The Follies of Decisions without Wisdom

 • The function of intelligence is characterized as focusing on questions of how to do and accomplish necessary life-supporting tasks; the function of wisdom is characterized as provoking the individual to consider the consequences of his [or her] actions both to self and their effects on others. Wisdom, therefore, evokes questions of should one pursue a particular course of action.
          ---Vivian Clayton
---
Who you become depends to a great extent on what you decide--but who you are and what you value frequently determine what the best decision is.
          ---James Stein, '10
--
http://www.answers.com/topic/iphigenia-film-1

In the film Ephigehnia depicting a Greek mythic story, the Athenians are stranded at Aulis, Agamemnon having killed a deer sacred to Dianna. Dianna stopped the wind and the Athenians can't sail. So, the men are getting restless. They want to go fight Troy to recover Helen, who had eloped with Paris. The sheer, Calchas consults the oracle and recommends that Agamemnon kill his beautiful daughter Ephigehnia before the wind could come. Meneleas, the cuckholded husband, and other generals pressure Agamemnon while his wife Clytemnestra pleads. What would you do?
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“You are what you decide,” (Stein, ’10) may be a philosophical haiku of sorts that informs a universal truth, loaded with stuff. If we stopped and reflected on it, we might learn something of ourselves. We might see that our social, professional financial and, in fact, our station in life might have been decisively decided by decisions made. Some memories of such decisions might at times gnaw our hearts with regrets: if only in the fork in that road we had taken to the right instead of the road to perdition! Not individuals only are faced with “fork in the road” challenges, but also do groups, institutions and societies at large.

I have seen people who take almost eternity to make up their minds. There are others who never make up their minds—effectively deciding not to decide. While, others (yours truly included) make impulsive snap decisions with regrettable consequences at times.

We marvel at the guy who jumps on top of the child in the path of an on-coming train and lies on top of him until the train passes, thereby saving the child’s life—and his, of course. That is a snap decision. Where does it come from?

Then there is Barack Obama, Mr. Cool. While everyone is fidgeting and getting red-faced about BP oil-spill, he seemingly is not ruffled. Then, he does his magic with a strength that few see: The $20 Billion “shake-down.” The “shake down” according to one legislature, who was forced to withdraw his statement, was probably more the truth than not.

It seems that there are situations that require snap decisions, and there are others that require deliberate reflective analysis. Knowing the difference is probably a mark of wisdom, and may lead to good decisions, which lead to successes in our enterprises.

Decisions also seem to be made relative to an environment, the philosophical settings, or the zeitgeist of the time. And often the wisdom of a decision is evaluated in retrospect, in hindsight—hence, the adage that “hindsight is twenty-twenty,” implying you see more clearly after the fact.

While there are now mathematical models for making deliberative analytical decisions as in Decision Theory, some ancients made very wise decisions while others made disastrous decisions seemingly by the seat of their pants. Whether using decision theory or otherwise, making a decision is generally about payoffs: what do I get if I do this? The “what” is a critical payoff factor that may go into determining the wisdom or not of our decision. Is the payoff factor “my success,” meaning soothing my ego, or is it “community harmony?”

In Uganda many epic decisions were made by our leaders. If wise decisions increases the probability of success, implicitly, our failures, traumas and the state of our nation has corollary in unwise decisions based on selfish and misguided payoff factors: I must rule until I croak; pay me, and I will change the law for you because I am just a little rat; the nation’s coffer is my piggybank; if you are with me do whatever you want, and I will look the other way; successes are mine, and for failures blame others; if I don’t win, I take the gun; get out of town because this is my dominion; etc, etc, etc. Is it now a time for a paradigm shift of some sort?

Putting Leaders to Ridicule

In Acoli, just as in many other progressive traditions, leaders were in the real sense servants of the people. And the example of Rwot Awic of the Payira personified that trait.

