Relationships in manipulation of story development

I had a good example of manipulation today. It started off simple, but became more drastic as the day wore on. In three hours, I felt every single emotion (happiness, anger, contentment, rage, frustration, indifference) and I learned something from the example. I wasn't the one who manipulated anyone. In fact, I wasn't even the person that the manipulation was targeting. But it was there, I learned from it, and I figured it was something to share with the group.

The manipulation started with reading over facts. I believe Vin Scully is correct when saying that statistics can be made to show whatever it is you want them to say. So are rules. In fact, by looking through the rules, several are contradictory and in fact cancel each other out. That's because with as many rules as are created, there are years of people forgetting those rules, making up new rules which conflict with the old ones, and new ones to counter things that people have considered or done which have violated the original set of rules.

Basically, everything gets screwed up the more that you follow the rules.

So, the facts were read, they were decided, and someone got upset. Sounds simple, but it gets more complex. Because nothing that is ever a great story ends with simple. In fact, it grows, as all good stories do, because the interest from those surrounding or are involved in the story increases. There has never been an uninteresting story. Just uninteresting people attempting to tell it.

The course of the day pushed into a new kind of manipulation. The people involved got to watch the manipulate be placed upon them. The rules were used to change the system to the benefit of one person. Everything in the discussion, in the decision-making, was pushed by the one person who manipulated the system.

It was basically a good lesson in stupidity.

Story developed farther by manipulation is always interesting. At least, to me, it is.

You see a lot of people who claim that they bent the system. Well, I believe that's possible, but you have to have a lot of accomplices who help you, even unwittingly, to manipulate the system. Whether they realized or endorsed the manipulation or not. We were all party to it.

So, if a main character (antagonist) bends the rules. It takes the protagonist to help cause the manipulation to take place.

Example from Die Hard with a Vengence:

Antagonist calls in a bomb threat to a school after blowing up a subway under the financial district. Creates a panic.
Protagonist attempts to find bomb. However, this leads protagonist away from the financial district where the antagonist is stealing all of the gold.
This is very watered-down version of what happened in the film. However, it shows how the relationship between the protagonist and antagonist are a yin-yang in character development and story progression.

So, what happened with the manipulation that I witnessed today?

It worked for the person, but only sort of. They didn't get who they wanted hired. But they also didn't get the person that they didn't want hired. Instead, the manipulation caused the group to decide to hire a person who the manipulator was indifferent to. In a way, it was a total backfire of the situation.

I love it when a plan comes together. Or doesn't.