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To:cogole@gmail.com
May 5, 2015 at 1:30 PM
DECEPTIONS AND BLACKMAILS THROUGH NAME-CALLING, FABRICATIONS, ETC
[SIMPLIFIED]
By Caesar Ogole
Step 1. A says one thing to B in private, for example, praising him/her for being a very good
understanding, God-sent, cultured member of LAONA. "If everyone was like you, LAONA would be far"!
Now, B thinks the rest of the members are the lazy, bad people - cause of failure of LAONA.- It’s
common that A actually says things that badly damage the reputation of another person C to B. (I have
to be clear at this point that some of the rumor may be true, and it may be worth knowing. But the
(i) A talks behind the back of another person to B, “That woman is mentally disturbed. Don’t
listen to her. I don’t even read her emails. She doesn’t even know what she writes”. This
particular one came from a Canadian woman talking about a fellow Canadian woman – in a
private email when I asked one (A) to help me understand what the other(B) was saying in
(ii) Words that I last heard before teenage: “Dako no obedo awingi ”
(iii) Another example, someone says to me (over telephone): “that guy from USA went on some
visit with his family to Canada. But the woman who lives in Canadian city kept visiting him in
the hotel room… three times!” I asked myself, what’s the relevance of this, even if it were
(iv) Or, in private or public (email forum), a relatively new member (B) gets attacked by A, “In
your current mental state, I don’t see you winning any grant soon!” … only for the “accused”
to win a grant or two months later – but of course the accused might not be the type to
engage in such behavior (of proving A wrong by publicizing or showing off his/her “new
awards”- out of natural modesty, if not anything else), so B will simply ignore such charges
…. But it should be immaterial or none of anyone’s business whether or not the “accused”
won a grant or not. People have so many priorities in their lives. [What if the accuser is the
one suffering from severe mental problem or simply acting maliciously– causing him/her to
(v) “That guy is gay!” This came from another woman (over the phone, talking about another
man). So what? Very dirty tricks that I don’t think anyone should be proud of.
(vi) “That guy is HIV positive… !” Yes, it may be true. What can we do to help, if he/she needs
our help? [That is, why are you telling me- if you are not simply celebrating someone else
(vii) “His wife left him with the children. Now he is stranded”. Yes, it may be true, what can we do
to help? [That is, why are you telling me- if you are not simply celebrating someone else
(viii) “That guy is [used to be] a thief”. How am I supposed to believe you without proof?
(ix) “Oh, that guy is very smart especially over wine! Don’t try him”!
(x) A woman or man talks seductively to divert attention from a serious issue at stake (or by
Tell her that Mr. D paid his membership fee at the Convention but I can’t understand why his
name has not been added to the membership(email) list! I talked to her but she is not
listening. Call her, tell her.. Man, I don’t know what to do…” I actually gave it a pass, called
the Treasurer that evening and asked why the man was cry-talking over a membership fee
of another person, for whatever reason… (Of course, the treasurer would not know nor
would she be held accountable since she assumed her office way after the Inaugural
convention). Sometimes, someone on the phone fakes emotions including crying, seductive
talks, or anything that can help his or her point garner support. [And using elders (expected
to be role models) to say misleading stuff, as long as their nearest relatives are not affected
negatively - …]
(xii) And the most sophisticated ones are fallacious reasoning: one that manipulates language
and logic, basically the predator preys on the ignorance of the prey, or rather limited
understanding of the language and its loopholes (e.g fallacies). The language can be any
(xiii) Other real examples: Attacking people’s physical characteristics. That man is tall/big. He is
a “Security guard. “ That short man/woman… He is “ogwingkol”. That fat slob, etc… If [the
other civilized] societies were to behave like this, for example, we would not have our great
(xiv) Timing of coordinated coercions and other forms of manipulations (e.g with seductions
running in parallel behind the scenes): mounting unnecessary pressure (in disguise) on an
behavior), lose rationality– or lose autonomy at a crucial time (e.g peak of his/her relatively
good performance); with such coercive forces leading to confession, if any – or subversion
(xv) Other techniques such as planting [unfounded] suggestions into the subconscious (in private
loyalty/obedience, or when the rational part is obscured using seductive allures … E.g this
particular one from a senior (female) Board member came to me in January 2014 (in
oblivion of the fact that I’m a top gun or Founding Father, above all these things), and I
believe the same suggestion (or variants of it – depending on the target’s likely predilection)
given to other people is the cause of some (not all!) people “scampering” to Uganda en-
masse (in late 2013 and early 2014) to conduct cultural research, or start their own local
NGOs (or “NGO-affiliates”- a term I have just come to understand in Jan 2015) - as evidence
Lango its top priority. Unlike the other committees, the International Programs
Committee cannot just recommend that we start working on such and such a
project without making a case for it and without evidence. I have been doing
someleg work on schools in Lango (all levels) and where our support would
make the most impact now, medium-term and long-term. I will present that as
part of our business case. The most important thing for the Association to focus
on will be to raise money for these programs otherwise my old quote remains
valid "Good thoughts are no better than good dreams unless they be executed".
