If I Were a Machiavellian

700px-portrait_of_niccolo_machiavelli_by_santi_di_tito

I’ve tried to read Niccolò Machiavelli’s THE PRINCE several times throughout my reading existence but thus far I haven’t been able to finish it.

But I did watch that risqué/raunchy TV show about that bad, Bad Pope called “Borgia” (not “The Borgias” mind you; still haven’t seen that one yet), so I have a pretty good TV idea about the dude on whom Machiavelli based his “prince.”

Anyway, for some reason I’ve been thinking about Machiavellianism lately.

Not sure why, but according to that informational cyberwonderland called Wikipedia, it appears I’m pretty much a “Low Mach” kind of guy. However, just the fact that I am a guy, a typical one at that, pretty much guarantees that I’m a of a higher Mach than the typical kind of gal.

Here are some interesting quotes regarding Machiavelianism:

Machiavellianism is “the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct”.

Machiavellianism is also a term that some social, forensic and personality psychologists use to describe a person’s tendency to be unemotional, and therefore able to detach him or herself from conventional morality and hence to deceive and manipulate others.

Machiavellianism is one of the three personality traits referred to as the dark triad, along with narcissism and psychopathy.

People scoring high on the scale (high Machs) tend to endorse statements such as, “Never tell anyone the real reason you did something unless it is useful to do so…”

Hmm… it seems that I know someone who might possess one or all of those of the “dark triad.”

Yes, I’m sure I do know someone who is Machiavellian, narcissistic, and psychopathic.

The name’s not coming it me right now but I’m pretty sure I know someone Just. Like. That.

Anyway…

Sometimes it seems that life would be much easier if I were to be more Machiavellian; if I were to only worry about myself and my needs; to see others only as either obstacles or opportunities to satisfy my needs.

Yeah…

Hey! If you’re interested in knowing whether you’re a High or Low Mach kind of human, you can take the test here.

Post your score in the comments for us…

If you feel it would be to your benefit to do so, that is.

 
 

8 thoughts on “If I Were a Machiavellian”

  1. I’ve been feeling pretty Machiavellian lately… and I’m a typically non-violent gal, but today while taking care of bathroom duties I invented my cover profile – Annabelle, a sweet old lady who joins a pro-Voldemort group and secures passage to a certain meeting in a certain very pale house in DC, when the ladies group is invited there to meet a certain orange-tinged maggoty dude… only to pull out my hidden highly bulleted agenda and let loose… So does this make me Machiavellian? I did stop the fantasy when I pictured a young boy in the room and felt that even if he’s just going to grow up to be Voldemort 2 it still would be wrong to burden him with my bullied agenda meant for his father…. Am I bad? Trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to feel more Christian…. B. 🙂

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  2. OK I took the test, sneaky as some questions were, but not answering as myself, and got a score of 96 out of 100 or High Machus. Maybe I’ll go back and answer as myself, but suspect I would only be middle of the road at best…

    Reply
  3. As I suspected (even though I view myself as pretty cynical and mistrusting) Results: Your score was 52 of 100. This puts you in the category of the low Machs, people who will hold out for the goodness of the world and avoid manipulation. Not the people Machiavelli would approve of.

    Reply

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