So has history proven that it's better to be feared or to be loved?

So has history proven that it's better to be feared or to be loved?

Feared if you want to be respected in your own lifetime
Loved if you want to be respected in others

A ruler people love is a ruler who scares them so much they convince themselves they love him as a defense mechanism.
Not unlike Europeans being so afraid of Islam that they make obsequious gestures to demonstrate their benignity while furiously arguing against its critics.

Proofs: Stalin, Basil II, Louis XIV, Ivan Grozny, Shihuangdi, Dracula

Both

(((history))) is a modern construct with the purpose of social engineering

niether

You need to be feared by your peers and other powerful men and loved by the people

positive reinforcement is neutered when it comes to producing an immediate change in behavior, but establishes and reinforces lasting bonds. Negative reinforcement is great for producing short term results or immediate change in behavior, but relying on it breeds resentment.

true glory lies in synthesizing the two, being magnanimous or severe as the situation dictates, and having the wherewithal to know which situations calls for what, and in how much of a dose.

>true glory lies in synthesizing the two, being magnanimous or severe as the situation dictates, and having the wherewithal to know which situations calls for what, and in how much of a dose.

Which is what Machiavelli was saying to begin with. His famous quote "It is better to be feared than loved" is incomplete. The full quotation is "It is better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both."

For a superpower it does.

USA, during the Cold War era and contemporary era, has been loved by NATO, Japan, SEA, Caribbean (excluding Cuba/Grenada), and various other countries in Africa/ME/LA. This has allowed us to keep our alliances, for decades, and even despite major strains on the relationships they never break down.

However, the USSR on the other hand, kept Warsaw in tact by fear of the red army. And, as anyone can see now, only a small fraction of USSR old allies are still ally of Russia, and the few that are allies are basically dictatorships, such as Belarus, or the Stans.

>US
>loved

That you kim?

It's better to be a ruler with cuck fetish, both cucking and be cucked. It tempers your mind into steel.

...

I'm not as fit, wise or as handsome as the Great Leader's grandson.

These.

It should also be noted that he stressed the importance of not being hated while feared.

Feared, see hegemonic deplomacy. See China America British empire Russia.

Nobody fucking loved the US, how delusional are you?

This guy disagrees.

only fanboyed by gay ROMAnians, rest of the world know him as being a savage animal

I thought everyone loved the benevolent British Empire user

What sort of positive reinforcement would there be for a country to give its citizens, though?

Neither, what matters is to be successful. If you can do that while being loved then your life will be so much the easier, but you probably can't.

It's like nobody here has ever read what he said

A ruler has to take decisions which sometimes aren't ideal for everyone. If he is loved, he won't be tolerated when he does something unlikeable.

If he is feared, the people will be happy if they are left alone and will appreciate when good things come

>It's like nobody here has ever read what he said

And neither have you judging by what you wrote.

I'm simplifying his point for you subhumans

His entire book is literally about the different moral system that politicians need to have compared to normal everyday people, because the exercize and command of power demands that you adopt a different approach.

While he says that if you want to keep your power you need to be ruthless, he also says that there is value in being charitable to people you know cannot remove you from power. In essence being magnanimous.

Read the explanation that comes directly after the famed sentence. It's basically what I said and it's why being feared by default gives more value to the acts of good compared to being loved by default

Based on stories told by G*rman (((merchants)))

off the top of my head...

Tax breaks for married couples to encourage marriage, healthcare and school tax credits to encourage them to have children.

Methadone clinics encourage druggies to kick their opiod habit

Entrepreneur Investment Schemes encouraging wealthy people to invest their money in startups and small businesses

Technology Grants encouraging businesses to invest in efficiency upgrades as a means of improving their bottom line rather than by gutting payroll.

The original positive reinforcement is religious services being untaxed, which encourages the construction of churches and the communities that they support.