Diabetes Hits Acoli

My Ghanaian friend had a wonderful day at the beach with his family. He set off on the highway back where he veered off the road and crushed, killing himself and the rest of his family except a young daughter. He had a diabetic shock—a state of extreme low blood sugar.

Recently I read a story in one of Uganda’s dailies that said there has been a surge of diabetic cases in the Acoli region. This is in addition to the other negative statistics that are coming from the sub region. A reflective rabbi once asked himself: What is it about me that attract these negativities? In the same vein, what is it about the Acoli that allow the activities of two psychos in Museveni and Kony to land them in concentration camps, disrupting their core ways of life with devastating long-term consequences? Many would probably rise up in arms that such a question is an attempt at blaming the victim rather than the perp.

I am not a medical doctor. The information about diabetes is available out there for anyone curious and/or concerned. The basic information is that glucose, an end product of what we eat which is also produced by the liver, needs insulin to enter cells for brain function and energy for the body. Insulin is produced by the pancreatic gland which is located just behind the stomach. For some people body cells become resistant to the action of insulin even as the pancreas deteriorates and unable to produce enough insulin to overcome the accumulation of sugar in the blood stream. Early treatment usually begins with taking some medicine orally and combining it with diet selections and regular physical activities. Eventually the insulin will have to be supplied by regular self-injections. Without proper care other organs begin to fail leading to premature death.

The question one might ask is: why are Blacks and, Acoli in particular, more susceptible to diabetes? Increase in diabetes has also been noted in Southern Sudanese Acoli who have been relocated to the US from refugee camps in Uganda. Such predispositions, if any, can similarly be asked of the prevalence of stomach ulcers in people of western Uganda. There may be some genetic component to some of these maladies. Some other causes of diabetes include diet, obesity, virus infection, age, emotional stress and smoking.

Acoli of our fathers were generally tall and leanly sculpted. This was probably an adaptation to the paucity of food supply and/or the kinds of food that were eaten. Besides, the lives of an Acoli was often outdoors. A male child hanging around the kitchen instead of out playing was frowned at. While the default mode is to blame, may be it would help if one looks back in order to act skillfully now for a better future.

The Flip-Flopper Club

From:
 http://the-liberalmanifesto.blogspot.com/

Flip-Flopper sounds like the sound of sandals Ugandans call slippa. In the American political lexicon, it is the political opportunist who changes his or her tunes by slurping the finger with saliva and testing where the winds are blowing. The sole purpose is winning and/or scoring a point. In that vein ex-governor and investment banker Mitt Romney fits the mold. The Obama campaign machinery, making a calculated guess that Romney is the likely Republican opponent to beat in 2012, has labeled the man as having no core value. Coming to crunch time of their primary season, Romney’s fellow competitions are also drumming similar beat.

Romney’s apologists are out countering with something of the cliché that change is a constant. Obama has also flip-flopped, so they say. We all change our positions at one time or another on the basis of new information or better insights. True, that we change. But how does one distinguish a flip-flopper from someone who has evolved due to better knowledge of a situation? That one is a tough one. May be we could call on the Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in his stated test for identifying pornography: I know it when I see it. When Governor Romney destroys hard-drives to erase his trails during his tenure, there is a red flag.

If we know a flip-flopper when we see one, then there is no greater flip-flopper of the 21st Century than Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Museveni has defined opportunism to the extent that some wonder about his mental health. Is he so full of himself that he can say just about anything at no cost to himself? Is he a sociopath? Or, is he, like the rest of us, has some issues arising from suboptimal developmental attachment circumstances that often chain the adult in skewed self-regulation states. Does a Mulokole background have something to do with it? What happened in the Banyimas’ household from which he is now bitterly alienated? Whatever it is, unfortunately for him and to our chagrins his outcome is playing out in the public arena.

What would you do if you stated publicly that the problem of Africa was leaders who hang on to power for too long? The flip-flopper did just that at the beginning of his rule. You know the rest of the story.

The man castigates the opposition in his country for harping on the issues of corruption without concrete evidence, but goes to the neighboring country of Rwanda and states that he is surrounded by thieves in his government. What kind of man is this?

Surprise!

Surprise!
http://the-liberalmanifesto.blogspot.com/

Long before there was the Putin dance of constitutional manipulation, there was the original night-dancer of central Afrika. With the tacit complicity of a rubber-stamp Parliament he did his Afrikan witchcraft to ensure his effective life presidency. A few magic coins in the pockets or bras of parliamentarians sealed the deal.

Now, self-assured, here are what we get in this dirt-poor country. By the way, did you know that Uganda's GDP is less than half what Americans spend on their dogs and cats?

The dancer must of necessity have his swanky presidential jet which he must upgrade to a newer model every so often. His travel comfort taken care of, not unlike the wajeti of corporate America, there is no need for a national airline for the despised ninety-nine percent of us.

The treasury plunked in millions to refurbish a colonial governor’s mansion to a palace befitting of a dancing president. The Egyptian dancers may call theirs a palace, but look at what became of the last occupier. In the magic kingdom we know the power of words, so we choose the less pretentious “state house.”

An obscene sum of money, few Ugandans can wrap their brain around, was paid to an NRM robber baron for a failed commercial transaction. The attorney general was corralled into signing off on the loot. Apparently his weak balls trumped his legal mind. It is conceivable that the fund found its way into the NRM political election machinery.

Are we into fiscal irresponsibility yet? The dancer, being afraid of his own shadows, runs the treasuries dry of the almighty dollar in order to equip his coercive forces with the latest phallic symbol of the latest Russian fighter jets. There were seismic tremors in the tiny economy as a result. I should be happy that now my remittances to those who benefit from my largesse can receive relative larger shillings from the tiny dollars I have to part with every so often. I am not happy for them because, on top of the dearth of dollars, gazillions of shillings were dumped into the economy to buy votes, bringing with them the inflationary Grinch.

You want to demonstrate? There is a law making its way that will lock you up without bail along with child rapists and body-parts hunters. Will history repeat itself? As a wily hunter of the delectable delicacy of anyeri, I always made sure I knew where I laid a trap lest I “accidentally” had my feet chopped off. Ms MP worthy of her chops should take it from a seasoned trapper that this law is a trap that might come to haunt her.

Ever been near a spoiled brat? Should you refuse to give him that shiny toy, he will scream and stomp his feet in an apoplectic frenzy. And so, if the 6th parliament had not frustrated him, the dancer would have had power reaching my grass-roofed-mud-and-wattle village paradise—so, he complained, whined and called names.

Other than news, few shows on TV captivate me more than watching Nature. In one show it was fascinating to see the process of how a once-mighty alpha lion, with a huge mane, being manhandle (or rather lionhandle) by up-and-coming young Turks for dominance over mating rights in a pride. The old warrior ended up sauntering away limping alone to die in the brushes remote from the center of action he once controlled.

The South Africans dub him the Lion of Africa. Of course, brisk one-way trade to Uganda helps elicit such praise songs. The question for us here, however, is: Are the young Turks in Parliament now virile enough to challenge the lion and maul his tail? Or will the roaring and stomping of his feet scare away wanabe statesmen to retreat into their mothers’ wombs?

All along for twenty five years the writings have been on the wall. Only now are some benefactors shutting down the spigots of Dollars/BP/Euros. Probably seeing the man buying war toys from savings on Debt-Forgiveness gimmick ticked them off. Now, you also hear from the class of chief-you-kill-me-with-laughter brownosers: The man has changed. Surprise!

Posted by Sokolokobangusay

Talking with Two Sides of the Mouth

From
http://the-liberalmanifesto.blogspot.com/

Andrew Mwenda is a hard-hitting journalist. Some people in my circle hang on his every word for insights into the murky waters of Uganda politics. Take his latest, Uganda is bigger than Museveni, Besigye (7/8/11), which seemingly is an attempt to portray a balanced perspectives on the two protagonists, but, in fact, is a tirade on Dr. Besigye and his opposition, FDC. There is also a certain amount of self-pity in the piece: Oh poor me, harassed by Museveni’s goons, and maligned by Besigye’s people.

Mr. Mwenda puts on his Economist-in-Chief hat. He dissects how the economy came to be what it is and provides some prognosis. One wonders whether many of his audience understand what he is talking about. What they experience is high prices and intuitively know that there is something wrong with the economy, but whether or not it is a consequence flooding the economy with printed money in supplementary budget to finance campaign “brown envelops,” chais to MPs, or spending dollars to buy the spiffy phallic symbols, aka, fighter jets, they don’t give a hoot. Somebody is responsible for the plight, and not the opposition.