Leadership came out of demonstrated competence and personal qualities that included a balanced temperament. Respect was earned, not bestowed by birth, neither by skills alone. Woe unto the leader who overreached his power or was incompetent. Soon the poets would fill the air with songs of ridicule that brought the culprit down to earth or put fire under the wayward loser.

Fast forward to present-day Acoli: how does this tradition translate? The traditional leadership, as encouraged by the present government, has little influence, if any, on people’s lives. Now, the leadership that really counts, apart from may be the Church, is the elected officials from local to national offices. While the playing field has changed, and there are temptations to cultish personality adoration, it is a pleasure to see that we can still put aspirants to leadership through the wringer.

Some would say that the ridicules amount to demeaning of our own in a neighborhood in which we, as a people, have been under intense put-downs for years. Effectively, this would amount to a counter-productive exercise of demeaning the community, so the wisdom goes. As the man is fond of saying, this is an exercise in obscurantism. Whatever the challenges of the Acoli, personality cultism is not the answer to the solutions. In fact, as witnessed by history, it is a recipe for disaster.

Practices that can build and uplift the community includes ability to laugh at ourselves—not excluding our leadership. If others join us in the laughter but with ill will, they will be mistaken. The last laugh will be on them when we rally behind the son or daughter who has passed the test of fire.

At issue was a picture of Mr. Otunnu staging a mock fight with a caricature of a traditional shield and a spear. In a chat room, some guys supposedly mocked Otunnu’s holding of the shield and the spear. The political correctness police jumped on their case. All kinds of disjointed and disconnected issues inundated the exchanges which amounted to much ado about nothing.

Otunnu has a stellar resume for himself. It is not uncommon and it is understandable that he has a hold on some people’s emotion and imagination. But what these people should understand is that not all of us share the same fascination—at least, not yet consideration the impacts of his past records to the community. We consider any ridicule of him is not equivalent to a ridicule of Acoli, as a community. While we are proud of his personal accomplishments, he is not the definition of Acoli. So, even any endorsement of him for the IPC top dog by a group of some whimsical old men with over-inflated view of their self-importance is just a fancy which they are free to exercise. But any claim to clout is a figment of their imagination.

O, God Could You Replace Museveni?

• I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.
              Hittler
• Gott mit Uns! (God is with Us)—Inscription on Nazi’s army belt

• The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross the line. The true Negro does not want integration.
             Rev. Jerry Falwell
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My friend and I laughed our heads off when we saw the heading:
 National prayers set for Sunday
 "WITH so much sin taking place in the country, the President has declared Sunday, June 20, a national day of prayer and repentance. "
http://www.newvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=8&newsCategoryId=13&newsId=723079

“Is it April Fool’s Day?” Ojukkwe asked cheekily as he bent over in stitches and peals of laughter, slapping his thigh.

“It isn’t funny,” cautioned our resident savedee, Caroma Atim, while feigning a look of seriousness.

We could not believe what we were reading: Museveni, of all people, asking the nation to pray to God to save itself from the numerous ills, most of which are a function of his providing the negative atmosphere. So, in answer to His Excellency’s call to the Prayer Day, we decided to coin a hymn of our own in celebration of this auspicious occasion bestowed upon us by none other than his sweetheart, Lady Janet.

Prayer Day Hymn pa Soko and Ojukkwe

God, whoever you are,
You are regally patched up there,
Or wherever you may be,
Since nobody knows exactly.

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

People talk of you
As if sure
But nobody ever saw you
This side of life
But they swear
They kill
They hate
All in the name of various versions of you

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

It is said you created our world
Including our beloved Uganda
Why then leave it in the hands of
Hustlers, brigands and psychopaths?

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

We prayed for democracy
We prayed for a civilian government
We prayed for good roads and hospitals
We prayed and prayed
We only hear your silence, O Lord
Instead, our brothas and sistas
Of the yellow persuasion
Taunt us and foam in their mouths
Chanting: No Change!

