Monday, August 22, 2016

Flattery will get you...

Not only the fact of praise, but the content of the praise is significant. Any selection of specific attributes over others uses the technique of choice. In order to put the deity into a beneficent mood, the chosen epithets presumably praise attributes that Šamaš was believed to value. In addition, attributes were selected to guide the god toward the desired action. Citing such qualities plays on the deity’s presumed desire to continue garnering praise by manifesting the lauded qualities all the more (the reason that praise is so widely used in behavior modification today) .—Forestalling Doom page 66

<idle musing>
In other words, flattery will get you everywhere!
</idle musing>

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