Having analyzed the problem and provided the solution, the “economist” then heaps blame on the opposition for wailing without giving any solution. What?! It is not incumbent on the opposition to provide detailed alternative solutions at this stage of the game. Theirs is to point a bird’s eye-view assessment of the problem and pound on the failure of the government to deliver. Theirs is to point out that “the emperor has no clothes,” otherwise we may as well go back to the “umbrella” dispensation.

The labeling by unnamed opposition members that Dr. Besigye’s rather combative stance in the walk-to-work as counter-productive is a framing that does not probe into intention. He leaves it to us, the readers, to assume. Coming from a premise that behind every behavior there is good intention (albeit maybe misguided from an observer’s point of view), what if the boorish behavior was intended to draw attention of a world where the killing of Bin Laden, the Greek economy, the tottering US economy, or the Arab Spring were front pages? On cue, the government reacted heavy-handedly and the walk-to-work in little Uganda filtered into BBC and earned some mentions in major US papers. Did it matter? Very little, but every scratch and dent in the dictator’s armor counts. This government would rather have horse-trading deals with governments in these locales rather than have its negative underbelly enters their public consciousness.

In the end, what are Ugandans “sick and tired” of? Might it be Mr. Mwenda’s abuse by Museveni’s operatives and the taking him to task by Besigye’s hatchet loyalists? What Ugandans are really sick and tired of is a balding man clinging to power when he has no new ideas. And that is what Mwenda, if he is fighting for a change of course, should concentrate on rather than talking with two sides of his mouth and getting into trouble.

The Mother Halitosis

There was a strange odor in the car, like someone had pooped in it. And, then she spoke, and out came a whiff of such unbelievable smell. Instinctively and subtly I touched my nose and winched—curse be my strong sensory acuity honed over my meditation practice!

Now, do you tell the person or not? It depends. In the end I did in a nice way. In the meantime we were going to have a Mandingo do, which, except for baby-regression over the papayas, there was not going to be frothing and slurping at the mandibles.

Brushing one’s teeth alone may not help with bad breath—also known as halitosis. For some people the problem runs deeper—no pun intended.

Memsahib was and still is (across the Atlantic) an extremely passionate and, by extension, very greedy in all her enterprises, including eating. The problem is as we grow older our metabolism slows down and, if you take in more than necessary to burn for fuel for daily activities, the excess has to go somewhere. Often the extras are sent into storage, resulting in big stomachs, swollen faces, and wide enormous buttocks. Since the storage process takes time, the excess food piling in the stomach turns to literal putrid pit latrines. Hence, the deep and nauseating foul breath oozing out of Mother Halitosis.

In the end, food, which has pleasure properties to encourage body nourishment for survival, morphs into suffering of obesity, foul smell and possible encounters with diabetes and other organ malfunctions. At the same time, the brain organ, for one, produces a mind that is cloudy, full of negative emotions of anger, revenge and resentfulness, inter alia.

Mind over Mood

Lately there have been a series of teenagers committing suicides after relentless taunting on the Internet social networks. A son of Bernie Madoff committed suicide because he couldn’t handle the disgrace following the story of his father’s billion-dollar chicanery blanketing the old and new media outlets. Politicians and other public figures are often subjected to withering calumnies on the tabloid media that could burn lesser mortals to ashes. Personally, I have had my fair share of vicious and malicious attacks on one Internet social media site. The latest began with my posting some relatively contrarian out-of-the-box points of view. A man (probably with the support of “enemy” bevy of rodents burrowed in the underworld of gossip dens), in such high-octane apoplectic rants, inveighed against me about my supposedly undistinguished life history: my family relationship and my gallivanting philandering loser self.

First, admittedly, when one throws the kitchen sink at you, there is an instantaneous instinctive reaction. Thanks to the evolutionary properties we are all endowed with. Notice and observe the moods that course through your body. How you deal with them is a function of your trained or untrained mind. You don’t want to lose balance and a commitment to your mission.

Mindful of my reactive moods, I asked the questions: Who is this guy? What mind state is he operating on? What are his motivations? How do I handle the situation?

I take the view that often the attacker or attackers do not know your core self, and yet have the temerity to focus on your life. Often these people have serious problems of their own. They are bullies full of inadequacies. Their morbid exercise may not be a Freudian projection, a defense mechanism for protecting oneself against anxiety arising from undesirable feelings of some forms of emotional and mental perturbations. It is more a Functional projection of some inner turmoil on to others in ways that is perceived to promote one’s survival enterprise. (Kenrick, “11).

Life always has choices. We do the best we can with what we have at the time. Assuming you have a handle on the fight-flight automatic evolutionary gift, get on a game plan of what I call Mind-over-Mood:

-Size up the situation

-Experience and become friendly with your moods in the moment

-What are your automatic thoughts on the incident?

-Evaluate the thoughts: concrete versus phantoms

-What alternative thoughts, if any, are there?

-Decide on a course of action

Here are some options:

1-Keep quiet and refuse to engage. Depending on your temperament, this may be a course of action that can shut up the perpetrator because he cannot rant against a silent wall.

2-Go toe-to-toe with the red-eyed monster on his reframing of the issues. Chances you will be in a shouting match, talking pass one another until hell freezes over. This is because both of you are operating at different chunking levels of basic premises to allow for genuine discussion. (Linden, ’97).

3-Stand up to the bully, but not on his terms of framing the issues. This was my choice. The dude chunked to two lateral levels

a. Superman coming to expose the evil me

b. Superman coming to save me from myself

I, on the other hand, chunked up to: What the fuck is this creature, I have never met or know doing with my family and my life? Fuck off!

Ab initio, we were not discussing anymore but talking to ourselves. And so, began the odyssey: He, proud of himself for having all kinds of unflattering information about me. Some double-headed cobras were in a state of orgasmic delirium from the pungent gunk gushing from the man’s rear-end orifice. I threw some stinging jabs a la Ali. That got him madder and madder. There were hints that he believed he was actually doing me a favor—a tell-tale sign to his mental state. End of story.

4-Where profits in money or votes are involved, or if you are so inclined, you might mount a counter-intelligence offensive and dig out muck on the perpetrator. There is always information on anybody that can be manipulated and twisted without context. So, you might play what the dude called “matches” with matches.

In the end it boils down to having a core and unshakable believe in who you are. Once you have that then “a word is not experience” or “a map is not the territory.” In the process of protecting your mood you might consider some loving-kindness mental exercise to ease your disgust of your “enemy.” You don’t want to flood your system with dangerous cortisol that can be triggered when the body senses real or imagined dangers. You are now a Teflon—a mind warrior—protected even in death.

Glimpses into the Out-group Homogeneity

Friday, June 17, 2011Glimpses into the Out-group Homogeneity*

http://the-liberalmanifesto.blogspot.com/
Wes Nisker posits that in the journey to self-discovery and understanding of our behaviors, the fundamental place to start with is to pose the question: “Who am I?” This is not about me, the teacher, the footballer or what have you. It is about getting some idea to the questions: Where do I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? The answer to “Who am I?” is “…of vital importance to our happiness and well-being. How at ease we feel in our body, mind and the world, as well as how we behave toward others and the environment all revolve around how we view ourselves in the larger scheme of things.”

Scientific researches are increasingly proving what has long been hypothesized that beneath the veneer of civilization and culture, our behaviors are functionally primal and inclined towards basic survival and procreation as a means of gene succession.

Take the case of Ugandans: Most of us have received formal education and many make claims to religious faith. The majority pay allegiance to Christianity whose basic tenet is “Love thy neighbor.” However, from the same mouth that sings the glory to the Christ, the champion of ‘Love thy neighbor,” also gushes morbid coded venoms, such as: “Those people,” “You people,” “The Anyanya (not the ones of the 50’s and 60’s Sudan),” “A good Muganda is a dead one,” or “Biological substances (forgetting we are all biological organisms).” We have insulted one another, we have killed one another, and we have hogged power and suppressed others. All the while saddling the other with being primitive. All the while some have been good parents, good sons, good friends, good church goers, good priests and imams, and may have even been generous to a fault. What is going on?

It is seems that we are not one Self. We have multiple selves or rather may be sublevels of or forms of the mundane Self. Often we negotiate each sublevel appropriately for the occasion. Often we don’t and, at the extreme end, may even be pathological.

And this brings us back to “Those people,” a euphemism for painting the “others” with one brush of Out-group Homogeneity—“you have seen one, you have seen them all.” In my childhood eyes, for example, I could not figure out the physical differences between people in the Indian community. This persisted until eventually I began to recognize individual differences. What was happening was that I could only use my limited cognitive resources to interactions and differentiations within the larger in-group of the black population of my lottery win.

