Politics

Some people enjoy politics – they study it, they watch it on TV and listen to it on the radio, they practice its vile secrets in everyday life. I do not enjoy politics. I do read about it, however, and watch the news on TV, so I am not uninformed; I do sometimes think I am more clued up on what’s going on than others.

My question, however, is whether we actually need politics of any kind in order to survive. The answer, in short, is yes. Human nature tends towards group actions and emotions, society and kinship. This very fact is what brings me to believe we are incapable of surviving without politics – politics are abundant in all situations where more than one person is involved.

No two people will ever know what the other is thinking, or what their intentions and motives are. Therefore, we are all, all the time, being secretive, and not disclosing information. Our furtive, sneaky thoughts – whether they are “bad,” stab you in the back, I stole your eraser kind, or whether they are “secrets,” the I want to sleep with you, I’m in love with your mother kind – these all bring about motives and direct the way we handle ourselves in public situations, they ultimately decide what we do or say.

The best politicians are the people that are able to read other people best – not necessarily the best liars (although that comes hand in hand) – but the best at performing actions and saying things that will lead to a course of action or a reaction that they favour. We all know it’s true, and we’ve all either done it or seen it happen. These kinds of politics are the “small” kind.

The “big” politics – these are the governmental kind. These politics are simply an overextension of the “small” kind, except that in this case a lot more is being held back – because by nature of the information available to high up members of governments, the government needs to hold back certain facts from the public in order to keep them happy and safe. This is where the games come in – they have to make decisions that will continue to keep this information undisclosed, and yet at the same time keep everyone happy. This, as we are all aware, is not possible. Thus – the best politicians are those able to surmise what the greater outcome of any said action is, and who will be kept the happiest, and by extension, what action will evoke the greatest satisfaction of their motives.

Thus – someone like Julius Malema is an excellent politician. He does not have motives that are of a high moral nature, nor are they anywhere near anything particularly intelligent. However, his actions (or rather, his words) evoke responses from his supporters that soothe his ego, and ultimately satisfy his motives. His actions almost always make him feel like some kind of god, and thus he is better at feeding his motives than others. The same can be said of Jacob Zuma, and many other African leaders.

The reason these leaders are successful in our countries, is because their sentiments target the largest portion of the population, and that portion is majoratively filled with people that are utterly, hopelessly stupid. They are uninformed, uneducated, and stupid. They are spoofed time and time again by promises of a better life for the poor, and cheer wildly as the next blue light brigade with their chosen leader rushes by, and then trudge home to their poverty-filled existence.

The lying politicians are not the stupid ones here – they are the exploiters, and in this country, unless the intelligent, educated and informed section of the public (black, white and coloured included) don’t wisen up and put their votes in the right box, our country will forever be plagued by that ever elusive, indefinable characteristic that they term “The African Problem”. I know where my vote is going this year. Do you?