Two cars race toward each other on an empty freeway; the first to swerve is the chicken. How should you play if you want to preserve both your status and your life? The answer is clear: in full view of your opponent, rip out your car’s steering wheel, blindfold yourself, down a bottle of Jack Daniels, scream. If you can persuade your opponent that you’re incapable of making the decision to swerve, then he has to swerve. In other words: the stupider, more ignorant, more irrational you can prove you are, the better the chance you have of winning.
I’d like to remind everyone that at one point this strategy was the de facto foreign policy of the United States.
Obligatory link to our Schelling thread.