As an adult, did this phenomenon of seeing no differences in the out-group disappear or still lies dormant somewhere in the labyrinthine hard-drive of my amazing brain?

It seems the Out-group Homogeneity has been horned over millions of years for survival: Those people came from over the river and brought diseases. So, stay way from them. When they came, our crops failed. Their women are witches. Those people came and rampaged through the village, killing males and old women, and carrying away young girls. They are our sworn enemy; never marry into their clan.

While Out-group Homogeneity has served us well, it also has its dark sides. Princes of darkness and demagoguery can take it and use it to destroy a group. History is full of it. The latest mayhems in Bosnia and Rwanda are testimonies to that. Many Acoli in Uganda and abroad feel that they have been subjected to the same. We risk relationships when we dismissively say it never happened, which then feeds into the “they-and-us” divide. Similarly, carping in discordant harangues may not win sympathetic ears and has the same “they-and-us.” effect.

So, it doesn’t seem that my childhood outlook vanished from my mind. It is undercover and could easily pop up as a default state at times of stress. Whether I use it or not, depends on whether I train myself or somebody has trained me to use alternative skills in conflicts. If I do, and you do, it will mean “taking whole” in the situation and we become super-cooperators**, which seems to be a much stronger and elegant survival tool.

*Douglas T. Kenrick, ‘11

**Nowak & Highfield, 11

The Liberal Manifesto

This is a sister blog that is worth checking:
 http://the-liberalmanifesto.blogspot.com/
The Liberal Manifesto

The Liberal Manifesto is a blog that endeavors to work for Uganda’s Freedom, Equality, Fairness, Progress and Happiness—the essence of any 21st Century enlightened people. While Museveni relies largely on his infamous troika of cooking stones as the bedrock of his rule deluged with anxieties and intrigues, we believe that the pentathlon principles are the foundation mortar for transforming a society. Courage, Objectivity, Fairness and Open-mindedness will guide us in dissecting issues.

The Liberal Manifesto focus is on the individual—and by extension, the entire population. Assuming maps of reality differ from one person to the next, the questions we ask are: What does freedom, equality, fairness, progress and happiness mean to a Ugandan man or woman? Hopefully, in time, we will come to a collective consensus map of reality that gives more empowering choices for actions to the individual.

The Liberal Manifesto believes that we are all born Free to realize our individual potentials. We also believe everyone’s main objective is Happiness, however defined.
As a member of society the individual’s Freedom and Happiness have in time hinged on societal advancement and promotion of Equality, Fairness and Progress—lack of which have often led to imbalance and disharmony.

Uganda, at its core, is now in state of disharmony and imbalance. The Liberal Manifesto’s work to help steer the Uganda to harmony and balance is cut out. We know the historical nightmares. We know the characters that are taking the ship towards a precipice.

John Dermatini says that there are seven areas that show up in every society and in every person: Intellect, Culture, Vocation, Finance, Social, Spiritual and Health. Any time a person or society is disempowered in five of those areas, they will be overpowered. Any society that has been suppressed, there is usually lack of Intellectual, Vocational, Financial and Physical Strength. Where do many Ugandans stand today?

Our individual narratives form the stories of our lives. My identity, your identity is informed from each of our stories to date. Superimposed on this identity are cultural narratives and stories that gel into the collective identity of a society. Narratives, Stories and Identities are the raw data from whence realities emanate. Our challenge is to be cognizant of those narratives, stories and identities to incorporate what we perceive as the liberal universal sense of Freedom, Equality, Fairness, Progress and Happiness.
No opinion is off-limits as along as it is not vapid tirades that do not elegantly advances pro and counter arguments. We especially would like to know from those who think or believe that the status quo is tenable.

AntiDemocratically Gifted By Nature

He has confined Dr. Besigye in the prison of his home—all out of fear of what the so-called “walk-to-work” might unleash: the pent-up frustrations of millions. He lectured the diplomatic corps on the history of Uganda of his conjuring. He threatened changing the constitution so that peaceful demonstrators could be denied bail alongside murderers and child molesters. Knowing the power of incumbency with unlimited access to state resources, he purchased changing the constitution for his effective life presidency. Idi Amin was cruder by declaring himself so. The so-called press freedom is but a sham: it is encumbered with thorns of gags. Criticize the Big Man to your peril of disturbing the peace. Mention the fact of the generals (the de facto powers behind the throne) being stacked with his homeboys and you will be slapped with promoting sectarianism.

At the advent of his “liberating” the country, he proclaimed bringing fundamental change. A change indeed! But what kind of change was heralded?

He scoffed at African Big Men who overstayed in power. Now we have voodoo math where twenty five years is equivalent to five years and counting for the transformation of Uganda society—a task that he alone can do.

The Marxist-Socialist has turned into a pernicious wild-wild west free marketer who has seen vast concentrations and controls of wealth by a few who must of necessity stroke his ego and be loyal to his authoritarian rule. He has shifted society’s responsibility to the individual on such cardinal issues as health and road safety.

The blokes that lost to him did “panda gari,” which, while obnoxious, does not compare to the elaborate maintaining of order by fear, intimidations and blind obedience.

The judiciary and parliament have largely wimped out, allowing concentrations of powers in the executive with the attendant coercive instruments of the military and the police. Balance of power, an anti-dote against excesses, is but wishful thinking in the realm.

When all have come to pass, the question to be asked is: What did the revolutionary Museveni mean when he declared a “fundamental change”? Where we listening through different world-views?

Classic social change has always been about the “…material (who controls what wealth), institutional (who runs what powerful institutions) and political (who wins elections [or murders his way to power])”
If politics is about economics, power and social organization, then –for better or worse—Museveni has delivered as promised. How anybody sees or experiences the change depends on how one thinks. So then we could add the mind as a factor in politics. (Lakoff, ’08).

Let us take the case of the Acoli who have been brutalized and humiliated by the NRM under this man. Acoli is now sending more NRM MPs to parliament than the opposition parties combined. The Baganda, whose allegiance to the monarchy, in part, fueled the five-year brutal bush war, are the linchpin to the NRM hegemony even as the monarchy is humiliated in broad daylight.

What is going on here? A fact of populations voting against their supposed self-interests is not unique to Uganda. In the US of A, for example, the Republican Party machines have mesmerized poor whites to a trance of supporting agendas that protect the interests of the rich. As a consequence, in part, the rich get richer while the incomes of the relative poor (that include millions of whites) have stagnated for years even as the capitalist machinery bamboozles them to buy more and more stuff.

To get a clue on this phenomenon we have to understand that human decisions are largely beyond conscious reason. Adept mind assassins know this. So they sneak in messages via the cognitive unconscious, unbeknownst to the people of interest. The unconscious is responsible for ninety plus percent of what we are all about. Those who know it use it to conquer themselves and the world.

Therefore, if Museveni’s “fundamental change” is not what some of us expected and wanted, we have to be creative in gaining access to the population’s mind, hearts and actions through enchantment as Guy Kawasaki would say in his Enchantment book. It is a Herculean task against powerful and motivated dark forces flushed with relatively overwhelming resources. It is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. There is no compromising because the world-view of this regime is self-perpetuation. It is a regime that inherently and fundamentally totalitarian and undemocratic in its sinews. Its expertise is the immoral act of camouflaging true intentions and duping gullible people “…who don’t have the ability to discern the truth or what is best for them…” (Kawasaki, ’11).

The Strauss-Khan Syndrome

Evolutionary processes took eons to come up with a rational civilized up-right walking human. Through cataclysmic weather changes, pandemic diseases, gene mutations, adaptations, and eventual bottle-neck phenomena, about two hundred thousand years ago modern man emerged—complete with a central control systems that regulated the internal working systems and response to external stimuli. While this man could make tools, it was only forty thousand years ago that his tools became more complex as he began to associate with his neighbors. The dawn of human civilization had arrived, and by ten thousand years ago began the ascent to the present days. Thanks to the Holocene period of relative climatic calm.

If we take the premise that all sentient beings came from the same source, human beings should have similar basic mechanisms for regulating our activities, such as internal workings, desire for protection from danger, and desire for feeding and replicating. These basic qualities took millions of years to encode into our genetic make up. What happened forty thousand years ago was a fortuitous change (mutation) that happened only to the Homo sapiens. This brought about self-awareness and a sense of reading others and relating, and eventually to sound-making that evolved into systematic language.

We now know that the basic coding relate to lower parts of the brain, and we share that with other sentient beings. This is the seat of survival and self-perpetuation—the home of instincts. The upper part is the seat of reason that builds cathedrals, high-speed trains, civilizations, or reflects before acting.

