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.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
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!
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.
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.
Monday, February 7, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
What is the Idea of a Uganda?
Before one sets out to do anything, one has to have an idea or a concept—even in something as mundane as eating or having sex.
Richard Dawkins coined the word “meme,” as a unit of information that comes to mind and can get replicated in other minds. Infected with a meme, an individual or a population then behaves in a particular manner. A meme can infiltrate a mind subtly and unconsciously or purposely by an agent.
The Protestant Puritans and Pilgrims who went to America did so on the basis of an idea—a meme—of seeking freedom to practice their strict biblical belief system rather than English monarch’s more worldly version of the Church of England. A meme of fear of the Pope’s influence later guided this same Protestant America to develop intolerant actions against Catholics who came to its shores. Only a group of agnostics, deists or even closet atheists, amongst the so-called founding fathers, was to save the fledgling nation from the clutches of the Church with the concept of “separation of church and state.” Other ideas such as the “American Dream,” “Pursuit of Happiness,” “Inalienable Rights,” or “Individual Freedom” guided and still guides the actions of America. While other concepts, such as “National Interest” inspired actions that murdered Congo’s Patrice Lumumba and association with dictators who pillaged their nations’ coffers and abused their people.
So, one can see that America became America based on some defined ideas. The actions from such ideas are the results we see today.
In the case of Uganda, what idea or ideas can inform us of where it is and where it is going? If any Ugandan goes blank on the question, may be because there is no clear and concrete definable idea of a Uganda. The idea of Uganda was a British creation, with minimal input from the Buganda aristocracy of yore. The rest of us were just co-opted for the ride into these two’s memes, and we acted haphazardly to boot.
When the British had their acting and left, the Protestant Lango’s Northern UPC Obote had his idea, and the Protestant Buganda’s Mutesa had his idea as they joined hands in a marriage of convenience. The twain was destined to collide, and they did. Since then various actors have come and gone. Obote came back and left again unceremoniously.
Judging from his staying power and the arithmetic of his followings, it seems the Musevenian model—a meme of benevolent military dictatorship—is a viable idea for Uganda. This is amidst the cacophony of tribal memes and a recent history of bloodshed and instability. However, should stability and some measures of economic growth be bought with dictatorship? Is the idea of absolute power in the hands of a single person not fraught with abuse of power and the dangers of the creation of a dynasty?
In a neighborhood where a neighbor enacts a law against farting, can we rise above ourselves and define an idea that can propel to greatness, or should we just muddle along?
Richard Dawkins coined the word “meme,” as a unit of information that comes to mind and can get replicated in other minds. Infected with a meme, an individual or a population then behaves in a particular manner. A meme can infiltrate a mind subtly and unconsciously or purposely by an agent.
The Protestant Puritans and Pilgrims who went to America did so on the basis of an idea—a meme—of seeking freedom to practice their strict biblical belief system rather than English monarch’s more worldly version of the Church of England. A meme of fear of the Pope’s influence later guided this same Protestant America to develop intolerant actions against Catholics who came to its shores. Only a group of agnostics, deists or even closet atheists, amongst the so-called founding fathers, was to save the fledgling nation from the clutches of the Church with the concept of “separation of church and state.” Other ideas such as the “American Dream,” “Pursuit of Happiness,” “Inalienable Rights,” or “Individual Freedom” guided and still guides the actions of America. While other concepts, such as “National Interest” inspired actions that murdered Congo’s Patrice Lumumba and association with dictators who pillaged their nations’ coffers and abused their people.
So, one can see that America became America based on some defined ideas. The actions from such ideas are the results we see today.
In the case of Uganda, what idea or ideas can inform us of where it is and where it is going? If any Ugandan goes blank on the question, may be because there is no clear and concrete definable idea of a Uganda. The idea of Uganda was a British creation, with minimal input from the Buganda aristocracy of yore. The rest of us were just co-opted for the ride into these two’s memes, and we acted haphazardly to boot.
When the British had their acting and left, the Protestant Lango’s Northern UPC Obote had his idea, and the Protestant Buganda’s Mutesa had his idea as they joined hands in a marriage of convenience. The twain was destined to collide, and they did. Since then various actors have come and gone. Obote came back and left again unceremoniously.
Judging from his staying power and the arithmetic of his followings, it seems the Musevenian model—a meme of benevolent military dictatorship—is a viable idea for Uganda. This is amidst the cacophony of tribal memes and a recent history of bloodshed and instability. However, should stability and some measures of economic growth be bought with dictatorship? Is the idea of absolute power in the hands of a single person not fraught with abuse of power and the dangers of the creation of a dynasty?
In a neighborhood where a neighbor enacts a law against farting, can we rise above ourselves and define an idea that can propel to greatness, or should we just muddle along?
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Party of Our Fathers is Our Party Too!
***Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me—Unknown
***If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out--Unknown
Look around you: often than not, in nine cases out of ten, the political party of the father is also the political party of the son or daughter. Also, more often than not, the religious affiliation of the father and/or mother is also that of their progeny. Moreover, it seems the intensity of the affiliations of the offspring has correlation with parental intensities.
These are very interesting phenomena that could have underpinnings in psychology, evolution and other disciplines.
To the developing child’s mind parents are omnipotent large creatures. They are the source of warmth, food and cleaning the messy smelly stuff that oozes from his orifices. Instinctually, according to the genetic code, he learns that, when he is hungry, crying will make the caretaker—often the mother—to bail out an object—often a breast—for his honor’s gourmet breakfast, snacks, lunches and dinners. The same applies to loneliness in this bright strange place. Soon, somebody rushes and scoops him and holds him tenderly while singing some soothing lullaby. No adult king or queen—even the most pompous and powerful—has ever had such glory as the infant child—all courtesy of, usually, two people called Mama and Papa.
When the “king of kings” is eating, sleeping, crying, having spa treatment, and has his ass wiped, explosive growth in neural connections are happening—the gift of billions of years of evolution. The early experiences are imprinted on to these connections, forming the bases for mental processes as the child advances in age. Some of these experiences are the notions that Ma and Pa are all-wise, all-giving, all-everything in his universe. Sooner or later, however, the child discovers that there are chinks in the parents’ all-powerful armor. Daddy’s boss tells him what to do. And daddy had an accident and is lying helplessly with his leg up in a cast. This must come as a shock to the infant. At this moment, religion becomes handy, and the parents, to cover their limitations, coach the child about the magical powers of an invisible person called, God. Hence, The Emperor’s New Clothes: if you can’t see it, you must be bad! The child now has mental communications with objects, including humans. He prays that daddy should get well. He sends his wishes to Santa Claus. He talks with his toys.
