“It was one of the oldest tricks of mob-management: give them a hate figure.”
Source: Redemption Ark (2002), Chapter 4 (p. 66)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Alastair Reynolds 198
British novelist and astronomer 1966Related quotes

“I won't fall for the oldest trick in the book”
"That's Just What You Are" · Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArXL7uEQsEg
Song lyrics, I'm with Stupid (1995)
Context: In our endeavor we are never seeing eye to eye;
No guts to sever so forever may we wave goodbye.
And you're always telling me that it's my turn to move,
When I wonder what could make the needle jump the groove.
I won't fall for the oldest trick in the book,
So don't sit there and think you're off of the hook.
By saying there is no use changing 'causeThat's just what you are.
That's just what you are.

Tout ce qui plaît a une raison de plaire, et mépriser les attroupements de ceux qui s'égarent n'est pas le moyen de les ramener où ils devraient être.
"Quelques mots d'introduction," Salon de 1845 (May 1845) http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Salon_de_1845_%28Curiosit%C3%A9s_esth%C3%A9tiques%29#Quelques_mots_d.E2.80.99introduction

“If there's a trick to doing a job you hate… Mrs. Clark says it's to find a job you hate even more.”
Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 20, Cassandra, Another story by Mrs. Clarke

“Chaucer was a class traitor
Shakespeare hated the mob
Donne sold out a bit later
Sidney was a nob.”
Source: 1980s, Against The Grain (1986), Ch. 14, The Ballad of English Literature

Gulf News http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/philippines/destabilisation-cry-to-fend-off-graft-criticism-1.142820
2008

“There can be no free speech in a mob: free speech is one thing a mob can't stand.”
"Quotes", The Educated Imagination (1963), Talk 6: The Vocation of Eloquence
Source: Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling, New Society Publishers (2013) p. xxii