Now, in a clutch of civilization versus instincts, which would win? The former has been around for about forty thousand years. The latter has been refined for millions of years. If experience counts, you do the math. The answer can come by way of examples. The president of the most powerful nation in the present world dips a cigar inside a student intern working for him. Is this sexual depravity, or having been a victim of an ambush by a force greater than his reputed intellect? An eloquent governor, who shook up Wall Street’s greedy titans and is destined for the White House, spends thousands on escort service, aka, hooker service. Is this stupidity or what? A Bible-Belt preacher man gets hooked on the inside rear end of male orifices. Then we have priests who like boys a little too much. What’s up with that?

And, of course, we have the story of the day: Strauss-Khan, the masterful IMF managing director, who is built like a Spanish fighting bull. He is the man who would be King of France. Now, his chances are dashed to ashes, and we scratch our heads.

“There, but for the grace of God, goes I,” the man said. And we should join in chorus if we are wise.

The same heuristic tools we often use for learning and making quick decisions, sometimes ambush us to our detriment. As the upper brain function is crowded out, we cut to the chase: reach for the jugular; save a child from danger, oblivious to our own safety; or go for the cunt or die.

The top dogs whose dick-brains take over are not doing these things because of power as some women think. These testosterone-laden executives are often sharp and witty, caring family men who are men’s men. May be in the scramble to reach the mountain top they forgot to mindfully throw a lasso and tame the beast, which is at the same time a source of their effectiveness.

To Each His Own

1. So long as the US gub’ment ain’t runnin’ a pussy deficit—me, personally, really don’t give a shit.—A character in Redbone

2. Don’t listen to everything people say. You might hear your servant insulting you.—Ecclesiastus 1:27

3. Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek film:


--Life is trouble, only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble.

--I have got to go fast. You know, they say that age kills the fire inside of a man, that he hears death coming. He opens the door and says:

“Come in, Give me rest.”

That is a pack of old damn lies. I have got enough fire in me to devour the world. So…I fight.

--God has a very big heart, but there is one sin he will not forgive: If a woman calls a man to her bed, and he will not go.

--A man needs a little madness or else he will never dare cut the rope and be free.

4. Life must be lived forward, but it can only be understood backwards—Soren Kiekergaard

5. Buddha: I am awake.

6. Rene Descartes: Cogito, ergo sum---outdated!

7. T pray is to ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy --Ambrose Bierce—bravo!

8. I laugh when I hear the fish in the sea are thirsty—Kabir

9. Napoleon: To get power you need to display absolute pettiness. To exercise power you need to exercise greatness. Such pettiness and such greatness are rarely found in one person.—I agree

10. When I ask God, God is silent. Why then do I try to explain God's existence when it is shrouded in mistery?-- Anon

The Science of Being a King of Kings

So you thought Mesmer Musava of the Magic Kingdom of Hugadia had a copyright to the title of “King of Kings.” Think again; apparently his handlers forgot to register the title for the exclusive use of the Master. Anybody—a business owner, a boss, husband, a policeman, a military man, a school teacher or a common village bully—may appropriate the title and put it to good use à la Masava.

Gleaned from psychology, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, anthropology and social sciences, here are some pointers that are guaranteed to make you a king of kings of your defined fiefdom.

1. Make sure you pick the lottery number that lands you into some form of dysfunctional family circumstances. This is not as bad as it sounds. It gives you an instinctual ability to prove something since you might have had to fend for yourself when your contemporaries were frolicking with girls.

2. Since you had to fend for yourself or you might have been sent off to stay with some people with less genetic sympathy to you, you learned early that, beyond the facades, darkness lies in the hearts of men. This is very important if you are to maintain your omnipotent status as you can see through people even before they know their feelings.

3. You have learned that the cave instinct of fear still rules large in the 21st century, even when there are no more lions likely to drag you out of your pad. From fear emanates hatred, greed and delusion. Such knowledge makes you work your fellow man like a yoyo. You are the puppet master: you can make lapdogs of grown men, young men can fall over swords to ingratiate you, or your enemies are forced to run around deliriously like rabid dogs.

4. A true king of kings does not admit to mistakes—he is infallible like the Pope. Everything that goes wrong is the fault of your detractors. Everything that turns out right is because of your eminence.

5. Have some posse possessed with greed (a fear from wants) who can do whatever they want. They can make voodoo financial deals with public resources with no consequences. This way their allegiance is sealed lest you pull the rug under them.

6. Above all, be a jerk. A jerk does not accept the cosmic phenomena of impermanence and change: the weather changes; seasons change; there is day, there is night; there is birth, growth and death; fortunes are won, fortunes are lost; you name it, it has come and it has gone.

7. You should despise personal power gained by ease and generosity of heart. Instead you grasp and cling to power.

8. You should be able to operate from a hidden agenda, while coyly creating a different impression, thereby, effectively lying to engorge yourself with power.

So, if you are blessed with or can learn the above traits, you have the requisites to impose your will on others. You can become the center of gravity. The sun rises and falls on you. When you are angry, people cringe. It is your way or the high road ‘cause you are the kings of kings.

As the King, so Goes the Country

 • Despotic governments do not recognize the precious human components of the state, seeing its citizens only as faceless, mindless—and helpless—mass to be manipulated at will. It is as though people were incidental to a nation rather than its life-blood.
--

...Democracy, like liberty, justice and other social and political rights, is not “given,” it is earned through courage, resolution and sacrifice.

--Ang San Suu Kyi, Burma 's Opposition Leader

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Someone once said: As the king, so goes the country. This means that the resonant attitudes and actions of the leader are picked up by his people and spread far and wide.

So, as one watches some of the images below, it is not beyond reason to surmize they are manifestations of the deep-seated Uganda character that has been spawned over several generations of violence. Even while it dealt violently with any challenges to its rule, the colonial occupier gave a temporary respite to the native-on-native violence. Now, we are back to the basics: I have got the gun, and you don’t, so, I will screw you.

Other people wonder; some of us don’t. Uganda is violent from top to bottom. The violent acts of the state trickle down to how we conduct our affairs with one another. In space and time we see its virtual projections in the belligerent and aversive language on Internet group sites. Beneath the effusive Uganda smiles lurk a darkness that often erupts in gruesome hostility with deaths and mayhems in its wake.

Does the guy (in the video) that is breaking the car windows and hauling the opposition leader into the pick-up truck think that he will have this power forever? If change occurs, as it eventually will, how will the oppressed, if they have the gun, treat him?

“I am just doing my job—following orders”—is no excuse. Everybody has a choice. How can the cycle of violence be broken? These are some of the questions that need to be tackled not only by primal emotional coding, but by the elevated content of reasons bestowed by civilizations. A tall order, considering the protagonists and us, the followers, seem armed with only utilitarian education and precepts from mosques and churches that are not organic and skin-deep.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1152948/-/c25w2jz/-/index.html

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1152856/-/c25wt6z/-/index.html

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1151516/-/c26ol9z/-/index.html
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1152208/-/c262naz/-/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoNt_RKhIdk&feature=player_embedded
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1152320/-/c261taz/-/index.html
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1152316/-/c261u0z/-/index.html
http://newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/753370

Museveni on His Life Presidency

This is Week in the Kingdom of Uganda

From time to time we will be posting some happenings--the underbelly-- in Dictator Museveni's Fiefdom of Uganda.
We take the view that President Museveni is the most dangerous ruler in the history of this God-forsaken country. Why?
1. Uganda is effectively a military police state in the guise of elective democracy
2. Elections are shams where Musveni uses the state coffer to fund hisNRM political machine, uses the intimidating presence of armed military during elections, and the opposition is scared away from getting radio air-time
3. Any public show of dissatisfaction of the populace is crushed by armed police.


Mao (C) is dragged by Gulu District Police Commander Moses Muluya (R) and OC CID Moses Bwebagye to the police station on Thursday. PHOTO BY SAM LAWINO  http://www.monitor.co.ug/


Caught in the escalating stand off between the Police and walk to work demonstrators, Ibrahim Batte was hit by a stray stone as he tried to find his way back home. Photo by Patience Ahimbisibwe
http://www.monitor.co.ug/-/691150/1144896/-/bm3auy/-/index.html



Police officer Mugalya 2324 (L) attached to Jinja Road Police Station pushes journalists from the police station to stop them from covering the arrests during a walk to work campaign on April 14. Photo by Joseph Kiggundu. http://www.monitor.co.ug/-/691150/1144896/-/bm3auy/-/index.html




Dr. Besigye speaks to the press after receiving first aid treatment at Kampala Hospital in Kololo on his injured hand which a rubber bullet grazed during the Walk to Work demonstrations. http://www.monitor.co.ug/-/691150/1144896/-/bm3auy/-/index.html

Uganda's Uncoalition Politics

In Kenya, Raila Odinga was big enough to suspend his ambition to herald the defeat of the entrenched KANU powerhouse. The later chicanery of Mwai Kibaki and his Kikuyu Mafia was regrettable, but nevertheless, a fundamental change of sorts was ushered in.