By the time party politics come into consciousness, the child is almost linked inextricably, lock stock and barrel, to parental idiosyncrasies. That is as it should be as survival conditionings. Sooner than later the child has to wean himself out of the Santa-Claus mode. But these are powerful conditionings. The parents and schools try to provide anti-dotes in the form of folk tales (the Acoli have Ododo) to train children to be cautious because there are bunko artists, charlatans, con men, and other mind assassins out there who are masters of mind manipulations. They know the powers of authoritative figures. That is how Hitler could bend the minds of millions of educated Germans to his will. That is how Museveni is able to work the minds of many Ugandans like a yoyo. That is how we have party diehards, who sacrifice their self-interests for that of the father’s party. Some even think that, if they could think “winning” and repeat some mantra, Santa Claus will deliver victory.
***If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out--Unknown
Look around you: often than not, in nine cases out of ten, the political party of the father is also the political party of the son or daughter. Also, more often than not, the religious affiliation of the father and/or mother is also that of their progeny. Moreover, it seems the intensity of the affiliations of the offspring has correlation with parental intensities.
These are very interesting phenomena that could have underpinnings in psychology, evolution and other disciplines.
To the developing child’s mind parents are omnipotent large creatures. They are the source of warmth, food and cleaning the messy smelly stuff that oozes from his orifices. Instinctually, according to the genetic code, he learns that, when he is hungry, crying will make the caretaker—often the mother—to bail out an object—often a breast—for his honor’s gourmet breakfast, snacks, lunches and dinners. The same applies to loneliness in this bright strange place. Soon, somebody rushes and scoops him and holds him tenderly while singing some soothing lullaby. No adult king or queen—even the most pompous and powerful—has ever had such glory as the infant child—all courtesy of, usually, two people called Mama and Papa.
When the “king of kings” is eating, sleeping, crying, having spa treatment, and has his ass wiped, explosive growth in neural connections are happening—the gift of billions of years of evolution. The early experiences are imprinted on to these connections, forming the bases for mental processes as the child advances in age. Some of these experiences are the notions that Ma and Pa are all-wise, all-giving, all-everything in his universe. Sooner or later, however, the child discovers that there are chinks in the parents’ all-powerful armor. Daddy’s boss tells him what to do. And daddy had an accident and is lying helplessly with his leg up in a cast. This must come as a shock to the infant. At this moment, religion becomes handy, and the parents, to cover their limitations, coach the child about the magical powers of an invisible person called, God. Hence, The Emperor’s New Clothes: if you can’t see it, you must be bad! The child now has mental communications with objects, including humans. He prays that daddy should get well. He sends his wishes to Santa Claus. He talks with his toys.
By the time party politics come into consciousness, the child is almost linked inextricably, lock stock and barrel, to parental idiosyncrasies. That is as it should be as survival conditionings. Sooner than later the child has to wean himself out of the Santa-Claus mode. But these are powerful conditionings. The parents and schools try to provide anti-dotes in the form of folk tales (the Acoli have Ododo) to train children to be cautious because there are bunko artists, charlatans, con men, and other mind assassins out there who are masters of mind manipulations. They know the powers of authoritative figures. That is how Hitler could bend the minds of millions of educated Germans to his will. That is how Museveni is able to work the minds of many Ugandans like a yoyo. That is how we have party diehards, who sacrifice their self-interests for that of the father’s party. Some even think that, if they could think “winning” and repeat some mantra, Santa Claus will deliver victory.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Rhetoric That Can Kill
Shootings of politicians are not uncommon in America. The killings usually occur on the heels of contentious environment when the levels of rhetoric become quite abrasive. So, the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabriel Gifford over the weekend was not surprising. Some loony was bound to come up and blow somebody’s head sooner than later.
Obama and ObamaCare have some people seeing red. Nobody cried foul when the Clinton-era Budget Surplus was frittered away in the Bush era on some misadventure wars, but some are now frothing in the mouths that supposedly Obama’s socialist agenda is sending America to the poorhouse. And, of course, the “economy, stupid,” with its concomitant unemployment, brings out the worst in people. So, if you ratchet up the tempo of anxiety, some dumbo is going to solve it with the barrel of the gun. That is how maladjusted kids negotiate the world of the playground—the difference: in the dark adult world of some it is lethal weapon of destruction that talks.
In the Uganda milieu Museveni is rightly sensitive to speeches that arouse the masses—hence, the law on sectarianism. Uganda’s history of demonizing one group or the other is a documented shameful fact. But, unfortunately, for Mr. Museveni, the man with a multiple personality disorder, the law is used selectively as a sword than a balm to redress wrongs.
When one witnesses the exchanges among Ugandans on the web, it causes shivers to run down one’s spine. The question is: are all the bile, hates and lack of decorum a reflection of the spirit of the country? Recently one elderly hater spitted out volleys of calumnies hoping to shut out another who did not toe the line of the “tribe.” While some dimwits hailed him, he did not get the chorus of support he expected. While it is anecdotal, the incident may show that Ugandans know an unadulterated hate when they see one. There is still hope for the Pearl of Africa. Hopefully, the disgruntled will not be forced to shoot it out.
Obama and ObamaCare have some people seeing red. Nobody cried foul when the Clinton-era Budget Surplus was frittered away in the Bush era on some misadventure wars, but some are now frothing in the mouths that supposedly Obama’s socialist agenda is sending America to the poorhouse. And, of course, the “economy, stupid,” with its concomitant unemployment, brings out the worst in people. So, if you ratchet up the tempo of anxiety, some dumbo is going to solve it with the barrel of the gun. That is how maladjusted kids negotiate the world of the playground—the difference: in the dark adult world of some it is lethal weapon of destruction that talks.
In the Uganda milieu Museveni is rightly sensitive to speeches that arouse the masses—hence, the law on sectarianism. Uganda’s history of demonizing one group or the other is a documented shameful fact. But, unfortunately, for Mr. Museveni, the man with a multiple personality disorder, the law is used selectively as a sword than a balm to redress wrongs.
When one witnesses the exchanges among Ugandans on the web, it causes shivers to run down one’s spine. The question is: are all the bile, hates and lack of decorum a reflection of the spirit of the country? Recently one elderly hater spitted out volleys of calumnies hoping to shut out another who did not toe the line of the “tribe.” While some dimwits hailed him, he did not get the chorus of support he expected. While it is anecdotal, the incident may show that Ugandans know an unadulterated hate when they see one. There is still hope for the Pearl of Africa. Hopefully, the disgruntled will not be forced to shoot it out.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Movies/Films That Make You Think While You Enjoy
Few people have not been blinded by ambition and desires to the point of neglecting families, friends, or associates. Few people have not refused to heed the advice of spouses or others in the pursuit of their dreams. If we don’t cut our bridges, we might come back crawling but wiser having been whipped by the vagaries of the world.
We are told we should take life with passion, otherwise we wobble through life in mediocrity. But, like all emotions, passion may affect us at the cellular level. Biology says amino acids, the units of peptides, a key ingredient in cell processes are joined by carbon and nitrogen atoms. This carbon and nitrogen bond is so strong it needs hours of boiling to break. Is it any wonder it is difficult to break us from the object of our passion? It is possible the memory of the passion that has lodged in our system has become quite entrenced.