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

Take this Museveni guy
He is very clever
He is obsessed with power
He uses your name in vain
To score points
He bullies radio stations
His street gangs beat up Dr. Besigye
He harasses journalists
The famous OO got the brunt of it
He kills demonstrators
Then he turns around and says:
Let us pray
What the f—k is that?
Excuse our German.

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

Lord, twenty-five years is a long time
A generation was born and grown
Enough is enough
We implore you to get rid of Museveni
If you can’t, then Lord,
With due respect, leave us alone.
You have done so from time immemorial.
This leaves us to face reality sans false hope.

We refuse somnambulistic veneration of a God
Whose cruel joke is:
To allow the Holocaust
To allow The Rwanda Genocide
To allow forceful herding people
Into death-trap camps
To allow Polpot's killing fields.
We can turn to the pristine Mind
That which unlocked the codes of Nature

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

Yes, the mind
That fascinating thing
It travels everywhere and nowhere
It elevates and it destroys
Those who know can move mountains
The ignorant are bewildered.

With mind we devised the family
We corralled families into the community
Of clan, tribe, kingdom and state.
We lived happily and well
Then plunged into orgies of violence
Lord, you had nothing to do with it
We were just being bad dudes and gals.

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

We know the codes that bring
Peace, harmony and tranquility
But not enough of us buy into
Or are just plain ignorant
Hence, we have a dictator
He shits and pees on us
We wince, confused
As he cynically asks us
To pray for our transgressions
Can you believe that, Lord?

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

Mao's Game

“All movements, however different in doctrine and aspiration, draw their early adherents from the same types of humanity; they all appeal to the same types of mind.
--“Not so obvious is the fact that religious and nationalist movements too can be vehicles of change. Some kind of widespread enthusiasm or excitement is apparently needed for the realization of vast and rapid change---“
                  Eric Hoffer, ‘51
----------------------------
I want, I want, I want: this is the constant chorus we hear in our hearts day in day out from the moment we pop out until we check out. Even a dog hears the same. Don’t forget your plant at the window wailing out for water and mineral nutrients.

Unfortunately we don’t always get the objects of our desires. Why is that? It is simple but profound. And like many aspects of us, we don’t take time to reflect on it. Most things are limited in supply, and others are also clamoring for the same. So, what to do? We play games.

Gaming is probably more pervasive than we are wont to admit. Unless you believe that some supernatural being put us ready made in this form, scientific evidence says that we acquired survival characteristics over millions of years. And gaming is one of those acquired traits that have become instinctive imperatives.

In gaming we do everything to get what we want: sex, food, power, you name it. We can use brute force if we think we can get away with it. Or we can use clandestine means of ruses and deceptions. Or like the hyenas (my favorite strategists and tacticians in the caliber of Sun Tzu), you can go on a joint hunt, isolate and fell a wildebeest, a thousand times your individual body weight.

The hyenas are on to something that we humans not only use it instinctively but have the added advantage of rationality, a feature of consciousness that might have arisen out of the competitive need to size up the other person in our gaming (Barash, ’03). In our evolved consciousness we are often aware that a community’s welfare also means our individual survival. So, rather than pursue only our self-interests until hell freezes over, we cooperate for the greater whole.

It is not that simple, however. I wish it were, then we would all be singing Kumbaya and smiling to one another as brothers and sisters, happy to be here in this fascinating earth. Now, if everybody pursues his or her individual interests exclusively, what we get is communal disaster. Isn’t it the reason Somali has redefined a dysfunctional nation state in the 21st century? What about the family that falls apart because of internecine bad blood? Do you know of a community that can’t get its acts together and is always complaining about how others, but themselves, from without are doing it to them?

Let us cut to the chase, and check out Mao’s gaming for the presidency. He is going to pursue it no matter what. He is the wayward alpha male hyena with the toughest jaw who takes it upon himself alone to bring down the toughest wildebeest in the plain. So, he comes up with some arcane algorithm which he only understands. The idea being that not joining the IPC pack (which all objective calculations point as, short of unforeseen occurrence, the only strategic chance probability of unseating the Mighty One) is a better strategy.

