and the Abuse of Power

Reading Robert Greene and so much is true about unethical underhanded tactics.

When you're dealing with someone who craves control and thrives on chaos, you often become the target of subtle, underhanded tactics. A narcissist rarely confronts you directly, doing so would require acknowledging you as an equal. Instead, they operate from the shadows, manipulating, twisting, and deceiving while keeping their true motives hidden, behind closed doors, strategizing for another attack.

You may find your name circulating in group text message conversations, your reputation chipped away by rumours that sound ridiculous but enough to stick. Their goal is to make others doubt you, isolate you, and see you as untrustworthy.

This isn’t just idle gossip, it’s a calculated campaign of character assassination. The narcissist may plant false accusations, exaggerate your mistakes, or fabricate offenses entirely. It's not merely about harming you. It's about elevating themselves by asserting power, control, and superiority at your expense.

Every lie they spread is crafted to feed their ego and reinforce their image, while tearing down yours. In these moments, you come to realize you're not simply caught in conflict. You’ve become a pawn in someone else's relational aggressiveness and self-validation. It's a manipulative power play, and you're expected to endure it in silence.