JUDGEMENT DAY
This would be a deviation from the standard apologetic discourses in which I have often engaged in the past. But it became reasonable to write after harbouring this light of intuition burning upon the candlestick of my mind. This essay is part of a larger discourse I have been creating for two months now. These are my maps, stemming from the circumstances I am in. So forgive me if it pays little dividends as you read. Regardless, it will be necessary to try and keep an open mind to the theory I present here.
One of my goals or dreams is to contribute to humanity, specifically my African people or the Ghanaian soul. This has often caused me to muse over ideas that will be helpful for that contribution. After all, we can contribute in skill or in idea, for that constitutes the full rigour of lending strength towards nation-building.
Even though man is religious at the core, politics necessarily manifests in all his endeavours. Once upon a time, humans were said to be living groups of hunters and gatherers. Within this simple system, they had to create a system of governance that would enable the assembly of their group; a code had to be in operation that dictated the parameters of the operation of its constituents. Gradually, this style of governance evolved into the more sophisticated system we have today. Failure to comply with the way things are would mean that the defector would be ostracised from the group. The tribal nature and the political dimension found it necessary to not just contend and war with other tribal groups for territories and resources but to fight within their camp to preserve their throne.
Just as charity begins at home, so too does politics. That is, the culture, activities, and the processes involved with governing and being governed are precipitated at home. Along the way, theological concepts governed the ages. From the time the Catholic Church crystallised, it assumed a dogmatic stance; it wasn’t just satisfied with mediating between men and God; it was heavily involved in the politics of the day, becoming a stronghold. The church ostracised anyone who was not paying attention to their way of things; this continued as the Catholic Church waged war within the Crusades, war on witchcraft, etc.
The Enlightenment, had the thinkers of that era reshape the western world with ideas and thoughts away from religious dogma, science, and reason, would usher mankind into its next phase. But as you can tell, history shows that science has become the word and the mouthpiece by which people justify their ideas, much like in those days when folks would use God to justify their actions. Just look at the average herbal medicine man on television; all of them are FDA certified and have won countless awards and accolades. They create the rhetoric using features of science and religion, a potent combination to reach the heart and the head so that they can fetch a broader customer base.
The political dimension of humans in its emergence isn’t just satisfied with power; it is concerned with "how I can rule or extend my power for as long as I can"; it finds people to paint as enemies and fight wars with them in the quest for self-preservation. One might ask, "How does this reflect on Ghanaian politics?” Ghanaians are not going to war with their fellow brethren. Ghana is a peaceful country, after all.
To answer this is to answer the heart of a very complex question since our independence, but a simple view of this would be the use of a mythology—wrestling.
What do you see when you watch wrestling? Do you just see John Cena smashing people around or the undertaker rolling his eyeballs and showcasing his mystical power? If you are just in the entertainment business, screaming loudly and being offended, it is clear that you do not understand the larger picture this may be trying to convey. The WWE, like other wrestling entertainment, comes from a long history of gladiators. And within these gladiatorial games, men fought themselves and beasts. The question I want to pose to you is this: what if this game organised by the emperors and kings at its heart was to distract the people from the uncomfortable life they had at that time or an abuse going on? What if the entertainment was to detain the attention of the people for a moment so the winds would blow over cumbersome or embarrassing issues? If you were able to sell a show and sell it well, people would believe what has been sold to the extent that it would preoccupy their minds, and they would take sides, just like they do in today's gladiatorial games, aka WWE.
Why do you like John Cena? He is charismatic, the good guy who wins despite the odds thrown at him. Why do you hate Brock Lesner? Because he's a bully who doesn’t respect anyone. Why do you like the undertaker? I mean, why would you hate him? He is the undertaker, the mystique. What people fail to notice, even though they know the truth, is that they are immersed in the narratives to the extent that they begin to project their biases and emotions on the characters. I was so deeply immersed in wrestling that I hated Brock Lesner simply because he beat the undertaker and broke his streak. I have not been unable to watch the full match until today.
With the advent of social media, the general public is privy to a lot of the backstage drama; the so-called fights are first and foremost staged, so they know who is going to win, and the truth is, some of them are friends who pretend to be enemies on stage. And they are able to project the character so well that the audience not only buys into it but becomes emotionally invested in it. I remember the face of a black dude when the undertaker lost his streak (I’ve watched the highlights; I closed my eyes when Brock pinned the undertaker).
I began to ask myself, What if that’s the case and that the political climate within our country is a narrative being sold to the public? What if those in power have concluded that this is how Ghanaians are and utilise the same method, recycling it every four years and rehearsing it for power? Election Day is supposed to be a moment when the citizens of Ghana judge the people they gave power, but it never seems that way. Election Day seems like a promotion day in the eyes of the people, where their favourite assumes power.
