Submit to the Beast or is this Audacious Dream Possible?
Written by Teodrose Fikre, June 19, 2017
This Ghion Cast is an encapsulation of Ghion Journal’s mission statement and my aspiration of how to make this dream come true. Make sure to check out the article below the video, what I write is always closer to my heart than the words that I speak.
Many have uttered the phrase, I have yet to hear of one who has actually attained it. What I’m alluding to are idealists who maintain with a straight face that they are going to be a part of the system in order to change it from within. “The system” is like father time—it is undefeated. The reason is simple, the system feeds on the egos of people and eventually converts idealists into jaded gate keepers of the very system they once aspired to change.
Everyone, you see, has a price. For some that price is shallow as many will do almost anything for a quick buck. For others, the price is acceptance or validation. Yet others, the price is comfort and a way of life. There are endless ways to get people to compromise their principles in order to maintain what they have. This is why the status quo wins all the time; all of us want to change the system—as long as we don’t have to sacrifice in order to arrive at justice. It is easier to march and protest in the abstract as we tweet hashtags using iPhones manufactured in sweatshops than it is to actually give up these trinkets that are breaking humanity. We want a revolution as long as the revolution does not inconvenience us.
Moreover, the main reason that the system is so powerful is because the system is so pervasive. Our political system, media, health care, and almost every facet of our lives and livelihood is hooked up to a global scheme of wealth transference from the masses to the few. Money is the mother’s milk of this system—paychecks have made slaves of all of us. If a thousand go into the system intent on changing it, a thousand will emerge on the other end transformed by the status quo. You will have better luck climbing Mount Everest with stilettos and biking shorts on than you have of changing the system from within.
I bring this up in light of a friendly advice I received from a brother named Ethiotash a couple of days ago. He was not aware that I was the author of the articles that I cross-post on Mereja.com and he was more than pleasantly surprised when he visited Ghion Journal and read the content available herein. He was dismayed though that I refused to take corporate contributions and made an appeal to my senses to reconsider my intransigence. He stated that my voice needs to be heard but that my writing will be made moot if I do not have the financial wherewithal to get out my message. It takes money to be heard; I should take the money from corporations, he noted, in order to realize the change that I seek.
I can’t dispute Ethiotash’s advice. He is right, not only did it take a lot to put this website together, there are ongoing costs in order to garner the audience that have become part and parcel of the Ghion Journal circle. If I want to grow that audience and reach more people, it will take money to do that. But if I take Ethiotash’s advice, I will end up taking money from the very source of injustice that I write against. My stance is very black and white when it comes to these matters, though I am not anti-business and I am very entrepreneurial myself, I see Wall Street corporations for the cancers that they are. I’m not flexible enough to do the prerequisite mental gymnastics it would take in order for me to justify taking corporate ad money only to turn around and speak against corporatism.
So I have one hope that I hang my hat on. Instead of depending on the pernicious benevolence of corporations and opening up Ghion Journal to get advertising dollars, I pin my dreams of creating a truly independent media on the people. I am going to follow the Democracy Now and NPR model and put faith in the readers and audience of Ghion Journal to contribute and be the engine that drives this train. Along the way, I hope to empower other independent journalists and media entities as our readers empower us. Parenthetically, if you have a passion to write and can speak on issues and events that impact us without being divisive and hateful toward the masses, send us a sample of your writing to info@ghionjournal.com—we would love to add on more voices to the growing collection of Ghion Journal writers.
If this is your first time here, welcome to the Ghion Journal, at least two original articles a day are posted here; articles that presents a different perspective an in-depth analysis of the issues of our day. In the Ghion Link section on the menu, we have a news aggregation section that culls different articles from trusted sources and non-Mainstream Media entities. Bookmark us and if you want instant notification when articles are published, subscribe to the push notification app. If you want to contribute to the Ghion Journal, the “donate” widget at the top or the Patreon link in the ad space will be a place to do that. We are thankful for your visit, we hope you make your stay an enduring one and bring others along as you make yourself at home.
I’m not saying that I’m not beyond corruption myself or that I won’t be changed by success, but at the very least I will not let this space be used as a venue to take the cash of corporations. This is the audacious hope and mission of the Ghion Journal, not to change the system from within but to be a part of the change from without. Time will tell if this experiment will succeed or fail, I will try my hardest to make this approach work instead of chasing advertisement dollars in order to speak against the very corporations from which the advertisement money is coming from. Regardless it will be journey I will walk with fellow travelers in the struggle instead of speaking with forked tongues and inverted intentions from the comforts of ivory towers. #GhionJournal
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” ~ Frederick Douglass
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Teodrose Fikre
Teodrose was born in Ethiopia the same year Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by the communist Derg junta. The great grandson five generations removed of Atse (emperor) Tewodros Kassa II, the greatest king of Ethiopia, Teodrose is clearly influenced by the history and his connection to Ethiopia. Through his experiences growing up as first generation refugee in America, Teodrose writes poignantly about the universal experiences of joys, pains and a hope for a better tomorrow that binds all of humanity.
Teodrose has written extensively about the intersection of politics, economic policies, identity, and history. He is the author of "Serendipity's Trace" and newly released "Soul to Soil", two works that inspect the ways we are dissected as a people and shows how we can overcome injustice through the inclusive vision of togetherness.
Latest posts by Teodrose Fikre (see all)
- Bitterness and Victimization: Twin Pillars of Social Impotence - October 22, 2017
- GentrifiNation: a Bifurcated Economy Raising Fortunes for Wall Street and Birthing Hardship for US - October 20, 2017
- Milestone 9: Our Growth; My Reflection - October 19, 2017
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