The chief principals of the Kenya coalition that obliterated the Moi’s KANU were Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. Both, in addition to Western and Coastal kingmakers, brought real and authentic monolithic tribal loyalties to the table. It was magic.

In Yugoslavia it was students and civil society which urged the political class to unite around one humble lawyer. Milosevic did not know what hit him to eventual heart attack in an ICC jailhouse.

In Uganda, those of us who can’t wait to see Museveni home grazing his beloved long-horned cattle have to wait a little longer to do the jig. The thought of a possible power of coalition was misplaced and not well probed out.

If FDC had made a scientific survey, it would have probably revealed that it make a go at it alone through hard-nosed politicking. Questions were not asked about what Mao, Otunnu, Lukyamozi and other minor Watchamacallits were going to bring to the table in terms of substantial emotional followings. Many, if not all were only potentials in the makings. Some were rabid ego-maniacs who went about to the march of their own drums. All the haggling elevated some and diminished FDC’s head-start and power.

Mao reveled and benefited from the charade of a tango dance with the coalition. Otunnu and his UPC should have been tar babies, untouchables, left alone from the beginning. UPC has become irrelevant, and the noise emanating from Uganda House is the baying of a dying horse. Then, of course, what was the ass-kissing of the Buganda Kingdom and cohabitation with something called SUUBI all about? It was a knee-jerk reaction based on anecdotal perception rather than unvarnished scientific opinion poll. Dr. Besigye should have just uttered the “F” word to satiate the monarchists and gone about consolidating gains in the North and East even as he campaigned in Central, West and his home turf—cognizant that in the latter two he had to chip the hard-rock loyalties to homeboy.

This time around, the Doc, on a scale of one to ten, gets a measly four for strategy. He has fought a gallant battle that could have caved in lesser souls. He opened up the political space. In some people’s book he will always be the bravest man to grace Uganda’s murky politics—not forgetting Bishop Janani Luwum, of course.

What next is anybody’s guess? There are plenty of ideas. All options and scenarios should be soberly studied without losing focus on the price: unloading the weight of the Museveni menace from our backs sooner than later. Sideshows like that of the Federo girl are distracting luxuries serious people can’t afford. Crocodile tears on the past are the crutches of losers. The only thing the opposition can sell is rarefied future in a world of what-have-you-done-for-me-lately. Clearly defined, articulated and formulated the sale pitch may wake the populace from the Musevenian somnambulism and take charge. Otherwise, let us all wait for the Butterfly Effect to aggregate and amplify into an irresistible storm or other such unconventional eventualities.

States without Nation-States

In his The Next Decade, George Friedman (2011), in characteristic thematic stance of many western commentators, derides Africa as of little importance to the US vital interests in the next ten years. The spread of terrorism via East African countries can be easily contained. Oil interests and other minor economic interests can be taken care of by the operating companies themselves. What the US can do is only to lend support to humanitarian activities to the tune of the niggardly twenty billion dollars in aid—enough to assuage the Africans and upkeep the contrived image of the generous Uncle Sam. The Chinese overture in Africa does not pose such a threat as compared to the imperialistic Soviet Union of the 60s. Moreover, the Chinese, despite perceptions, have vast challenges and will be preoccupied with uplifting the standard of living of millions of agrarian rural population. Besides, they will not carry the African mines to Beijing. The bottom line: “Africa: Leave it alone.”

Friedman’s opinion is hardly new. If one watches talking heads on television discussing world affairs, Africa is always rarely mentioned. The indelible image of Africa is that of hunger, dirty children enamored by the white man’s camera, and badly managed countries with fierce dictators lording it over the population. Perception is reality here. Why is that?

Friedman brings up the notion that “… there may be African states… [but]…few nation-states.” For example, Nigeria “…is a state without a nation,”—meaning it is a state “…presiding over multiple hostile nations.” African states have not grown organically out of nations—they are patchwork creations of Europeans and Arabs. There in lies the genesis of the perpetual problems of governance in Africa.

So, then, what is the way out? Maybe Museveni is showing the way because “…the only way out of chaos is power. Nations are built out of blood…Community is built on war.” By this calculation Museveni worships on the Machiavelli’s altar “…that good comes out of ruthless pursuit of power, not out of trying to do good.” He seems to adroitly balance the “…conflict between the limits of good intentions and the necessity of power” that characterizes the practice of politics.

In Uganda we have various nations that often have different and competing world-views. If Internet ranting are any indication, we actually talk pass one another like ships in the night. Often those of us with a modicum of national and liberal outlook come out depressed from such chat-rooms, or just stay away. Thus unsettled issues fester on and, at times, become gangrenous.

Will Museveni’s unreserved use of power finally build one nation? Winning elections in Buganda in spite of the frosty relationship with the Kingdom of Buganda is a telling sign. Election success in the Acoli sub-region, considering recent brutal abuse, speaks of short memory and a willingness to bend to the wishes of credible power. The Uganda population did not see power in the splintered opposition. Whether by design or unconscious sloppiness, the various opposition groups were about energizing the moribund self-lives of their respective political parties and ended up at the throats of one another, thereby weakening their collective power. It was an amazing sight to see. Rather than waste their votes on confusion, the voters decided to go with the devil they knew: a he-man who is not shy to crack some ribs. And, as it is, it seems Museveni and his clique’s hold on power is unlikely to be broken in the next ten years by conventional means. Hopefully, by breaking some necks along the way, a nation will be built, and being a Ugandan can begin to carry valence in meaning and emotion.

The Three Musketeers and the Naked Emperor

Hugadia is a magic kingdom where anything and everything is possible. When the original Hugadia masters of the universe wanted protection from the furious people from the desert, they asked the powerful kingdom across the seas, and, viola!—they got protection. Soon the protectors became the masters and imposed their will and culture on the Hugadia people. Hugadians quickly caught on, and prided themselves in how well they spoke, dressed and behaved in the mannerisms of the protector. The natives began to bear exotic names, such as Morris, Yoweri, Elvis, Grace, Lucy, Marjorie, etc. Those who did not quickly catch were deemed uncouth and primitive. Decades later the power of the protector kingdom began to wane across the globe. The natives called their bluff to take the concepts of their religion and liberal democracy to their logical conclusions. Hugadians were caught up in the global spirits of the day, made some noise, and the protector walked away—as simple as that—no shots, no nothing.

The exit of the protector was greeted with fanfare, pomp and circumstances, excitement and enthusiasm. Sooner than later, however, the new native masters of Hugadia resorted to rule by magic as of old. This turn of event brought confusion, dissent, civil wars and sufferings as rulers came and went.

Of all the rulers of Hugadia, King Mesmer Musava stands out. His brand of magic basically goes like this: What you see should be what he says it is. In fact, his name has its origin from the German physician Anton Mesmer from which the word “mesmerize” is derived, but more particularly because a Mesmer is a master of illusion, misdirection, and control. The Mesmer subverts the damage-dealing capabilities of others, manipulating their perceptions to achieve personal goals.
( http://wiki.guildwars.com).

King Musava is fond of prancing around the kingdom naked and telling his hapless people that, in fact, he is dressed in fine linen attire from the House of Dior, and only those who are “unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent” are unable to see. Woe unto a Hugadian who dares to say the king is, in fact, without clothes on. Soon magical things will happen to the culprit, as the three musketeers—Athos Bagasa, Aramis Anyaga, and Porthos Atanna—were to learn.

Medicine man, Athos Bagasa had fought alongside Masava in the heady days of the chaos that engulfed Hugadia. He is said to have sneaked into a Hugadia hospital and pilfered some penicillin to treat Masava for a case of the clap that he contracted in a rare moment of weakness. When Mesmer Masava and his gang were victorious, Bagasa was one of the Chief Knights of the Round Table. A few years later, however, there was a fall-out between Bagasa and the King. Bagasa declared publicly—deemed the “wrong forum” per Hugadia’s standard—that he could not see the fine clothes the King was bragging about. In his own words: “The Emperor is Naked.” This, of course, was treason and high crime in Hugadia. The King was swift. He disowned Bagasa, smeared him with nasty calumnies, and even talked of putting Bagasa six feet below terra firma.

We will never know why Bagasa took on his fearsome boss. Various theories have been floated—some not so charitable. One thing is certain: Bagasa is determined to free Hugadians from the magic spell of King Mesmer Masava.

