Last week we considered the poster in terms of its quality. We tried to diagnose the politician based on how his poster looked. But then, since deception is the name of the game, as far as politics is concerned, even the posters are meant to deceive the gullible and unsuspecting. So in effect, you can not really tell everything about the politician by one cursory look at a poster quality. But, one thing that usually gives the politician away is his or her posture on the poster .And so today we dare to browse through the many postures we usually see in our political posters and what they mean.
To start with, when a politician appears too smooth and made up in his or her poster, something is wrong somewhere. Either the photograph used for the poster had been taken many years ago or there are things the politician is trying desperately to conceal, age or current state of physical health for example. Take late President Yaradua’s posters in 2007 for instance. Anyone who saw how polished his face looked in those posters would have instantly given him a clean bill of health. Yet at the time he was contesting that election, he had already undergone kidney transplant, was on dialysis and had many health complications which allegedly even caused him to slump at one of his campaign venues. Yet, looking at the posters, you wouldn’t know all these. See how posters are meant to deceive?
Again, the actual pose of the politician effortlessly betrays the politician’s intentions for the people. There is usually the “straight-face” pose. Here the politician looks straight into the camera with his or her face squared up, eyes not blinking. His aim of taking this kind of pose is to deceive you, the unsuspecting electorate into believing that this particular politician is a straight-forward person. You are to hold the very dangerously-erroneous position that this politician can be trusted. Normally, this can lead the untutored to support this politician in the false belief that good governance will be their reward. How wrong.
In another case, the politician appears relaxed on the posters. For this kind of posture, there is nothing tight or formal about this politician. He or She appears quite calm and genteel. And guess what?, This is supposed to be a picture of confidence meant first to scare the opponents and also to deceive the electorate that this politician is friendly and accessible. But, all these is deception because the aim of this relaxed and confident posture is simply to confuse you into the electorate in to believing that this your representative will be accessible and approachable, People actually seeking re-election into various offices are very fond of this kind of pose. This is usually a fall-out of the fact that after being “given” the mandate that first time, this your representative “turned tiger”. Armed Policemen and overzealous security details made it impossible to have access to him or her. The phone number you were used to communicating with this politician was now permanently in “voicemail” mode. But now that another election is around the corner, there is the need to deceive you with a new posture starting right from the poster. If you fall for it, then you are most unfortunate because as far as this politician is concerned, the relaxed, friendly posture also ends on the poster. He or She still remains the same mean, ruthless, self-serving and thugs-paying politician who will not mind spilling a few drops of blood, including yours, if the occasion demands, Posters are truly meant to deceive.
Even so, the fact that some people do not know how to pretend even spills over unto their political posters, Take a situation where a politician takes a picture for his or here poster backing the camera just managing to show the face from an angle. It is a classic “guyman” pose. But for a political poster it is actually rubbish. Yet, this arrangement is meant to show the electorate that this politician has style and also does things in a unique way. The aim of this kind of poster is to confuse the electorate into believing that this politician will bring innovations into governance. And, this can eventually prove to be true as this politician may come up with new ways of stealing public funds. However, when you see a politician with this kind of posture on a poster, just know that there is vital information being passed to you, namely, the politician should not be trusted. This is because, this kind of pose is meant to show the electorate very clearly that this politician will simply turn his or her back on them once “given” the mandate.
But, perhaps, the most embarrassing of all the postures on posters is the one where the politician comes out laughing. It does not matter whether it is a grin or a smack or actual laughter, whenever a politician has cause to come out laughing on a poster there is trouble, big trouble. And, these kinds of politicians are rare, very rare. But, just in case you happen to see them, try to decode the salient tones behind that laughter and your blood may run cold.
Actually, the laughter by a politician on a poster is supposed to make the politician seem friendly, uncomplicated and easy-going. It is supposed to make you, the electorate, believe that this is one person who will give everything to protect your interest. The idea of this politician hurting you is completely out of the question. The laughing posture is supposed to give you the impression that this is not only a politician but also an ally. Indeed, you have never “had it so good.” Ha..Ha..Ha.. But, what does this politician actually say via that posture on the campaign poster? Well, this politician is actually wondering how gullible and easily-deceivable you, the electorate, have managed to remain all through the years. The joke, therefore, is on you. Before this politician burst out laughing so profusely, there must be things tickling him or her. Maybe, the whole idea of you, the electorate thinking that power is in your hands is laughable because the politician knows that this is not true. How can it be true when the votes are shared in the confines of INEC offices while you, the electorate, goes about with a worthless paper called Voter’s Card? Maybe, the politician is tickled by the fact that you, the electorate, continue to eat the crumbs and drink the dregs when in fact, it is the politician and his immediate family and close friends who eat the Lion share of everything in the name of dividends of democracy. See?
The bottom-line of the whole thing is that politicians, the world over, are politicians and will ever remain politicians. The game is eternally garnished with treachery, trickery and deception, and, it is the man in the street that usually is the worse for it. Every time, they come against us, the common people with everything in their arsenal. At times you may even find them go against each other with feigned ferocity as if the whole political class wants to self-destruct. Yet, soon after, you see these same sworn enemies winning and dinning together and plotting the next onslaught on the long-suffering public. In the words of Robert Nesta Marley, “you can fool some people sometime, but you can not fool all the people all the time”. Meaning, by their posters, you shall know them.
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