kitab al-a'rad: the fonzie scheme

This is a con Vons Serin taught me, and it almost always works: people will let you get away with anything if you can convince them they're cool, and in being cool the square rules no longer apply. This is a variation of The Big Lie, which states that the more outlandish a falsehood the more likely it is to be believed. The key to this is having the lie down, as people are predisposed to narrative and will believe a linear falsehood before a jumbled truth. Pulling this off is a summary of small details, of how you dress and how you stand and how your breath smells when you lean in close and confide the secrets the proles aren't fit to know. Being cool, being professional, being a grownup -- these are all different facets of the same jewel, and once you can pull it off you can easily implicate others in your actions, pull them into the wake where instead of taking cues from the general public they take cues exclusively from you. "Now is different from then," you whisper, "and there is a new law."