So you can join me or even take over the Committee if this is something you
would be interested in. No discussions have been initiated on school issues here
March 2013… when one community member called me on phone and told me, “Naka dako
dang amito bedo Won Nyaci”. Then he added, “Lono obedo akun akun ni, ni imito bedo
Chairman, .. ayeto totere dang te kun kene”. In America?! Personal attacks is as primitive as
(xvii) Control of information flow: "Freedom is all about sorting information and distributing
knowledge. Politics, the distribution of power, is all about controlling the free flow of
calculus, and few people with tremendous political power are able to control the
distribution of information about the decisions that are made about the things that
really matter, things that impact your life and your stuff, and the taxes you pay, or
the health care you are allowed to buy, or even the things you are allowed to say in
public square. This is a very good thing." From the text-book - Don't hurt people,
Step 2. Then, person A turns around to another person C (in private), and praises C exactly the same
way as he/she did to B - making C look at B and others as the lazybones or detractors or less qualified,
for that matter. "I 'm the man! (Or I'm the woman!)" [If it is not an attack, then it is some flattery… or
so].
It does not matter whether A, or B is only a regular member or a Board member (or Executive)-
although I must be careful to say it could only be about 10 members of LAONA (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J)
playing these games - sometimes based on the premises built in 1 above. And the whole thing is meshed
up like grids, with silent majority feeding on anything they can hear. Everyone (especially
silent/reserved/servile person) thinks he/she is looked at more favorably. Of course, one feels much
better when praised by a more popular Executive Officer of LAONA, owing to his/her - yes – perceived
power! [And it is becoming more of a tradition that the most recent or bigger donor gets more
attention/praise - which is understandable - making him/her think he/she is God-sent]. But overall,
confusion reigns!
Step 3. Until someone (say B) comes public (producing private email or phone conversation as
evidence) and to show how these contradicting "private emails" are happening, you will never know
how A is saying one thing toC about D and yet A might also be saying the opposite thing
to D about C... while A independently cautions C and D to keep it private! But now, C and D have some
(baseless) bad feelings about each other because of what A told them in separate private emails (which
is usually false information). And yet, in reality, C and D are very good people who could otherwise be
very good friends and work together only if it wasn't because of the LAONA culture!
Step 4. And this is a very difficult problem even in a community as small as 30 members, and it gets
worse when recruitment is motivated by the need to reinforce these sorts of partisan thinking. It
requires only two people to start such a dynamic and the whole association plunges in chaos, just as it is
in LAONA
Step 5. Anyone who goes public, out of sympathy- for example, and tries to explain something will be
met with an "enemy" - that person who already has a bad view of the other. [Apoo apoa anwongo dong
ngatoro tye ayeta. This is not funny!] The idea is that people then fear to talk publicly or fear to express
differing opinions publicly - which is terrible! And now that the few leaders (who manipulated trust to
get to their positions) warn people about private communication, the problem goes back to number 3
above. And to explain these things, one has to be elaborate. And people who have phobia for reading or
writing, or for fear of being exposed, rush to call it "lame dissertation". They rush to ask questions such
So are you surprised why we have lots of strikes in [Ugandan] schools, etc…? The dynamics
above is the cause ! Of course, there might be some genuine causes—… but that’s another
topic…
Solution:
Don’t easily believe anything anyone tells you! And be suspicious with people who don’t want to write
down clearly their messages; those who like” talking” only on the phone one on one or in subgroup, and
when you ask them to send an email (that is, put things on writing), they will hesitate to do it… And even
with the email, check to verify facts… with different reliable sources. Best thing to do: if it is community-
related, resend or broadcast the “private email” to the entire list—that’s one way of exposing thieves or
charlatans. [That’s why peer-review in academia is a great thing. To check for “lies”, if not inadvertent
mistakes made by peers. That’s why the definition of “truth” is still a philosophical problem.]. Above all,
How to resolve false arguments [The document is quite technical but very important indeed! It
is very tempting to burst into “ayet”, or vulgars or profanity– in response to a false argument
but as explained in that document, “ayet” will not help dissipate the “perplexity”. The
perplexity may even worsen! The correct response, called resolution of false arguments must
be through sound reasoning! And that’s why we have this so many pages of documents!
Through sound reasoning, we may throw it back to the person making allegations to prove
beyond reasonable doubt his/her claims, etc]. Perhaps, in some cases, it is better to simply not
pay attention to it… for example, some indirect articles may be published in newspapers or
blogs, etc. Ignore it for it is a waste of time… Let them waste their own time and resources as
long as the larger community is enlightened! Those are people who perhaps have known that
they are nearing the end of their capabilities, in one way or the other, so what better things can
slave! The slave owner can be of any color, black, white, blue, etc- and he may not be as
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