Ugetsu, is Japanese classic in which two men, Genjuro and Tobei are obsessed with their different ambitions. It is a delight to watch this film and see them pursue their dreams single-heartedly only to fall on their butts in the end.
The finest silk
Of choicest hue
May change and fade away
As would my life
Beloved one
--Ugertsu
Vincere is an Italian classic of the story Benito Mussolini and his mistress, the gorgeous Ida Deslar. The powerful eroticism is probably why Ida was bounded to Mussolini at the cost of her own doom. You will understand why a young, sometimes unwisely, turns against family in the pursuit of love. If O J Simpson killed is ex-wife and friend, then this movie will make you understand the reason? It is a sizzling movie.
War is the world's only hygiene--Mussolini and his Fascist associates in Vincere
We are told we should take life with passion, otherwise we wobble through life in mediocrity. But, like all emotions, passion may affect us at the cellular level. Biology says amino acids, the units of peptides, a key ingredient in cell processes are joined by carbon and nitrogen atoms. This carbon and nitrogen bond is so strong it needs hours of boiling to break. Is it any wonder it is difficult to break us from the object of our passion? It is possible the memory of the passion that has lodged in our system has become quite entrenced.
Ugetsu, is Japanese classic in which two men, Genjuro and Tobei are obsessed with their different ambitions. It is a delight to watch this film and see them pursue their dreams single-heartedly only to fall on their butts in the end.
The finest silk
Of choicest hue
May change and fade away
As would my life
Beloved one
--Ugertsu
Vincere is an Italian classic of the story Benito Mussolini and his mistress, the gorgeous Ida Deslar. The powerful eroticism is probably why Ida was bounded to Mussolini at the cost of her own doom. You will understand why a young, sometimes unwisely, turns against family in the pursuit of love. If O J Simpson killed is ex-wife and friend, then this movie will make you understand the reason? It is a sizzling movie.
War is the world's only hygiene--Mussolini and his Fascist associates in Vincere
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Did Olara Otunnu Desert Acoli and Uganda in Their Hours of Need?
Only a select few—inclusive, Charles de Gaulle, Ayotollah Khomeni, Apollo Milton Obote—could go home from exile and become rulers. Why only a few? How did they do it? These are the million dollars questions Olara Otunnu and his fanatic fans are probably chewing on. As if these were not enough headache, Mr. Olara’s perennial nemesis has thrown the gaunlet, accusing him of deserting Acoli and Uganda, and implicitly saying he (Museveni) is the one who brought peace to Acoliland having helped create the twenty-year hell in the first place. Can you belief this guy? Only a sociopath can look you in the eye and conjure such an argument.
Let us sort the shafts from the grains. Mr. Museveni has let the cat out of the bag. His headline accusation begs the question that many Acoli have been too timid to ask, or ambivalent about the twenty-plus years, or would rather sweep under the rug anything negative pertaining to Olara. Museveni is pointing to Acoli: Here is a man who ran from me like a rabbit. I messed you up and he did not have the wherewithal to fight for you. So, vote for Daddy!
Will this tack give Museveni some vote mileage in the region? Much as reasonable ones (to free themselves) have forgiven without condoning his past deeds or reconciling with him, he is only stirring bad memories not unlike that of Arab slave traders and the at-times-underhanded British rule.
Meanwhile: Did Olara Otunnu desert Acoli and Uganda in their hours of need? Leaders who went back and assumed powers maintained constant presence in their people’s hearts in the darkest hours. There in lies the answer to the question.
Let us sort the shafts from the grains. Mr. Museveni has let the cat out of the bag. His headline accusation begs the question that many Acoli have been too timid to ask, or ambivalent about the twenty-plus years, or would rather sweep under the rug anything negative pertaining to Olara. Museveni is pointing to Acoli: Here is a man who ran from me like a rabbit. I messed you up and he did not have the wherewithal to fight for you. So, vote for Daddy!
Will this tack give Museveni some vote mileage in the region? Much as reasonable ones (to free themselves) have forgiven without condoning his past deeds or reconciling with him, he is only stirring bad memories not unlike that of Arab slave traders and the at-times-underhanded British rule.
Meanwhile: Did Olara Otunnu desert Acoli and Uganda in their hours of need? Leaders who went back and assumed powers maintained constant presence in their people’s hearts in the darkest hours. There in lies the answer to the question.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Soko's Pick: Movies That Make You Think as You Enjoy
As the weather changes, you might get couped up inside and catching cabin fever. Not to worry; Soko is here to help. My collection of extensive great world movies that usually don't get headlines might do the trick. They are out there: rent, buy, borrow or steal.
City of God. From the Rio's slums comes 130 minutes that will keep you engrossed in high tension. Violence, drugs, disoriented kids, and corrupt police. You are lucky if you lived to your twentieth birthday. Be careful what you put in a kid's heads. In the midst of all that, how comes some can be human and others escape their circumstance and prosper?
Day Break. What if you were the one who should pull the chair to hang someone who has killed your child or wife? In Iran you go to the jailhouse and decide whether you want to do it or not: Retribution? Mercy?
The Secret of the Grain. If you are an immigrant somewhere in the West, check this one out. Slimane has been forcebly retired, and want to fullfil a dream of opening a restaurant. The family drama and community dynamics are the staple. Belly dancing, anyone?
City of God. From the Rio's slums comes 130 minutes that will keep you engrossed in high tension. Violence, drugs, disoriented kids, and corrupt police. You are lucky if you lived to your twentieth birthday. Be careful what you put in a kid's heads. In the midst of all that, how comes some can be human and others escape their circumstance and prosper?
Day Break. What if you were the one who should pull the chair to hang someone who has killed your child or wife? In Iran you go to the jailhouse and decide whether you want to do it or not: Retribution? Mercy?
The Secret of the Grain. If you are an immigrant somewhere in the West, check this one out. Slimane has been forcebly retired, and want to fullfil a dream of opening a restaurant. The family drama and community dynamics are the staple. Belly dancing, anyone?
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Stuck in the Victim Archetype
The elephant in the room of Uganda—even as we talk about nine-percent GDP growth rate, or embellish the supposed twenty two national hospitals built by a past regime, or how such and such a political party is going to be the savior—is the story of blame, victims and perpetrators.
Who is blaming who? Who is the victim? Who is the perpetrator? It all depends on the ethnic or tribal group, or the ethnic within ethnic group. In this toxic stew, no self-serving nonsectarian law will change the trajectory of the dysfunctional state.
So, then, how can we get out of this mess? A bi-ethnic presidential candidate wants us to know that he is the Obama and the window to paradise. He is probably not aware that the Obama ship is sinking—courtesy of trying to please everyone in its maiden hundred-day journey. If the inter-marriage prescription can give us polyglots, so that we can, at least, understand the backbiting across the table, may be we can literally begin to understand one another. When in doubt, try anything.
