To be kept in the dark and fed sh__. 
''And anytime anything sticks it head above the surface, it gets cut off...''

In other words, to be purposely misled and ignored in an organization, usually for political reasons. Software designers must sometimes face the fact that they may be in such a situation, and create strategies to deal with such circumstances. In other words, find a way to build good software in a bad environment.
  
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See PlayHurt