The venerable story teller, Aramis Anyaga has had his run-in with the masters of the magic kingdom. While Anyaga’s theories behind some of his stories are some time prosaic and unbelievably fantastic, he is known for telling it like it is. On several occasions he has told the world that things in Hugadia are just smokes and mirrors. These, of course, brought the wraths of Hugadia power to lean hard on him. The next time we hear from him, he is shunted to a neighboring country and given some bizarre title. Anyaga still has his forum to tell his stories, but King Masava’s henchmen had the “honor” of cackling they showed the man who was the Cock in town.

The third Musketeer is the learned Porthos Atanna. Atanna has seen the great halls of learning of the world. His admirers call him the Grand Master. While he is a Johnnie-come-lately in New Hugadia, nevertheless, he has had a long history with King Masava—way back when. In the dark days, which many would prefer to put behind them, Grand Master Atanna had to negotiate a truce with the then bandit Musava. Various theories are afloat as to what really transpired in the infamous peace charade. The fact is Atanna and his gang lost to the man who would be king. Atanna and his group have been ticked ever since. Decades later the Grand Master has returned to stake his claim in the history of Hugadia. But then again opportunity, like a shot of an arrow or a slip of the tongue, once lost is rarely recaptured. In the meantime the Grand Master has blurted out, to the chagrin of King Masava and his posse, that the king is, in fact, a naked night dancer covered with ashes instead of fine linen attire.

Even as we speak the sagas of The Three Musketeers and the Naked Emperor continue to unfold. King Mesmer Masava continues to mesmerize the population. Aramis Anyaga tells stories of the kingdom from outside the kingdom. Medicine man, Athos Basaga and Grand Master Porthos Atanna are pressing on with convincing the population of the naked untruth of the emperor. And so, the tale of the Magic Kingdom of Hugadia continues to unravel.

The President-for-Life Phenomenon

Ecclesiastes 5: 8-9: In some countries you will see poor people treated badly. They are not treated fairly or given their rights. Don’t be surprised! One officer is cheated by a higher officer. They in turn are cheated by even higher officers. The wealth of the country is divided up among them all. Even the king makes sure he gets his share of the profits.
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As Reagan neared the end of his second-term, his aficionados were whispering about changing the constitution to allow him a run for a third term. This, of course, was a non-starter as changing the US constitution is as difficult as kollo man gwok. In Russia Putin has circumvented the term-limit constitution and made himself prime minister, and he is the real power behind the boy-president. In the US, again some have broached at a Clinton (the man) re-run. In the UK, Margaret Thatcher had to be dragged screaming out of No. 10 Downing Street—very unlady-like of the Iron Lady. Need we say more about Africa, and Uganda, in particular?

Obote I was on the verge of a one-party state system that would have guaranteed Apollo Milton Obote a life presidency. Idi Amin Dada cut his dream short and, in short order, declared himself president-for-life and Conqueror of the British Empire. The second time around, Obote was damaged goods with time ticking. Minor players in-between would have followed the script if they had staying-power gumption. One such minor joker opined that “the chair was sweet,” betraying a wishful thinking.

It used to be that kings and queens were the ones who stayed in power “until death do us part.” We still have such antiquated remnants across the globe. In the UK, for example, while their powers have diminished, they still live on taxpayers’ dole until they croak. In the Arab world some still wield fourteen century autocratic powers unto death.

Just who are these people? Do these seekers of absolute powers over others just want it for the sake of it? But before answering these questions, let us look at what is happening today.

Thanks to open global communication systems that connect people, the Arab world is saying enough is enough. Something fundamental is at play here. It is granular and organic at the core: individuals are seeing themselves as worthy of respect and nobody who feeds, pees, shits, and does all the basic processes of living like them should abuse them simply because he chanced to have gained more coercive powers. When this attitude reaches a critical mass, change happens.

As for Africa, there is still much work to be done. The power of incumbency still trips individual empowerment. In the “right” hand of a cynical maniacal operator, incumbency means presidency-for-life. None has played and will continue to play this game more than Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. The self-proclaimed revolutionary once derided African presidents who stayed too long at the helm. But as they say: Power corrupts absolutely (and, also, per Amin Dada). Now, he is effectively President for Life, and all leading indicators point to succession within his family. And we have a population willing to give him his wish until it decides that it feeds, pees, and defecates not unlike the rest of them. Till then, hail King Yoweri Museveni of Uganda!

So, just what is with these people? My hypothesis is that the culprit is: Attachment. Buddhism says attachment is one of the principle causes of suffering if not handled well.

First, we desire something badly. Once we get it, we assign to it various attributes, and somehow become one with it. Should loss occurs, it causes us so much pain: a fortune lost wills someone to jump from a bridge.

Look at how a mother and child bond, and it is the same process of two lovers bonding. Something is happening inside. Experts cite a chemical called oxytocin.

So, Museveni had been bathing for the last twenty five years in this addictive chemical. Look at yourselves with your possessions and you will have an inkling of where the man is coming from. Directly from the horse's mouth: I killed the game; how am I going to let someone take away the carcass?
This is the reason the concept of term limits has come into human consciousness because of an understanding of how this phenomenon can be destructive to oneself and humanity. Otherwise you virtually have to ply somebody out of that “sweet chair.” And for change to occur three steps are necessary:
1. People must become sick of having the problem that they really want to change
2. They have to somehow see their problem from a new perspective or a new light
3. New and appealing options must be found or created and pursued
(Bandler, ’08)

Marriage or Bachelorhood

Proverbs: 21: 9—It is better to live in the attic than inside the house with a quarreling wife 21: 19—It is better to live alone in the desert than with a quarreling and complaining wife
24: 3-4—It takes wisdom to have a good family. It takes understanding to make it strong. It takes knowledge to fill a home with rare and beautiful treasures
27:15-16—A quarreling wife is as bothersome as a continual dripping on a rainy day. Stopping her is like stopping the wind. It is like trying to grab oil in your hand

Ecclesiastes: 7: 26—I found that some women are worse than death. They are as dangerous as traps. Their love is like a net. Their arms hold men like chains. …
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Apollo Milton Obote was a confirmed bachelor until he ascended the Uganda thrown as prime minister. A head of state of an African nation is another long-term bachelor. For most of his autocratic presidency, Moi never had a helpmate besides him. A recent presidential candidate in Uganda is an unabashed bachelor, and drew a lot of rumors and innuendos about his sexuality.

Marriage and Bachelorhood are very interesting phenomena, especially in the African context where tradition, while still entrenched, is also in a state of confused flux.

To many African communities marriage is one of the prerequisite of reaching adulthood. It signals responsibility and a chance to breed those who will help one in old age as well as continue the bloodline. Woe to the woman who is not married at an advanced age, or worse, is barren. It shows up in bitterness, sadness and anger. She is the evil aunt without a husband, who now comes back to the father’s homestead to sow seeds of discords and bad blood. Many would prefer the shanty towns and slums than face humiliation back in the village.

An unmarried man is not taken seriously either, and can be the butt of jokes. Jokesters coin lyrics of folks songs of lamentations on the fates and circumstances of the tottering codger.

So, pressured by nature, tradition and culture, many people plunge into marriage unions before they know: who they are, how the world works or what is “real.” In this milieu few escape the sense of self that is ill-defined, confused, if not corrupted to face the rapidly changing society.

Marriage is now generally and universally accepted as a precursor to starting a family. And the family forms the basic unit of a society. It is in the family that we are supposed to obtain our nurturing—that is, help nature in shaping who we are. But, what is the state of marriage today? If marriage is so important, why don’t we prepare for it like we prepare for law or any other trade?

Like other human concepts, marriage did not just fall from the sky. It probably came in the process of formation of bands of hominids and the emergence of language. The female hominid that was knocked off had to stick to the scorer lest life would become difficult to negotiate for years. In essence marriage is a female conspiracy to tie down the promiscuous male to help take care of the product of fornication—the child. Encumbered with nine-month odyssey of carrying a baby in her belly and several years of the child’s brain development and acquisition of survival skills, the female had to do something. If he wanted exclusive use of her pleasure, the male had to hang around the cave. In time, nature helped her: neural path of attachment, like a footpath in the grass, was ingrained and took hold in the male’s nature. She became like from his “rib.” He would kill if another dipped his manhood in her even as his loin has not yielded to the urge to throw his own seeds far and wide. Today only the Masai can lend his wife to a visitor—even then, it is for the sake of getting more children (should any occur from the encounter) to help take care of his first love--cattle.

The female, on the other hand, has become quite complex in her manipulation of the male species. Hence, such a saying as “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” is not without truth. The male who tears up like her would be laughed out of the village. Not her—she gets her way.