The religiously inclined have a different take: We must turn to God and away from the pervasive immorality. There are several problems with this tact. First, most of the people in power profess to the Christian God. They may have gone to historical missionary schools. Why then the rampant split personalities? When we see people proclaiming the name of Jesus or Allah, we should wonder whether Jesus or Allah is responding with a hearty laugh when at the same time these characters are vicious towards other beings.
The bottom line is that most of us are damaged somehow in our very core. Considering that ninety five percent of who we are operates below consciousness—a result of downloads of conditions, events, and states that began in the womb and solidified by age six, this is the place to begin individually to understand and find the mechanisms for correcting and passing on something better for the next generations. In the meantime we can only have compassion when, in a survival mode, a president does not practice what he preaches. He is probably acting out some subconscious behavioral traits, and he is not even aware of the contradictions. Hence, the Biblical injunction, “Forgive them; they know not what they do” may make sense, literally.
For some this forgiveness thing may sound like some prosaic religious mumbo jumbo. For those of us who are turned off by obeying and/or pleasing some stern God in the netherworld, and who trust only in the experiential and proven hypotheses, there is plenty of scientific evidence in the benefits of forgiveness. If the God thing helps, go right ahead as long as you can affect the mind to sincerely do the forgiving. Eventually, we may be able to break the cycle of blame, victims and perpetrators. In Forgive for Good, Dr. Fred Luskin says, “Forgiveness allows us not to get stuck in the past.” In Radical Forgiveness, Colin Tipping adds that forgiveness “transforms the victim archetype” once and for all.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
What Are the Next Big Things?
Anybody remember researching data on microfiche? That was better than the logbooks. Just when you got adept with the microfiche machine, there was the dump desk-top machine. The manager had to force you to use the new machine by removing the microfiche machine from your vicinity. When the dump desk-top became more intelligent with the plug-and-play operating systems like Microsoft,—thanks to the mighty Bill Gates—the world arrived at the information gathering, storage and retrieval nirvana.
At about the same time in the early nineties the buzz about the Internet was coming out of the top academia, the military and government into the public arena. Now, from a small remote village, an old lady can send an e-mail to a son across the seas and, in an instant, receive a reply. One doesn’t need to understand the underlying technologies of digitization and fiber optics to do Internet.
As in that Talking Heads lyric, we might ask ourselves: How did we get here? That’s not my beautiful I-Phone; that is not my beautiful hand-thingy; and that’s not my beautiful all-in-one communication gizmo! It warms the heart that, despite the ills we hear around us, the extent of knowledge and progress seems limitless.
And now, what are the buzzes coming from academia and other research centers? There are, of course, hundreds if not thousands, but what are happening in neuroscience and molecular biology, using more powerful machines and research methods, are revolutionizing the understanding of the human condition, with the potential for our taking control of individual and community well-being.
Increasingly the researches are showing us that the brain is where all our glory and misery emanates from. Brain plasticity is a proven reality. A brain can adopt and build new connections—even until one croaks in the nineties—as long as you keep it vibrant and active.
Superiority based merely on genes using Darwinian natural selections has been debunked by the study of Epigenetics. A gene interacts in a substantial way with the environment in order to express or suppress itself. It is not Genes + Environment (G+E), but Genes ^ Environment (G^E). This single finding has enormous implications.
One can do a number of things to affect one’s happiness, physical or emotional states by activating or suppressing some of the thirty thousand genes (without changing the configuration of a gene’s DNA codes) in our genome. Moreover, the new states can then be passed on to the offspring. Imagine! The flipside, of course, is that we can pass on negative traits that we mire ourselves in. By this new biology we have the ability to change ourselves and society. It is change we can trust—and we don’t even have to be a hotshot President Obama!
So, in the spirit of The Graduate movie, where the future was in plastics, the now future is in Neuroscience and New Biology.
At about the same time in the early nineties the buzz about the Internet was coming out of the top academia, the military and government into the public arena. Now, from a small remote village, an old lady can send an e-mail to a son across the seas and, in an instant, receive a reply. One doesn’t need to understand the underlying technologies of digitization and fiber optics to do Internet.
As in that Talking Heads lyric, we might ask ourselves: How did we get here? That’s not my beautiful I-Phone; that is not my beautiful hand-thingy; and that’s not my beautiful all-in-one communication gizmo! It warms the heart that, despite the ills we hear around us, the extent of knowledge and progress seems limitless.
And now, what are the buzzes coming from academia and other research centers? There are, of course, hundreds if not thousands, but what are happening in neuroscience and molecular biology, using more powerful machines and research methods, are revolutionizing the understanding of the human condition, with the potential for our taking control of individual and community well-being.
Increasingly the researches are showing us that the brain is where all our glory and misery emanates from. Brain plasticity is a proven reality. A brain can adopt and build new connections—even until one croaks in the nineties—as long as you keep it vibrant and active.
Superiority based merely on genes using Darwinian natural selections has been debunked by the study of Epigenetics. A gene interacts in a substantial way with the environment in order to express or suppress itself. It is not Genes + Environment (G+E), but Genes ^ Environment (G^E). This single finding has enormous implications.
One can do a number of things to affect one’s happiness, physical or emotional states by activating or suppressing some of the thirty thousand genes (without changing the configuration of a gene’s DNA codes) in our genome. Moreover, the new states can then be passed on to the offspring. Imagine! The flipside, of course, is that we can pass on negative traits that we mire ourselves in. By this new biology we have the ability to change ourselves and society. It is change we can trust—and we don’t even have to be a hotshot President Obama!
So, in the spirit of The Graduate movie, where the future was in plastics, the now future is in Neuroscience and New Biology.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Can Ugandans One Day Proclaim: Gotov Je?!
“Gotov je!” (Serbian for: He is finished) was the euphoric battle outcry of the Serbian students’ non-violent movement, Otpor (Resistance). That was in the pre- and post 2000 election uprising. By June 2001, the fascist Milosevic, the Butcher of the Balkans, was in jail in the Hague—one more testimony to what the people can do without carnage if they could only understand their power. His successor was a mild lawyerly type under whom all the many disparate political parties rallied.
In post independent Uganda the use of violence has developed into the standard mode of acquiring and maintaining power. And the present leadership subscribes to that mindset. We, the people sustain it by our tacit acquiescence to the same notion. Why is that? Are there other viable means?
Looking back at Uganda history and the cultural milieu in which all the political theatre is playing can give us some clues.
To the major groups in Uganda power was monolithic. Other smaller groups were brought into the same mindset by the equally monolithic British colonial power.
The monolithic model presumes that the government is a strong, independent, durable (if not indestructible) self-reinforcing and self-perpetuating force. Fear, habit, morality, self-interest, psychological identification with the ruler, indifference, and lack of self-confidence keep the masses in check. And by the same token, accordingly, therefore, the people believe that the only means of opposing such a power structure is with overwhelming destructive force which no one has access to.