Looking again at the WWE, two people must sell a fight and must coordinate to make the fight look very real, but are they really enemies? Not always, but they put their collective energies into creating a real impression that they are hurting each other to the delight of the crowds. They utilise the oldest primordial archetypes of the hero vs. villain story, spinning a straw into gold. They can mesmerise the crowds enough with their words and staged crafts for them to buy tickets. This is how they push agendas. It is acting. But this hero vs. villain narrative seems to resonate with our minds so much so that, though we know it is false, we act as though it is true, and, in the moment, it becomes true for us. This process of enchanting the crowd into reacting to a narrative is what I would like to call Logo-rhythm (logos means speech; rhythm is a pattern or the flow) or patterned rhetoric. There is a manner in which the camera operates, an angle it must take, a posture to assume, and a way they speak to enchant the crowd to the extent they solicit their reactions, which is after all what they were after all along.
Come to think of it, enchantment within magical fairytales often utilises logo-rhythm, patterned speech also known as spells, to enchant the minds of people. The political realm of Ghana can be seen as a group of men and women attempting to obtain positions of power who utilise logo-rhythm to mesmerise the minds of the people. They turn their opponents into enemies and have to wage a verbal war on them in order to preserve their thrones and influence. By utilising logo-rhythm, they are able to court reactions from a camp, a tribe, or a group of people who easily put reason under the table so they can wear their political mask. This, in my opinion, is treason to Mother Ghana; our duty is to the nation first and not a man's political ideology. But betrayal has always been easy when words of honey whispers to an empty stomach.
The political climate of this nation is a show being put on by many of the people with no genuine heart to help society, but to preserve their power. That is why they wage verbal wars and cast aspersions. Every development they make has to be a political statement. My party did this, and my party did that. Many of them have their own media houses, which they use covertly to enchant the minds of their listeners while pretending to be unbiased. I have a full article on the media and how they utilise logorhythm to create pornography.
Ask yourself, what if their so-called political opponents are friends behind the scenes? What if they utilise logo-rhythm and patterned rhetoric to enchant the mind? Like the apostle Paul said, who has bewitched you? Who has bewitched your minds? Some say I belong to this part A or B; that is who I am. If the party splits or dissolves, who will you be then?
If the leaders of our days have concluded upon our facticity, then you must be damn sure they will use it to their advantage.
The necessary step then is to break the enchantment. It takes a spell to break a spell, and it takes logo-rhythm to break out of an enchantment. Just like in wrestling, you can watch it and deem it just acting; realise that those who mount the podium are not gods; they have no more divinity than you; they are mortal men; see what they say as provisional; do not outsource your political literacy to mere word salads and political gyrations. Till today, people are mesmerised when a political figure utilises big grammar or a pattern of English that has a foreign flavour to it. They are in love with their new gods and their logorhythm. It makes it easier to deceive the ones who want to be deceived, and who can be deceived more than a heart submerged in the feeling of the moment?
Prayer is a type of logo-rhythm; it focuses on using a pattern of speech in making petitions before God. There was a day I learned that the national anthem was formulated like a prayer. The national anthem has a line: "Help us resist oppressors rule with all our will and might forever more". Are we resisting the oppressor’s rule or are we entertained by it? It is easier to go on Twitter to speak about how disappointed you are with the government, but the useful question is, what do you do with the micro-oppression and oppressors you have in this life? Have you just concluded that’s how life is, or have you attempted to rectify the issue? What exactly do you do? Dave Chappelle, the comedian, once said, "Sometimes you have to be a lion so that you can be the lamb that you are".
Perhaps the lamb status we have acquired for ourselves allows us to be gentle with our facts. So, we indulge the oppressor's logo-rhythm in the form of a boss, a toxic boyfriend, a cheating girlfriend, abusive parents, the patterned speech you have enthroned the ego upon, etc. That’s who life is. But at the end of the day, we are helping the oppressor with his rule by becoming the object through which he can enact his terrible rule. If we cannot resist the small oppressors, how do we learn to resist the government? How can we turn election day into the judgement day of a politician who lifted his hand and danced with corruption? How do we turn election day into the day the sun turned black when the people reminded the leaders again that power is indeed in the hands of the people? In another post, I will go on to explain the deception of the masses when it comes to the concept of power.
Lastly, on the flag, the red represents the blood of our forefathers, but this has become a cliché amongst the brethren. What the red actually means is a symbol of striving and the price paid to end the reign of the oppressor. Each time we recite or sing the national anthem, reckon that it is a call to the inward man to strive against the oppressor’s rule with all our will and with all our might, and all will and all might are depicted as the colour red. In Genesis 27, the words of Isaac resound: "But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke off your neck." Maybe one day we will become restless enough like the fathers.
