Do not affect the interests of the elite, nor should you affect the beliefs of the masses. Affecting the elite’s interests is like taking their life; affecting the masses’ beliefs is like digging up their ancestral grave, and the masses’ beliefs are precisely the source of the elite’s interests.
Tolerate the fool, understand the fool, harvest the fool.
This article examines the complex relationship between affecting higher-level interests and altering lower-level perceptions, pointing out that the two are actually closely intertwined because lower-level ideas form the foundation of upper-level interests.