It is true: Men are from mars women are from hell [Venus] (The “…hell” is a title to a song: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/f/four_year_strong/mens_are_from_mars_women_are_from_hell.html>)
40,000 years of hominid evolution has wired us differently for DNA survival—and that has not changed much. The recent executive brain development that produced civilization often operates unsynchronized with the primitive lower section. As we fail to negotiate the two, we cause problems to ourselves and seeds of our loins. The result is wars that begin at home and engulfs the whole world. So, we have a Hitler, a Mobutu, or another who sticks to power like a tick on his second love--his cow.

To Persuade or Not to Persuade

Courting a mate is probably one of the most intense and focused exercise sentient beings, including humans, do. Take a look at what some male birds go through (Birds of the Gods on the blog) for a chance at copulation. A male bird meticulously cleans a ground arena. Then he makes some mating calls—invitations for females to come and watch him dance. When a female comes by and perches on a tree branch, the male bird then goes into dance frenzy. This is bird-speak for persuasion. Sometime a female is not impressed and flies away.

In our own human interactions, in one form or another, we want to influence people to do something: agree with us, or give us something—votes, money, sex, join a demonstration, etc. We have to persuade if we are to succeed. But, often than not, we go by random chance hits and misses. We succumb to the Rolling Stone’s proclamation of “You can’t always get what you want” when we could have done better.

Persuasion is a proven science that has been tested. The great advertising houses know the science. Deep-pocketed politicians employ experts to design their messages for desired effects. The rascal who used to get all the hot girls had what it took—probably instinctively.

In his book, Cialdini lists six universal principles of social influence as: Reciprocation, Authority, Commitment/Consistency, Scarcity, Liking and Social Proof.

In the recently concluded Uganda elections, if you looked closely, the ones who were endowed with or used some of the six principles fared better than they would have otherwise.

Museveni shamelessly used the principle of reciprocation to the nth degree. The Museveni Project is awash with cash. The national coffer and Museveni campaign financing are one and the same. To change the constitution to allow him effective life presidency MPs pocketed $5,000 apiece, and they reciprocated. It is said that, in taw of his campaign rallies, was a cash vault full of cash-stashed brown envelops to dish out to key local players. In the same vein, a gift of a necklace could get you the goods! Scratch my back and I scratch your back. It is very powerful.

Authority can be the one who is an expert. S/he is more likely to persuade us than the ordinary Joe. Twenty five years at the helm meant Museveni knew what he was talking about in the minds of many. Besides, he flooded the country with armed military personnel to show might and back his assertion that Uganda was no Kenya or Côte d'Ivoire.

No Uganda politician has worked so hard to be liked (and hated). People do business with those they like.

Remember the rascal who got the hottest chicks? He started from the top with Miss Hot. Others wanted what Miss Hot had. That is social proof at work. So, while the polls showed that Besigye and Mao and others were cooked, they insisted that they were going to win and the wavering should join their bandwagons. Besigye could have done even better if, instead of the vague “Change is coming,” he used something like: Join the Millions Fellow Ugandans for Change. That is social proof—you want to do what others are doing.

Olara Otunnu sold commitment consistent with values in his harping on genocide and other past atrocious shenanigans. He addressed scarcity of services to the wanainchi. In the former, a large part of the population had moved on, and he sounded like a trouble-maker. The message was a dud. Scarcity is real, but his nemesis had already shown that he was working on the issue in real terms as in the nationwide pre- campaign start-off “Let them Get Rich” trip funded by taxpayers.

All Truths Are Half-Truths

 *All truths are half-truths—Alfred N Whitehead
*Seek ye the kingdom of power afore seeking the illusive truth—Soko

What characterized Olara Otunnu’s recently concluded election campaign strategy was an obsessive quest for the truth on past events: who did what to whom; who was right who was wrong; or what people’s intentions were. This strident bug was injected into the minds of some of his supporters who went on a rampage of noise-making ad infinitum. Now the questions that scream out are: All for what? What was the intended payoff? Gotcha!? Disaffection of the Ogre? Votes? The man never even voted for himself. If he marries, what will he tell his children? May be it will be: Hey kids, I was so principled that I ran for the presidency against all odds, and I was even more principled not to cast my vote for myself! ^#*$%! Master salesmen keep their messages simple.

The results have been deplorable for Otunnu and his UPC—even with the caveat of blatant lopsided conditions that did not favor the opposition. Especially heart-wrenching to my vociferous friends is that UPC did not take over Acoli subregion—no single UPC MP candidate won.

The question that lurks in the minds of some observers: Was Olara Otunnu an advocate for a cause or was he a political candidate with a cause?

Advocacy usually likens crusading in search for “truth.” A political candidate’s forte often calls for dealing with danger, food and sex in all their permutations—the basic survival ingredients that have become instinctual since Stone Age and are beneath the veneer of hot buttons. Know how and when to pick and/or blend them, and you can become king. They are the strings of the Adungu that a good maestro can strum to the delights of the hearts and minds of the masses—most of whom just survive and reproduce, with vague clues of the what and why of their existence. While some of the masses may have had “reading, riting, rithmetic” (even at the level of PhD), they live in confusion and, as Thoreau would say: in quiet desperation.

But, let us go back to “truth.” Is there anything like Absolute Truth? It seems there is none as such in law. In religion you just have to believe. Even in the purest of sciences—mathematics—is based on certain assumptions. So then, if one speaks of “truth,” you have to check out her programming. Political truth is a contradiction in terms, tainted with perspectives: power or lack of it, special interests, national interests or classified information. The latter two are especially nauseating because it is just a form of covering some boils in the rearend.

Here is the thing: If you don’t have the power to find the truth and, if you don’t have the power to enforce the findings of a report, then why not first seek power by any means necessary (including coalition). As they say: change is the only constant—that is, of course, if you play your cards smartly. It will happen. When you get power, then you can write your truth as you perceive it. Confusing issues confuses the masses and confuses outcomes. Seek ye the kingdom of power afore seeking the illusive truth.

Safety is Primal

My long-ago cousin took off like a hare in the lush grassland of Bhar-El- Gazel. There was a man-eating lion in the ‘hood, and cuz was not about to become somebody’s dinner. He leapt and caught a branch of an olam tree and quickly reached the highest fork created by fractal geometry in nature. The lion circled the tree and made tentative attempts to climb but gave up and sauntered off.
Cousin Lawiyeolore, a tall lanky lad, was safe—safe enough to climb down.

“Huh!” he sighed. He rubbed his stomach—he was hungry. He picked up the fallen olam fruits. Then, an anyeri scrambled into the nearby shrub. He got a stick and beat the shrub and the anyeri darted out, and he chased it and killed it. He soon made fire, and roasted the delicacy. Next, he would go on the prowl to ravish some nubile “gazelles” whose pointed breasts pulsated with desire. In time Lawiyeolore would go on to sire many juniors and princes who knew how to feed themselves and be safe to reproduce more.

Meanwhile, cousin Lagoro, Lawiyeolore’s brother, was a weakling who perished in the vagaries of the random incidents of the grasslands. He never had a chance to propagate his kind. So, the ones with safety consciousness became the successful and dominant for generations after generations to my day.

Along the way, as communication ability developed, cousin Lawiyeolore banded or allied with Lacwinyecol and others. Lacwinyecol was very dark-skinned and stocky. His band came from across the river. Cuz soon learned that, while Lacwinyecol was not good and tracking game, he was crafty as sin—long before sin was invented!

Each time Lawiyeolore killed an anyeri, Lacwinyecol would sound the lion alarm. This would send cuz running and leaving his kill for Lacwinyecol to grab and run in the opposite direction. So now, each time cuz saw Lacwinyecol, his heart would go racing. Protection against danger generated the feeling of fear, which was to later generate other kinds of feelings. Deception (and/or conning) was also discovered.

Safety was the DNA’s way of protection to live another day and procreate and replicate itself. When fear (and its various permutations) came in as a localized feeling and showed itself when not warranted, the bands were in for trouble. Unfortunately, to this day we still employ these feelings in a world which is less dangerous. That is why we are in awe at the exploits of the suicide bombers. What ever happened to safety and fear with these people? The answer is: Mind Assassins.

Young Muslims have been inoculated against fear by a meme of the promise of virgins in the after-life. How much better for spreading one’s genes and blowing up your worst enemies at the same time! Sign me on! It seems counter intuitive, but the DNA was conned!

