Disarming Opponents

Yesterday I watched the movie 8 Mile starring Eminem. Eminem is a rapper who starred in this movie in 2002.

The protagonist must compete against other rappers by bombarding them with his raps to the point that they drop off the stage. In the beginning he does not succeed, but by the end he had made a great rap that made the other person drop off the stage.

Bit brief, but I really liked the movie. Now I'm also a fan of rap music so that makes a difference, but something interesting happened at the end.

Because these rappers blast each other hard and get very personal, it's important not to get emotional and have ammunition to hit back. Eminem, in the finale, makes sure that rapper has no ammunition to hit back. He disarms him.

How he does it?

By incorporating everything into his own rap. He says he lives with his mother, that others fucked his girlfriend, that he lives in a trailer park, has no money, has been beaten up by this rapper's friends....

Anything that he can think of that can bring him down he already tells himself, saying in his rap "If you know anything new about me that everyone else doesn't already know, tell them...

So he can't do that anymore.

Many people are afraid to show themselves. Afraid of reactions from others. They don't dare make videos or blog. They dare not speak in public or make presentations in front of a group.

So that fear ensures that you can never really have a certain level of success and, more importantly, freedom.

Pity.

Because if you show more of yourself then you will find that you already take away a lot of ammunition from others. When people know I've been a junkie, what are they going to say about it? Of course there are plenty of things you can say about it, but imagine if I keep that fearfully hidden? And they find out and use that against me in reactions?

Suddenly, then, my reputation is damaged....

When Mick Jagger goes with someone else is fine. When Humberto Tan does that he gets pilloried. So there's that. It seems scary to share some things about yourself but it's much scarier to keep it hidden. Disarm your opponents by being yourself.

Great week!