Here are some aspects of Mao’s reasoning:
1. The IPC is an outfit to promote Dr. Besigye, and not a genuine joint venture.
As a Dr Besigye’s enthusiast my response is: What is wrong with that if it helps change the political landscape? The man has paid his due more than any political operator has ever had in Uganda. His numbers are far ahead of most of the potential opposition candidates. Intuitively we should know that numbers represent reality, but illusions and dreams have a stronger hold on us to our detriment.

2. In Mao’s math Museveni will win, no matter what. It is only Mao, who has the magic wand to bring down Museveni’s tally below 50%, in which case he, Mao would then be the king maker by throwing his vaunted weight behind the opposition, coasting it to victory in a rerun.
This is pure fiction. Show me the money. Where are the polling data that supports this claim? Let us give Mao the benefit of the doubt. Supposing Mao’s scenario works at the initial round, why waste time with all the rigmarole? Something smells fishy here.

3. The IPC is a killer of parties, and Mao’s DP doesn’t want to become a dodo.
The reason the various political parties are entrenched in older democracies is a function of time. These parties have undergone all kinds of permutations to emerge into their present forms.

In business, mergers and acquisitions are germane to growth and innovations. The message being to let other synergies come into play otherwise atrophy sets in and you perish.

Many Ugandans know what it is to be free and happy—the basic purpose of life. Translated into a national aspiration, it is about democracy and dignified access to goods and services. On this altar they will sacrifice DP for the greater good. And Mao can go hang.

4. The IPC is another movement politics of yore, and we don’t need it.
Perhaps Mao uses “movement,” not in a generic but in a disparaging manner of uncle Museveni who cleverly uses words to skewer opponents in guilt by association. If so, then my brother has sunk very low. All for what—ambition?

The NRM may have been a revolutionary movement of sorts, but it never achieved a definitive national mass movement status. It is unlikely that was its aim either, since it showed its true colors in tribal chauvinism and apelike desires for trinkets (read corruption).

A movement is a collective enthusiasm, fueled by a collective desire for change. This is the only way drastic change can be made. Right now there is a national feeling that something is terribly wrong. The privileged don’t want change, and the uninformed are bewildered, uncertain that they could take control of their fate. That is why the Mighty One bullies radio stations not to air opponents who might reveal the SECRET. Now than ever we need “masters of the act of ‘religiofication’—the act of turning practical purposes into holy causes.” (Hoffer, ’51).

Apparently Mao doesn’t need a movement—only his greatness will do the trick. To which we say: Bury your head in the sand, Mr. Mao. When you wake up, with or without you, there will be a new president come 2011—we hope, and we will work on it.

Soko's Primer on Strategic Self-Defense

•If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?
 Rabbi Hillel, 2nd Century CE
•All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Montaigne
--------------------------
Okay, you’re on the mean street of Everywhere town. A wicked dude blocks your way and acts belligerently. You’re at a rally in Museveni’s Fiefdom and attack dogs swarm on you wielding sticks. The difference is the same. What do you do? Everyone, even cats, get into the primordial mode: freeze-fight-flight.

Attack dogs (AD) or street urchins bank on fear and anonymity—your fear and they are not your next-door neighbor. Soko’s strategy presupposes that you have done your mental preparation: you have a firm believe in the sanctity of yourself that I talked about earlier. This means you overcome fear—even death—in the freeze stage in seconds. With fear and death out of the way, you are in the empty, in the void and your mind is spacious for speed sizing of the situation clearly. The situation can range from mild verbal assault to vicious physical confrontation. This requires reactive skills since the initiation comes from a potential adversary. Your sole objective is not to become a victim, and you can escalate your tactics from verbal skills and bodily posture to outright physical damage.

Let us say an attack dog comes at you furiously with a stick (kiboko) and shouting insults at the same time. This is a form of what is called in Game Theory, a Game of Chicken, similar to an armament race (In the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviets chickened out—avoiding being fried. Barash, ‘03).

