I wrote this in May 2018 about strategic provocation. The internet has since turned this into a daily sport.
The greatest strategic move isn't convincing your allies. It's getting your enemies to accidentally argue for your position.
Provoke an extreme reaction from the opposition and they'll inadvertently validate the very thing they're fighting against. The crowd watches, and without realising it, the opposition has done your marketing for you.
The 2025 version
Still the playbook. Every outrage cycle online follows this exact pattern. The question isn't whether you see it — it's whether you're the strategist or the pawn.
We watch it play out weekly now. Someone posts something deliberately provocative. The opposition amplifies it with outrage. The original message reaches ten times the audience it would have reached organically. The outraged don't realise they've become the distribution channel.
The only winning move when someone plays this game on you is silence. But silence requires discipline, and discipline is the scarcest resource on the internet.
Recognising the pattern is step one. Not reacting is step two. Most people never get past step one.