So, when Museveni adroitly acquires and successfully uses the “overwhelming destructive force” to change the government in his image he becomes a mythic figure. However, if we understand the nature of power, we can burst the myth that he acquired his dictatorial powers all by himself. The fact of the matter is: we have given him our support by our bewilderment, uncertainty and passivity. He needs the cooperation of those around him if he is to rule at all. Without the passivity of the population and the blind support of his agents (cabinet members, aids, legislative body, police, military officers, the church, LCs, etc) Museveni would just be another megalomaniac crackpot with dreams of a life presidency.
Where then can we go from here? We have to decide that enough is enough. All we need to do is withdraw our support. But, it is not that simple. We need organization and education on the efficacy of non-violent resistance movement. History tells us that in Buganda it was once used successfully in the colonial period when Indian shops and British import and export firms were boycotted. May be Olara Otunnu and Dan Muliika are on to something. For Olara, if he is to gain credibility in this arena of activist advocacy, he needs to demonstrate that this is not another avenue on which to build his partisan UPC.
----------------------------
* Ref: Fragments Website by James VanHise
The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Gene Sharp
In post independent Uganda the use of violence has developed into the standard mode of acquiring and maintaining power. And the present leadership subscribes to that mindset. We, the people sustain it by our tacit acquiescence to the same notion. Why is that? Are there other viable means?
Looking back at Uganda history and the cultural milieu in which all the political theatre is playing can give us some clues.
To the major groups in Uganda power was monolithic. Other smaller groups were brought into the same mindset by the equally monolithic British colonial power.
The monolithic model presumes that the government is a strong, independent, durable (if not indestructible) self-reinforcing and self-perpetuating force. Fear, habit, morality, self-interest, psychological identification with the ruler, indifference, and lack of self-confidence keep the masses in check. And by the same token, accordingly, therefore, the people believe that the only means of opposing such a power structure is with overwhelming destructive force which no one has access to.
So, when Museveni adroitly acquires and successfully uses the “overwhelming destructive force” to change the government in his image he becomes a mythic figure. However, if we understand the nature of power, we can burst the myth that he acquired his dictatorial powers all by himself. The fact of the matter is: we have given him our support by our bewilderment, uncertainty and passivity. He needs the cooperation of those around him if he is to rule at all. Without the passivity of the population and the blind support of his agents (cabinet members, aids, legislative body, police, military officers, the church, LCs, etc) Museveni would just be another megalomaniac crackpot with dreams of a life presidency.
Where then can we go from here? We have to decide that enough is enough. All we need to do is withdraw our support. But, it is not that simple. We need organization and education on the efficacy of non-violent resistance movement. History tells us that in Buganda it was once used successfully in the colonial period when Indian shops and British import and export firms were boycotted. May be Olara Otunnu and Dan Muliika are on to something. For Olara, if he is to gain credibility in this arena of activist advocacy, he needs to demonstrate that this is not another avenue on which to build his partisan UPC.
----------------------------
* Ref: Fragments Website by James VanHise
The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Gene Sharp
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Managing Complexities
The most powerful armed force in the world strikes, destroying everything in its wake, dismantling the perceived enemy regime, and declares victory. It is, however, victory-but—a Pyrrhic one. The natives do not show up with confetti, ululating and cheering in welcome of the “liberators” as envisaged by the architects. Instead, clandestine insurgencies become the order of the day, and will continue with no end in sight.
We have seen Clausewitz’s logic of Schwerpunkt at play: attack the enemy at its weakest point with overwhelming force and victory is assured. But is it?
The eagle glides in the sky, surveying the terrain from a mile away, and sizing up the mark undetected. Then, in an instant, it swoops down at high speed for the catch—it is precise and surgical—no peripheral damages except the dinner object.
A snake stares at the prey as if looking through its eyes and beyond. The prey freezes. It is at a loss and in fear just as the snake strikes. Again, it is precise and surgical.
In living memory the Israelis have always been successful against its Arab enemies. But the recent encounters with the Hizb’allah have been different with many Israelis killed and no definitive victory. This has helped pave the way for a return of the hawkish Netanyahu—probably with the same classical Newtonian Schwerpunkt mode of operation as compared with the Hizb’allah’s quantum mechanical adjusting on the fly as the situation warrants.
The “new” reality of the world is that you cannot tell with certainty what the outcome of an enterprise will be. However, all along that has been the state of nature as revealed by the notion of Chaos Theory, which seems counterintuitive in our yearning for certainty of outcomes.
Taking Whole is a concept attributable to the Chinese sages of antiquity. After endless wars and sufferings somebody had to come up with ideas to manage man’s affairs beyond exhorting and appeasing the gods.
So, you look around, observe and take the enemy at the neural cortex. That is, you win before the battle. You take out the enemy whole with little destruction—surgical and precise—even turning him into partner in mutual survival.
Taking Whole calls for resilience. And resilience calls for adaptability. Resilience asks such questions as: How much disturbance can a system sustain before it breaks down completely beyond repair— a resulting hysteresis—too late to recover? Can the system survive and even win at the jaws of defeat?
The head of the NRM who is the de facto NRM, Mr. Museveni, has often touted his scientific prowess. He has convinced himself that the building blocks he calls “cooking stones” are in place and all will work well for him like a Newtonian clockwork. However, recent chaotic primary exercise seems to tell a different story. Are the negative variables of the contradictions in pretense democracy finally playing itself out? Other than ability for Schwerpunkt, the NRM may not have the immune systems necessary to renew itself, and may have become too brittle to survive unpredictable events.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
We Get the Leaders We Deserve
It couldn’t get any more dysfunctional—the NRM primary, that is. The fracases were not about outrage on the pervasive poverty, mistreatment of the Kabaka, Karamojong women begging on Kampala streets, the deplorable state of public hospitals, the gagging on free speech, the sectarian law that proscribes speeches against One Crazy Dude, the lake-like potholes even on the streets of the capital city of Kampala, nor were they about any of the myriads of ills that bedevil the republic of Uganda. These were scrambling for the gravy train. In other domains you make your money then you go into politics or sponsor some weasel to whom you are the puppet master. In Uganda you go into politics then, Brakabrakabara!—the money faucet opens up as if by magic. That is the reason behind the ruckus in the NRM household. The underlings saw it from the Oga (Nigerian for Big Man) himself. He has clung to power like a tick on one of his cows. They witnessed him in sheer panic at the onset of the Dr. Beisgye’s phenomenon. They saw the skulduggery and the concocted criminal lawsuits against the brave man—the first man in Uganda to break away from a ruling party on principle.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/-/691150/997166/-/crp3ye/-/index.html
(A man walks passed Nakawa Ntinda stretcher pothole which has turned into a Map of Africa. PHOTO BY JOSEPH KIGGUNDU. )
So, what else is new? Go into any of the UG chat rooms or cyber forums, and you see a reflection of the state of the nation. We talk passed each other like ships in the night, bent on our point-of-views however ridiculous and illogical, while oblivious to the concerns of others, or even hostile for no apparent reason other than tribe or political affiliation.