You: Pretend weakness
AD: Reaches close
You: Move away suddenly
AD: Hesitates for a moment because his rhythm is off
You: In the moment of hesitation, attack forcefully and gain the initiative from him
You: If you cannot move away—stay with him and attack forcefully enough to disrupt his timing and cause him to change his approach
AD: Timing is disrupted
You: Sense a change in approach, move quickly to take the initiative and defeat him.

Contacts with AD should be at the Nerve Centers and Pressure Points. That is your homework to find out what these are. Suffice to say: apply proportionate force to the centers and points because they could result in death or permanent crippling just by using bare hands, feet, knees and elbows. The damage Soko did to someone nearly ended in the worst possible outcome. We will leave it at that.

If you don’t have the heart, do yourself a favor. At the sight of an attack dog, just run for your life! While you are at it, pray to the spirit of Akii Bua—it might add some wind to your flight!
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Bonus

 This is an amazing movie: high-level corruption in Europe and Africa. In it all, the dredge of African society are taken advantage. Courage, intrigue, deception and greed play out incredibly. A must see.

In Self-Defense against the Attack Dogs

The sanctity of my body is sacrosanct. So is my mind, which may be centered in the physics, chemistry and biology of the brain, heart and associated organs. Amazing web of neurons and a brew of complex chemicals do their things beyond my consciousness, enabling me to carry the job of living. They are gifts of evolution that took millions of years to realize the me of today. I almost didn’t make it, but I won the lottery! There is nobody like me, and there will never be—same with you.

Once I came to that realization, it opened up a vista of outlook for purpose, responsibility and my relationship to the universe around me. I am in awe. I, therefore, while threading lightly, take life very seriously. In this realm I won’t allow anybody to abuse this precious body and mind. I equally respect that of others. However, in the per chance that some ignorant hoodlum initiates any unprovoked and unwarranted verbal, physical and mental assault I have seen it fit to learn the art of self-defense and conflict management. Armed with lethal techniques, tactics and strategies I will not permit any low life goons to entertain themselves at my expense.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/935366/-/x0t0dl/-/index.html

This brings us to the case of the so-called Kiboko squad that assaulted Dr. Beisgye. To even elevate them to a squad is to give them credence. These are dangerous attack dogs which are parallel enforcers of the Museveni agenda. There is no way in Uganda that someone would take the initiative to carry out these acts of assaults without the node from Museveni. This is an outcrop of Kakooza’s KAP which has terrorized citizens for years.

The actions of these dogs and the KAP gives support to the notions that some of the things that were done in Luweero and the North were too dark for the rather timid Ugandans to have carried out. Only a sociopath could carry out some of the gruesome acts. And anecdotal evidence points only in one direction.

So, based on the past, the opposition should have been hardnosed to have known and prepared for these kinds of eventualities. If not, they should now. At the least they should prepare themselves and their security details with the skills of martial art—more specifically the art of street fighting. It is not against the law to carry sticks or even pepper sprays for self-defense. Self-defense is a human right. Anybody who messes with you should be met with a discouraging force before guns start blazing to the detriment of all. It is mental. These goons are not fearless—blood streaking down their faces is bound to give the desired effects.

Acoli Jokes

• Did you hear the one about the Ganda man who divorced his new Acoli bride on the night of their honeymoon? She had everything a Muganda man would die/kill for—huge rear-end, money, cars etc—except the deal breaker— “lips!” Oh! Where are the bassenga?!

• Who was the first Acoli Catholic Bishop? Nobody

• Two Acoli, three opinions

• Where did Acoli warriors win a war? In their mouths

• What does Acoli: “Ribbe aye tekko” mean? I will cooperate/unite with you iff (if and only if) you agree with me

• What is the difference between an angry Acoli woman and a Tasmanian devil? I plead a fifth because my life will be in danger. I will only answer if I can get into a witness protection program

Women, the Musevenis & Their Hangers-on

 *The New Year Sacrifice is a Chinese heart-rending story of Xianglin’s wife. It is placed just before and after the Revolution of 1911, when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown.