And so, we are eleven years into the 21st century, and the idea of individual freedom has supposedly reached the ears of millions across the globe. Why are there fiends who still sit with their boots on the head of millions, and live in luxury while the majority of the populace scrounges? What up? Safety and Fear. We know that when fear is overcome, things happen. What happened to Marie Antoinette and her beau? The French chopped their heads. Museveni, no matter what one thinks of him, discarded fear and the losers in his exploits are wailing to this day.

The millions of slaves the world over have to reach critical masses in their locations for the idea of individual freedom that transcends safety and fear. Only then can they use their numerical advantage to change the status quo. Hunger is probably a critical trigger, not press freedom, nor elections nor any of the higher stuff.

The Saga of the Three Loonies & the True Believers

The man said: if you believe, you can move mountains. And the three loonies, who belong to a psychiatry ward instead of out in the world of neurotypicals, have taken it to heart.

Loony Numero Uno: In mangled English and rapid fire presentation as if having fire under his pants, he is the paparazzi of Animal Farm. He cooks up supposedly juicy revelations, including about people’s lives. He threatens. One wonders whether parts of his brain has been eaten up by some disease—may be syphilis—or may have undergone some brain lobotomy.

Loony 2: The loss of his government was so traumatic that he has gone berserk. The supposed claim to fight for Iloca is actually a projection of that trauma. He is obsessed with a man called, Eygiseb, who, to him, is the devil incarnate. A man called, Ayido goes back to his own vomit. Moreover, the latter is not even an Iloca but “…blah…blah…blah”! In his delirium, he has forgotten that his real oppressor is actually Oriba.

Loony 3: He sees 3% as 90%. To him his party’s tsunami is unstoppable. How can you argue with the dude? He is in a world of his own—no different from any of the characters talking on the street by themselves.

Underneath the sicko generals are the true believers. This is an amalgam of those with high utilitarian education, some education, and semi-illiterates. The common thread among this lot is that reason is suspended, even though some make pretense for rationality. All share with the loonies a fear of self-examination and self-criticism, and have unrealistic expectation. The true believers differ from the loonies in that they suspect they may be wrong but don’t have the gut to accept, or are burdened with the Ripig-Ognobal curse.

Belief in itself is not a bad thing. It is the stuff of the Placebo Effect, the Pygmalion Hypothesis, the Expectation Factor, or the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. But here we are facing an irrational belief. It has become a weapon of self-sabotage: X is pre-ordained for the presidency. What mathematics are you talking about? Mountain Movers R Us!

It's All about Survival and Reproduction

It is interesting to see an ant running around—busy—looking for food, biting another ant, running away from another, or mounting another in apparent copulation.
As you go higher up to the human animal, the same busyness seems to be the order of the day: feeding, fighting, fleeing or finding a mate. It seems then that feeding, fighting and fleeing are basic ingredients for survival, and finding a mate leads to reproduction/replication.

Whatever form of any activity, it is seemingly a function of the four Fs. If evolution posits that life, as we know it in our planet, began from a “primordial soup” of chemicals—carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen—and developed over millions of years by fits and turns, trials and errors, it follows that the successful life is the one that has the best capacity or code to survive and reproduce. Scientists tell us that this capacity for survival and reproduction has been encoded by natural selection into the DNA. In other words, each act of the four Fs is on behalf of the DNA to survive and reproduce: may the best one win!

Considering that the said coding took millions and millions of years to refine, it is very powerful and grips us like an iron vice. When we are surprised by our sometime out-of-control actions, it is because we have not taken stock. Of course, there are some actions which are beyond the pale, and they are more a function of miscoding apart from the norm.

Superimposed on the four Fs is Consciousness, which is a construct of the mind, which is a construct of the brain (mainly, but probably emanates from every cell of the body, in part). From consciousness we get freewill and self-awareness. With freewill and self-awareness we figured out that, to successfully operate the four Fs, beyond the vagaries of randomness, we needed to Belong, to Distinguish ourselves or Excel, to gain Group Approval, to Care for one another, and to obey Authority. These again are characteristics developed over millions of years and are observable in living things, including humans.

Over time we also developed civilization and technologies that continue to serve us. In the meantime the four Fs have not gone away, however sophisticated we think we are. They can sneak up on us in the form of greed, gluttony, obesity, oppression, wars, slavery, anger, hatred, ethnic cleansing, fear, rapes and other bad behaviors in all their guises.

So, when a congressman or senator is caught with his pants down, and abruptly resigns or fights shamelessly for his job, we slap our heads and ask: what was he thinking?!

When the so-called most powerful man in the world dips a cigar into the womanhood of an intern, we slap our heads and ask: what was he thinking?!

When a self-proclaimed revolutionary president concocts a rape case against his opponent, we slap our heads and ask: what was he thinking?!

When the same revolutionary president demeans his predecessors, but a few years later, he is doing the same horrid things against the people, we slap our heads and ask: what is he thinking?

Overall, when we go into a shouting match, when we beat up or even kill a spouse, when we steal from the poor, when we cast our votes against our obvious self-interests, when we spread rumors, when we revel in conspiracy theories, the underlying motivations can be found in the four Fs.

So, are we helpless? No. By free-will and self-awareness we can be conscious of the automatic tendencies of the four Fs. We can then be able to call on our civilization and technological advances to come to our aid. It is a process. Gradually we become less destructive to ourselves and others, and, hopefully, act more mindfully and elegantly in our survival and reproductive quest on behalf of the mighty DNA.

The Insidious Mind Viruses

When a biological virus invades a cell, it takes over the cell’s protein-making and nucleic acid replicating properties. The virus is then able to dupe the cell to replicate the virus—usually rapidly and exponentially until the cell membrane brakes, releasing gazillion viruses to invade other cells. Soon the body cells are overwhelmed and unable to carry normal functions, and a person becomes lethargic and sick.

The same process could be said of the man-made computer virus, which is essentially a small program introduced into a computer’s working programs. The virus takes over the subroutines of the computer program thereby duplicating itself rapidly and its numerous operations shut down the legitimate program.

Likewise, a mind virus is a piece of information or program that is created by culture or deliberately designed by an agent. Just like a biological virus or a computer virus, the mind virus aims for self-perpetuation and to effect a change in the behavior of the recipient. Infection—a quality of self-perpetuation—, of other cells, other computers and other human animal is also a common characteristic of viruses.
A culture virus may be good for the survival of a community and security for the self. Sometimes the good of the community, however, runs counter to the goal of the self, which is largely the pursuit of happiness.

Looking around us we can see and may notice all kinds of mind viruses. We hardly know from whence they cometh and why they are our belief systems. Some swear by blood, their mothers or their lives that the virus is the essence of who they are.

Take the culture of chopping off a woman’s clitoris; where the heck did that come from? You see an old dried-up hag, whose exciting apparatus was clipped off decades ago, taking herself seriously in doing the ghastly surgery to a nubile gazelle. This single dastardly act probably plunges the girl into some psychological darkness beyond comprehension, leaving her vagina only for the man’s pleasure and breeding. This may have been the intended purpose but nature camouflaged the monthly gushing of blood and gruesome process of birth with a little man in a boat and some other hot spots for ecstasy and pleasure that bring smiles amidst the humdrum of toil and service.

From the African grasslands bands of humanity scattered. In the bands were leaders who emerged to give a sense of order, just like the alpha lesser animal leads the pack. Soon, however, and may have been coincidental with the growth of the cerebral cortex, the alpha human animal had an idea, a piece of information, a virus that he should be adored and fed, along with his brood. He or his agents even declared him a manifestation of God here on earth. He came from a mountain. He defied nature and was born sans sperm of a human but of God himself. All kinds of fantastic viruses were injected into the population. Some traces of the viruses still lurk around.

Uganda’s National Resistance Movement (NRM), is the dominant political party. It shot its way into power and has kept hold of power for the last twenty five years under the firm control of the sly Museveni. Without prejudice, any right-thinking person would agree that Obote and his UPC had run its course, it had entropied, and, without self-correcting mechanisms, it had become irrelevant and headed for the dumpster. That is the environmental condition under which Museveni gained power.

Adroitly, Museveni has constantly sung the mantra of his embellished Herculean feat of the conquest of the forces of killers and backwardness. He branded himself as the only one with vision, the will and means to keep peace. He would, even at 65, “go to the bush” if need be. What happened in Kenya and Cote d’ Voire would not occur to the gang of revolutionaries of Uganda, he declared.

Of course, these are all Musevenian mind viruses designed to create fear and an aura of indispensability. In addition, the hums of business activities going around and the garish mansions rising everywhere, make one hopeful. Hence, the ultimate virus: No change!

In the end, the key to being in control is gaining an understanding of the source of information, the why and the real beneficiary. And, as Anthony Quinn said in Zorba the Greek: A man needs a little madness, or else, he never dares cut the rope and be free.