What else is new? Look at the yet-to-bear-fruit nascent oil industry. A permanent secretary (effectively just an accounting officer with no elective mandate) does his shady deals under the nose of his substantial minister—all supposedly because he had access to the Oga. What is the result? Heritage Oil skipped town with half a billion $s in tax revenue—banoti banoti that could have done a whole lot of good, like prenatal care that could have turned up a genius instead of the half-wit who kneels in front of a vote-hungry politician instead of the other way around. Meanwhile the dirty white boys (some charcoal dark ones in Uganda too) of Heritage are now lounging in the Riviera, sipping Dom Pérignon or buying blood-diamond for their pale-assed missuses. http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1005152/-/co9fkaz/-/index.html
So, in the final analysis, a river cannot rise above its source. Or as they say in statistical analysis: the result of a sampling study is no better than the sample it is based on.
Who are we? Where are we coming from and where are we going? If we cannot answer these questions with any degree of conviction and relative certainty, then we deserve any hoodlum who comes along and dazzles us that he is the best thing since the invention of sliced bread.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/-/691150/997166/-/crp3ye/-/index.html
(A man walks passed Nakawa Ntinda stretcher pothole which has turned into a Map of Africa. PHOTO BY JOSEPH KIGGUNDU. )
So, what else is new? Go into any of the UG chat rooms or cyber forums, and you see a reflection of the state of the nation. We talk passed each other like ships in the night, bent on our point-of-views however ridiculous and illogical, while oblivious to the concerns of others, or even hostile for no apparent reason other than tribe or political affiliation.
What else is new? Look at the yet-to-bear-fruit nascent oil industry. A permanent secretary (effectively just an accounting officer with no elective mandate) does his shady deals under the nose of his substantial minister—all supposedly because he had access to the Oga. What is the result? Heritage Oil skipped town with half a billion $s in tax revenue—banoti banoti that could have done a whole lot of good, like prenatal care that could have turned up a genius instead of the half-wit who kneels in front of a vote-hungry politician instead of the other way around. Meanwhile the dirty white boys (some charcoal dark ones in Uganda too) of Heritage are now lounging in the Riviera, sipping Dom Pérignon or buying blood-diamond for their pale-assed missuses. http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1005152/-/co9fkaz/-/index.html
So, in the final analysis, a river cannot rise above its source. Or as they say in statistical analysis: the result of a sampling study is no better than the sample it is based on.
Who are we? Where are we coming from and where are we going? If we cannot answer these questions with any degree of conviction and relative certainty, then we deserve any hoodlum who comes along and dazzles us that he is the best thing since the invention of sliced bread.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Finally
It was a matter of time, considering the characters at play and the unclearness of objectives. Who are the players in the UPC camp, and are their objectives based on any sense of reality?
Olara grew up a wiz kid who sailed through schools with relative ease. Thanks to may be a larger-than- average working memory compared to many of us, and the discipline accorded by his Mulokole faith. High-level jobs soon followed. These are the selling points of his admirers to us the voters. But there is one hitch: the degrees and juicy jobs are a description of what he is; not who he is.
Who he is was tested when he opted to join his uncle in the six-month fiasco of the Tito Okello’s government. He effectively abandoned UPC, and eventually ended up screwing up what was a military exercise instead of his peace overture. Word on the street (or on the village path, for that matter) is he insisted on his approach against the wishes of the commanders at the war front. Then as now, he showed lack of tactical instinct and judgment.
Fast forward: Olara was in exile, and still had contentious issues with the man who bamboozled him in Nairobi. Now, he wanted to become the big honcho of the United Nation (a post Kofi Anan was to eventually get), and he was presumptuous enough to think that his country would endorse him. Here, again he demonstrated who he is. You can make your own conclusion.
Now, Olara comes back home after twenty plus years and wants to be president of the Republic of Uganda. He is Dr. Olara Otunnu, a very articulate man, the Messiah who has come to free us from our fears and the clutch of the Ogre. He will take us to a new era of freedom, paved roads, good schools and prosperity. These are what the UPC old farts of yesteryears tell us. Their offspring are also fired up. There is a sense of rupture on the possibility of the Red party wielding power again as in their formative years—even if delusional; it is still something to gun for.
Most rational people are of the opinion that the opposition has a better chance against the NRM and Museveni as a collective force. Intellectually Mr. Olara clearly saw the clarity of that strategy; hence, UPC became a member of the IPC. But then again, the devil is in the details—the tactics to reach the Promised Land.
UPC is a lady with a past and, while its membership was welcome, there were several dilemmas in addition to the obstinate character of Mr. Olara himself.
The first dilemma is: how do you deal with a member who is shunned by a large block of an electorate you wish to court? We all know that not a single UPC MP will come from Buganda territory. Museveni has to just shout: Killers! And the population would be spooked and stampede to his “warm” arms from the “terror” of the Anyanya—dissing their Kabaka or not.
So, the IPC went about with strategic maneuvers in Buganda that tactically kept Olara at a distance. This did not go well for a proud man and his followers; hence, the “getting no respect” complaint. Moreover, joining the IPC was one attempt for the Red party to regain credibility. If that is not forthcoming, why remain part of the coalition?
A second dilemma might have been the insistence by Olara on the investigation of what happened in the Luweero war. Some members of the IPC are ex-combatants on the other side of Olara’s and, if they have skeletons in their closets, wouldn’t want the murk coming up now. Moreover, the investigation would skew focus and might benefit Museveni rather than the opposition by reminding the electorate of his prowess to “liberate” them—the real Messiah.
So, what now? The IPC message is still about replacing Museveni. Museveni, after a quarter of a century, has benefited only a minority of the population. The message against UPC would be: the party of the past, saddled with bad records, and simply cannot win and deliver the population from Museveni. Period.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Is UPC Out? Is UPC In?
UG Cyberspace is abuzz as to whether or not UPC has called it quits. Kaput! Cut ties with the loose opposition alliance. For weeks now the party’s wing of the mental grunge has been impatient and unhappy. What they cannot understand: How come people can’t see that the precocious Olara (they prefer to address him as The Ambassador, Dr. Olara Otunnu) should be the flag bearer of the opposition joint venture? Can’t people see that Olara is gaining ground in the North, especially the Acoli sub region? Forget that the region alone cannot mathematically secure a whimsy competitive edge against the wily Museveni. Somehow the rest of the country will see the shinning light and UPC will hit a homerun. And then, there is the Mao factor: The two will have to split the loot of the Northern Illusionists’ votes, making them both weaker in the numbers game, if not personal political power.