The story is no different from that of many Ugandan women. They toil and toil. In the end what do they have to show for it but distraught faces of poverty and misery?


*No wonder, one woman commented that reading the bible is more traumatic than breast cancer.
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With some token posts and no significant power to influence anything worthwhile for their species, some women prance around in yellow garbs. They shamelessly shout: “No change!” Right! For them the NRM (aka Museveni) brings home the bacon.

Is that it? Just a means to personal ends for groceries? Is this not, effectively, just a case of the oldest trade? Look around you. You look but you don’t see. The US army’s attorney once observed rhetorically to Joseph McCarthy, the communist witch hunter of the 1950s: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at least?” What about you, women of the so-called Pearl of Africa? Have you asked yourselves why the legislation for marriage reform has languished and stalled?

That is right; the man is taking you for granted. He is just stringing you along. Any man who does not know the game, if he ever had raging hormones to just get into the pants of the fairer species, is a klutz. Issues that are important to him have come and gone through the rubber stamp parliament. What about yours? One would have expected his partner in crime, Janet Museveni to be at the forefront for women’s rights. No, Jose’. Both are Mulookole, which means they adhere to literal interpretations of the bible—every word in the bible is from the God of Israel. Anything else is blasphemy and heresy. So, if you really want to know what the power couple thinks about you women, here are “the most influential and damaging bible verses about women.” (Gaylor, 97).

• Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. (Genesis 3:16).

• Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. (Exodus 22:18).

• But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of every woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God…For the man is not of woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. (1 Corinthians 11: 3, 8—9).

• Let your woman keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for women to speak in the church (1 Corinthians 14: 34—35).

• Let the woman learn in silence in all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in transgression. (1Timothy 2:11—14).

So, there you have it. No wonder, one woman commented that reading the bible is more traumatic than breast cancer. Ladies, what is your biblically anointed place in the Musevenis & Co’s world? Be silent and be in subjection. And that is the “gospel” truth—the true spirit of the NRM, which only exists in the image of one Museveni. It’s time to wake up! Join hands with the progressives and others who have woken up to operate in the realms of reason rather than some dubious edicts of “faith, authority and tradition.”

Who can help the woman’s cause against the new wave of violence on their persons and children? Violence so heinous, our ancestors are turning in their graves. This is the culture of violence precipitated by the belligerent default mode of Mr. Museveni. His violent spirit seeps down to your family.

With the changing society a woman is often left a destitute after years of contribution to a marriage. She has no right to property. Who is likely to listen to her plight and do something about it as a matter of urgency? Museveni has had a generation to do something beyond cosmetic stop-gap measures. Get out of the NRM abusive relationship!

It is your children who die on the poor roads, are subjected to human sacrifices—a macabre practice that is as quintessential to Museveni era as the heaps of skulls of Luweero—and are semi educated in the rush to free education for political capital. Who will help protect them, and do the right thing by you? The NRM has had twenty plus years. This marriage has gone to the dogs. Let them go!

In 1885 Helen H Gardener said in Men, Women and Gods:

“This religion and the Bible require of woman everything, and give her nothing. They ask her support and her love, and repay with contempt and oppression.”

Of course, she was talking about the strident fundamentalist strains to which the Musevenis & CO subscribe. So, when your sons and daughters march in protests, they are shot dead. When your sons and daughters want to communicate to you their points of view, the radio stations are cowered and threatened. When your sons and daughters write the truth that is not palatable to the regime (meaning to Museveni), draconian laws are used to harass and drag them courts.

You are not daughters of slaves. If you are your real fathers’ daughters, do something about your fate: vote these rascals out!

Development Partners; What Development Partners?

