Politics is a head game. So, you have to keep your wits about you. Then reach into the heads of your opponents to divine whether they plan to kill you softly or ensure you die hard. Either way, it’s your way or your adversary’s byway. Especially when both of you find a way to one another’s solar plexuses, leaving one of you winded. As winds of change blow this way and that. Deception has been a handy tool in this adversarial contest. It’s the basis of all war, according to the unwarlike. Because, we are told, the best war is the war that is avoided. That’s why certain mind games must now come off the bench to enjoy some playing time. But what mind games are these? Using you, against you: You don’t have a position.
What you have is a conspiracy of silence. It begins with ‘pluralistic ignorance’. This ‘is a social phenomenon where individuals privately disagree with a group norm but mistakenly believe they are alone in their dissent, leading them to conform publicly’. We all agree to disagree with the Parish Development Model (PDM), for instance. Especially when we know the government could have got a lingerie or plus-size model instead. How does a ‘Parish Development Model’ specialise in posing in bathing suits or undergarments for catalogues? We all knew this was bad. But because nobody said anything about it, we assumed that everybody’s public silence reflected their private consent.
The Government of Uganda has invested at least Shs4.3 trillion in the Parish Development Model, and we immediately assumed PDM’s figure had the shape of a Naomi Campbell or an Aamito Lagum. We were wrong. The spiral of silence: This is a political communication theory where individuals suppress their own opinions if they believe they are in the minority, due to a fear of social isolation. That’s why, although Mzee secretly agrees his government is ‘in the red’ or in debt, he would spend a fortune proving NUP is bankrupt. Not just ideologically. NUP seems to be in the red when it comes to their attire, too. The cost of wearing red is so steep that NUP owes three members freedom. They were arrested on November 18, 2020, in the areas around Kampala, where they were found with red berets, a NUP signature headgear.
Can the party cover the legal costs? It cannot say. NUP is looking for votes, not social isolation. Sadopopulism: This is a term that describes a form of political strategy where leaders use cruelty and the spectacle of others’ suffering to appeal to their voter base. Thus, it was necessary for the army to beat the living excrement out of regime opponents. This distracted the populace with the suffering of others, to normalise the vast wealth disparity between the elite and the average citizen. Indeed, the focus shifted away from questions of wealth inequality to a boxing match, in which the government has taken off its gloves while the Opposition’s hands are tied behind its back.
Aura farming: This is a social media slang term referring to the deliberate cultivation of a charismatic or “cool” persona, or “aura,” often through repetitive or stylised actions. The Badman from Kamwokya creates this exact mystique about himself. He always dresses well and speaks with a cool that’s too hot to handle and too cold to hold. It’s surely working. Especially by creating a contrast between how cool Badman is compared with how uncool the security forces are when interrupting the Badman’s cool.
Negging: This is a form of emotional manipulation that involves giving subtle insults or backhanded compliments to undermine a person’s self-confidence. The goal of negging is to make someone feel insecure so they will seek your approval, giving you a sense of power and control. Mzee once said, “You see, Badman sings, I don’t eat his songs, but I feel relaxed when listening to them.’ He made the backhanded remark during a meeting with a youth coalition in February 2021, thereby reminding us that Badman can put a smile on our faces, but not food on our tables.