Here is what we know: Olara had jetted (we prefer the Ugandan lingo) to London where he rolled out his 10-Point Program to an assortment of adoring Keyos, whose aspirations are projected in him. The wisdom of the venue and the vote-getting feasibility of the program are for others to judge.
We also know that Olara is a fugitive, courtesy of a Lira judge. It is possible that he is trying to be sneaky to avoid being paraded in handcuffs. A tactical person would have said: bring the handcuffs and let the whole world see the pernicious nature of the NRM regime. In any case, why didn’t he call up his ICP comrades and tell them he was in a bind? Instead one “insider” complained about the nature of Ugandans: How they like publicity and had to hold the nominations at Kololo airstrip with cameras flashing. What is wrong with that if not the essence of openness? No, according to this wiseacre—he prefers some dark corridors to cut shady deals. Can anyone recall where and how the KY-UPC alliance was cooked up? If you guessed dark corridors, the Red party might award you a medal for your [extinguished] memory.
Let us be serious, brothas and sistas. UPC can exit the ICP at its own peril. It is a party coming from the ashes of utter and complete defeat in the game of machinations of man-to-man. Someone said: Patience is not only a virtue, sometimes it is simply survival. As the current opposition Big Kahuna, of course, FDC has a dominant role. So, the notion that ICP is FDC should be taken with a resigned acceptance of the nature of change. By hanging onto the coattail of ICP, a.k.a. FDC, UPC can bid its time and one day will gain national currency. It has a bevy of highly educated (mostly of the “expert” or functionary varieties) zealots who will do anything to revive their fathers’, uncles’ or brothers’ party of yesteryears. Sooner or later, sleek Mercedes Benzes might one day again snake through the village dirt roads to pay homage to the patriarchs, and all will be well. For now, let us get rid of the Yellow peril.
The alternative is, of course, to quit and scramble for Acoli votes that are not decisive. Even Lango is not going out in droves to support the party of the Nyamuranga which has been usurped by an unreliable Agang. If UPC gets one-tenth of one percent in West Nile, it will be godsend. Soon UPC will shrivel into an Acoli party—affirmatively, sans Soko.
Here is what we know: Olara had jetted (we prefer the Ugandan lingo) to London where he rolled out his 10-Point Program to an assortment of adoring Keyos, whose aspirations are projected in him. The wisdom of the venue and the vote-getting feasibility of the program are for others to judge.
We also know that Olara is a fugitive, courtesy of a Lira judge. It is possible that he is trying to be sneaky to avoid being paraded in handcuffs. A tactical person would have said: bring the handcuffs and let the whole world see the pernicious nature of the NRM regime. In any case, why didn’t he call up his ICP comrades and tell them he was in a bind? Instead one “insider” complained about the nature of Ugandans: How they like publicity and had to hold the nominations at Kololo airstrip with cameras flashing. What is wrong with that if not the essence of openness? No, according to this wiseacre—he prefers some dark corridors to cut shady deals. Can anyone recall where and how the KY-UPC alliance was cooked up? If you guessed dark corridors, the Red party might award you a medal for your [extinguished] memory.
Let us be serious, brothas and sistas. UPC can exit the ICP at its own peril. It is a party coming from the ashes of utter and complete defeat in the game of machinations of man-to-man. Someone said: Patience is not only a virtue, sometimes it is simply survival. As the current opposition Big Kahuna, of course, FDC has a dominant role. So, the notion that ICP is FDC should be taken with a resigned acceptance of the nature of change. By hanging onto the coattail of ICP, a.k.a. FDC, UPC can bid its time and one day will gain national currency. It has a bevy of highly educated (mostly of the “expert” or functionary varieties) zealots who will do anything to revive their fathers’, uncles’ or brothers’ party of yesteryears. Sooner or later, sleek Mercedes Benzes might one day again snake through the village dirt roads to pay homage to the patriarchs, and all will be well. For now, let us get rid of the Yellow peril.
The alternative is, of course, to quit and scramble for Acoli votes that are not decisive. Even Lango is not going out in droves to support the party of the Nyamuranga which has been usurped by an unreliable Agang. If UPC gets one-tenth of one percent in West Nile, it will be godsend. Soon UPC will shrivel into an Acoli party—affirmatively, sans Soko.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Gaming the Vote
With election fever heating up, Gaming the Vote by William Poundstone could be a good book to browse through. Among other theories he propounds, the “spoiler” effect could be something to be aware of in the Uganda milieu.
Here is an extract of the review of the book. You can get the full text from the source below.
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Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (and What We Can Do about It)
by William Poundstone
Electoral Knowledge
A review by Gerry Donaghy
While most Americans would characterize our electoral process as "one person, one vote," the route to the White House is considerably byzantine. For example, think of the system of primaries currently happening. I defy the average voter who lives outside of a caucusing state to describe accurately how that process works. As candidates begin to drop out of the race, many voters in states that have yet to hold primaries have lost the chance to vote for these candidates. Why do so-called "super-delegates" exist? Why exactly do we still utilize an archaic institution like the Electoral College?
Election issues get further complicated when you consider that despite protestations to the contrary, America is essentially a two-party state, and attempts by third parties to be elected to pubic office on the national level often lead to failure. More detrimental to the third parties are their effect as spoilers on election. Most recently, Ralph Nader's presence on the presidential ballot in 2000 was viewed by many to have cost Democrat Al Gore the election.
For a complete text of the review go to: http://www.powells.com/review/2008_02_09.html
Sunday, August 8, 2010
To Kill with a Borrowed Knife
• I am sending you like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matt 10:16)
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The Chinese are renounced for their use of stratagems in interpersonal relationships, business and wars. This is a cultural trait honed over centuries of their often tumultuous history.
Stratagem is not to be confused with strategy. The latter is more about long-range planning. Stratagem is about ruse or deception to achieve a goal—tactical maneuvers. What was the biblical Christ using here if not stratagem? : I am sending you like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves. (Matt. 10:16).
The use of stratagems is not exclusive to the Chinese. It is often found in low-trust societies, of which Uganda is one. So, no matter the ethical qualm one might have, one has to beware of some common ruses to be protected against or even make use of.
Say, you are told that you are not to carry out your planned demonstration in the district because of orders from above: What exactly does this mean? Is the RDC settling scores, protecting his rear-end or just an over-jealous partisan? In the end he is killing with a borrowed knife, the authority from above.
In these days of heightened emotions and rhetoric due to the coming 2011 elections, one has to be on guard. When snake-oil peddlers claim that such and such a Big Man said this and that, perk your ears. Don’t jump up and down in excitement like a maniac. The peddler is trying to make love to your mind, using the Big Honcho as his knife.
Here are some examples of what to take with a grain of salt: You see a picture at a rally in which there are seemingly thousands of people; is this real or is it some camera trick? Did 100 people or a prominent MP really cross from the opposition to the NRM? Is the claim that so and so has the support of the “educated” backed by polling data? If so, what does that mean in terms of the demographic avenue to winning? Or is it a trick to create momentum? Tribal loyalty has already been mentioned as an intimidation means to push some with no chances of winning nationally. The old man said: "We give our support, not because of tribe, but because the man is very qualified." I have a title deed to Aswa Bridge, and it is for sale.