 “…The lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness. It is the expression of the individual self to stand alone and live. It is the desperate attempt to gain secondary strength where genuine strength is lacking.”
-
“The function of an authoritarian ideological practice can be compared to the function of the neurotic systems.
Such symptoms result from unbearable psychological conditions and at the same time offer a solution that makes life possible. Yet they are not a solution that leads to happiness or growth of personality. They leave unchanged the conditions that necessitate the neurotic solution.”
                Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom
------------------------------------------
They nurtured and coddled him. Slick Willie dubbed him one of the “new breeds” of African leaders, and patted him on the back with a power visit, with all the trimmings. It couldn’t get any better for a psychotic son of a peasant. In Washington his apologists fought for his swanky new jet even as his dirt poor nation was being forgiven its unsustainable debts. Even the Queen of the mighty has-been empire dropped by as her prime minister plunked down millions of pounds into the black hole of aid.

Mr. Museveni was being rewarded for a job well done of a vassal:
• Over enthusiastic support against terror and being counted on votes in world bodies
• Stability by whatever means necessarily to ensure success of the wild-west economic exercise--to prove that the shock theraphy of the Chicago Boys works.

But once he allowed multi-party elections, the contradictions with his true instincts became apparent, and meant that something has to give.

Mr. Museveni subscribes to the Noble Lie, a nihilism concept described by Loyal Rue in By the Grace of Guile: The Role of Deception in Natural History and Human Affairs. Despite his show and claims, Museveni really doesn’t believe in a God. If not Mulookole, the Christian charismatic and evangelical faith of his upbringing, then what? Socialism failed him with the death of the Soviet Union. There is nothing else but another lie as western capitalism won the day: the only visionary that can save physical needs instead of the elusive souls. It is, however, pitiful to see him jump from one fanciful scheme to another in futile attempts to find his groove. He needs compassion rather than blame. He can't help himself. Only drastic surgery can free us from the tumor.

(You may notice that Otunnu has a similar Mulookole background, but I suspect that he genuinely believes in his Savior. Despite its political implications, he could not carry out an Acoli ritual in his native Mucwini. Effectively saying: politics be damn, I am saved! His Father’s house of worship at Christ the King could not be dishonored with a political meeting if he had anything to say about it. Fault him for anything else; here is a true believer!)

So, now given that the country has less debt to service (thanks to debt forgiveness) and the widening internal revenue sources, Mr. Museveni is emboldened. Mind you, he doesn’t believe in anything. There are possible sources from the East even if they are harder to con since they don’t carry the western guilt. He could play it just as hooligans such as Siad Barre and Mobutu did in the Cold War days. The west can go hang. He is going to run the country in his image. He is not about to lose face by succumbing to some two-bit ambassadors’ demand to reconstitute the Electoral Commission.

In 1501 Cesare Borgia was appointed duke of Romagna by his father, Pope Alexander VI. The duke, in quick succession, soon acquired several Italian city-states under his dominion. He was described by Machiavelli as someone who “must be regarded as a new power in Italy.” (Notice the resemblance to Slick Willie’s “new breed”). Sooner or later, however, Borgia’s luck ran out as he miscalculated some moves and failed to accommodate his personality to the exigencies of the time, but tried to reshape the time in the mold of his personality. (Skinner ’10).

Museveni has had a good run –mostly based on his astuteness to read the times and improvise on the fly. In his hubris, one of these days, not unlike Borgia, his luck will run out. So far he has played in the mold of the wise Pandolfo Petrucci, the lord of Siena, who told the Florentine Machiavelli: “Wishing to make as few mistakes as possible, I conduct my government day by day, and arrange my affairs hour by hour; because the times are more powerful than our brains.”

Unfortunately for Machiavelli, his employer, the republic of Florence did not read the times correctly. She stayed aligned with France as Pope Julius II adroitly signed a treaty with Spain, and the Spaniards, a powerhouse at the time, made a mince meat of the French in Italy. The Florentine republic was dismantled, and the Medici came back. Checkmate! Machiavelli lost his job and, in a groveling attempt to gain favor, penned and dedicated it to the Medici the famous, The Prince—a compilation of his observations as ambassador to the various courts.