Now that you have a label on what you might have already used yourself, look around you and kill with a borrowed knife or avoid being killed with one. There are myriads of other elegant ruses one can use instead of frontal assaults which may turn you into mincemeat. For, even the great Mencius of Confucian fame, justified the use of stratagems if only for people to revenge themselves on those who treated them like dogs or dirt.
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The Chinese are renounced for their use of stratagems in interpersonal relationships, business and wars. This is a cultural trait honed over centuries of their often tumultuous history.
Stratagem is not to be confused with strategy. The latter is more about long-range planning. Stratagem is about ruse or deception to achieve a goal—tactical maneuvers. What was the biblical Christ using here if not stratagem? : I am sending you like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves. (Matt. 10:16).
The use of stratagems is not exclusive to the Chinese. It is often found in low-trust societies, of which Uganda is one. So, no matter the ethical qualm one might have, one has to beware of some common ruses to be protected against or even make use of.
Say, you are told that you are not to carry out your planned demonstration in the district because of orders from above: What exactly does this mean? Is the RDC settling scores, protecting his rear-end or just an over-jealous partisan? In the end he is killing with a borrowed knife, the authority from above.
In these days of heightened emotions and rhetoric due to the coming 2011 elections, one has to be on guard. When snake-oil peddlers claim that such and such a Big Man said this and that, perk your ears. Don’t jump up and down in excitement like a maniac. The peddler is trying to make love to your mind, using the Big Honcho as his knife.
Here are some examples of what to take with a grain of salt: You see a picture at a rally in which there are seemingly thousands of people; is this real or is it some camera trick? Did 100 people or a prominent MP really cross from the opposition to the NRM? Is the claim that so and so has the support of the “educated” backed by polling data? If so, what does that mean in terms of the demographic avenue to winning? Or is it a trick to create momentum? Tribal loyalty has already been mentioned as an intimidation means to push some with no chances of winning nationally. The old man said: "We give our support, not because of tribe, but because the man is very qualified." I have a title deed to Aswa Bridge, and it is for sale.
Now that you have a label on what you might have already used yourself, look around you and kill with a borrowed knife or avoid being killed with one. There are myriads of other elegant ruses one can use instead of frontal assaults which may turn you into mincemeat. For, even the great Mencius of Confucian fame, justified the use of stratagems if only for people to revenge themselves on those who treated them like dogs or dirt.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Just what is the Somalia Strategy?
A cardinal axiom of management is that an enterprise must have the correct strategy for its tactics to succeed. Tactics, the progeny is compelled by the genetic potential imperatives in the vigor of the father strategy. Bring all the brilliant tactics to bear, if the strategy is ill-defined, don’t be surprised with failure. The question of chicken and egg does not arise. And you just cannot turn a frog into a prince.
Mr. Museveni is said to have walked out of an AU meeting discussing Somalia. He was in a foul mood because his daimyo (Japanese shogun-era lord) benefactor was tight with his wallet since his economy was in the doldrums and is fighting close to three wars simultaneously. The spat about dough gives one a glimpse of the underlying Museveni motive beyond the noise of supposed peace-keeping mission by a dirt-poor nation of Uganda. Sometimes daredevil pugilists attempt to punch above their weight levels with the result that speaks for itself.
Considering the Somalian dynamics, a peace-keeping mission, which amounts to propping a cobbled-up fragile government for years to come, should have been outright rejected by the Ugandan people. But, in a dictatorship, this was not to be: Uganda went it alone with the support of little Burundi which essentially was currying favors from its flamboyant neighbor up North.
Months later, what do we have? Deaths in Somalia. Deaths here at home. And the president is supposedly boiling with anger. Let us see if he is going to be scientific (as according to him: not emotion but science is a prerequisite for war). He swore to pursue al-Shaabab to the end of the earths! Could the daimyo throw some more silver in his war bowl? Signals are being sent to him. Already a hostile diplomat changed his tune: Museveni is not a dictator before he was a dictator. !@$$^%^&#!! Does it make you dizzy? Is it a Japanese Zen koan or some Chinese riddle?
If this exercise is about curbing terrorism, such a threat from Somalia to Uganda was not there before the ill-fated mission. In fact, I have a Somali acquaintance who often taunted me by lauding the greatness of Museveni. Now, his antics have become hostile and, not taking chances, I am in a war mode whenever our paths cross.
Let us say the president finds some banoti-banoti (as my cousin used to say), and goes on an al-Shaabab hunting trip, here are some warnings: Somalis are not the kinds of “biological substances” he decisively routed in Uganda. They are more evil than he, Museveni is, and Uganda will be just another “clan” to contend with and avenge against. And it won’t be pretty for years to come. Next year the next president should just pull our boys out of there the day after his inauguration.
Mr. Museveni is said to have walked out of an AU meeting discussing Somalia. He was in a foul mood because his daimyo (Japanese shogun-era lord) benefactor was tight with his wallet since his economy was in the doldrums and is fighting close to three wars simultaneously. The spat about dough gives one a glimpse of the underlying Museveni motive beyond the noise of supposed peace-keeping mission by a dirt-poor nation of Uganda. Sometimes daredevil pugilists attempt to punch above their weight levels with the result that speaks for itself.
Considering the Somalian dynamics, a peace-keeping mission, which amounts to propping a cobbled-up fragile government for years to come, should have been outright rejected by the Ugandan people. But, in a dictatorship, this was not to be: Uganda went it alone with the support of little Burundi which essentially was currying favors from its flamboyant neighbor up North.
Months later, what do we have? Deaths in Somalia. Deaths here at home. And the president is supposedly boiling with anger. Let us see if he is going to be scientific (as according to him: not emotion but science is a prerequisite for war). He swore to pursue al-Shaabab to the end of the earths! Could the daimyo throw some more silver in his war bowl? Signals are being sent to him. Already a hostile diplomat changed his tune: Museveni is not a dictator before he was a dictator. !@$$^%^&#!! Does it make you dizzy? Is it a Japanese Zen koan or some Chinese riddle?
If this exercise is about curbing terrorism, such a threat from Somalia to Uganda was not there before the ill-fated mission. In fact, I have a Somali acquaintance who often taunted me by lauding the greatness of Museveni. Now, his antics have become hostile and, not taking chances, I am in a war mode whenever our paths cross.
Let us say the president finds some banoti-banoti (as my cousin used to say), and goes on an al-Shaabab hunting trip, here are some warnings: Somalis are not the kinds of “biological substances” he decisively routed in Uganda. They are more evil than he, Museveni is, and Uganda will be just another “clan” to contend with and avenge against. And it won’t be pretty for years to come. Next year the next president should just pull our boys out of there the day after his inauguration.
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