Is It God or Is It Us?

Snack for Thought: We are in the age of the unthinkable (Ramo, ’09): terrorists that are willing to die for a cause even if they have as yet to strike us, diseases that can spread quickly by planes, and the clamors for resources to satisfy unbridled consumerism resulting in cataclysmic ecological upsets. If we are still stuck in the mundane struggles with a medieval peasant dictator, how are we to handle these challenges that can even disorient established democracies?
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The other day Janet Museveni thanked God for making her minister of the Karamojong—those naked, clitoris-chopping barbarian cattle thieves. Did she really expect us to believe her? If she did, then may be she thought that, after letting her bo rule us with an iron fist for so long, we are just plain stupid. Is that assessment far from the truth? The last time I saw, the man was walking one step at a time like the rest of us—nothing celestial about him.

Let us come down to earth—in the realm of humans. The appointment was a calculated move to lock the Jong votes comes 2011—plain and simple. And may be, in addition, it was a training ground for bigger things to come. The Lesson: The next time someone ladles to you a toxic brew of politics and religion the way this couple does, grab your voter card and run for the hills—far away as you can. Their intent is to numb your senses and make you dumb and mute to their manipulations. In one hand they have the bible, in the other the sword, and in their mouths loads of your taxes to do with as they please.

Then before we know it, as the Acoli try to find their bearings, one so-called bishop goes about in Acoliland and proclaims: the problems the Acoli face is because they have veered away from God. Come again, bishop—I object.

The Acoli problems run deep. Yes. But God has nothing to do with it. A people fail or succeed based on how they organize themselves. They have to ask themselves: Are our systems—social institutions and cultural values—resilient and adaptive? Can the tree bend and come back to the original form when the gales have passed? The same applies to individuals. If you organize poorly, you get poor results and inability “…to withstand surprises…” or “…to absorb the worst nightmares.” (Ramo, ‘09). If you organize smartly and consciously, your probability of succeeding increases. If you are just wandering about and leaving things to chance, you are at the mercy of chance and those who organize well. It is GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out).

Soon there will be Martyrs Day. Men and women of faith will walk hundreds of miles to Namugongo with serious conviction and devotion to the people who were roasted by a crazy tribal king more than two centuries ago. There will be pageantry and celebrations. Beyond the exciting spectacles, the camaraderie and health benefits of walking many miles, may be every other year we dedicate to mourning in memoriam of the inauspicious beginning of what came to be known as Uganda. In the process, we should leave God and the saints out of it and question ourselves man-to-man, woman-to-woman, clan-to-clan and tribe-to-tribe as to why ever since we have had leaders who abuse us and kill us. When or if we find the answer, may be we can find the solution and free ourselves from oppressions.

What about if we begin by taking to heart the seemingly sappy notion of: I am my brother’s keeper. At least that brought us from the caves amidst scary thunders, lighting and wild beasts from which, in fear, we conjured up the ideas of a god or gods. Thereafter the clever ones amongst us usurped the gods and gained control over our minds and dominion over our physical bodies and resources. And many still do in various guises. We can pray all we want until the cows come home. No can do. It is us and our minds. Add to that a belief in duty to society and pursuing our individual interests in congruence. God has nothing to do with our fates and conditions.

Clarity about causes and effects is another area that can help. We need intellectual honesty. If a person says, for example, that the reason the peasants in Buganda are joined to the hip of Museveni is because of such atrocities as “panda gari” or injustices by some UPC apparatchiks, she is mentally lazy. The periods of contentions with the “Anyanyas,” who purportedly perpetrated these atrocities are very brief in the annals of the 500-year history which Buganda is very proud of, and which formed the Ganda psychic. Besides, the Anyayas were decisively routed. There must, therefore, be something else at play. Could it be that the Museveni rule resembles the autocratic, all-powerful mode a peasant Ganda is more familiar with? The Museveni power touches them up close in the LC system. Big Daddy is watching!