| Media Framing and Public Reaction
By Abel Merawi
 November 15, 2021 (Ezega.com) – Facts are not always factual; they twist and shift with a vantage point. The literary genius, Adam Reta, employs a shift in point of view by narrative a sympathetic tell of reality through one character, which then shifts to another character’s utterly depiction of the same reality. This helps readers, at least me, to know that narrative angles distort reality. Furthermore, the same historical event as narrated from opposing sides speak of the same facts but end up with stark differences. Here, we see the power of narrative frames in distorting and changing facts. As our central focus is the media, le
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| Vice in the name of Virtue
By Abel Merawi
 November 15, 2021 (Ezega.com) – How do you write about something without a name? What do you call something that is yet to be identified, explained, and defined? Amazingly, we fail to recognize an existing phenomenon when a term for its recognition is lacking. I chose to deal with a situation that is designed to escape category – a nuisance of life created by narcissistic humans whose intent is remaining undetected by most, and when detected ignored. The lack of terminology is no reason to withhold a troubling fact, and so I chose to explain its intricate pattern and keep the labeling for the future.
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| Dream of a Reality
By Abel Merawi
 September 24, 2021 (Ezega.com) -- New Year has dawned, and in this time of hopefulness and optimism, I wish to speak of a dream. This dream is not as great as that of Martin Luther King Jr., or of the prophets, or of Dostoyevsky, or of all those noble and gentle creatures who transcended the immediate ill to envisage health and vigor. It is not as great for it is a dream I was able to clearly see through the visionaries. I was able to heed their call because the dream served to awaken a grand truth that resides in all of us. Sadly, we all dream grand dreams of universal bliss but we easily abandon it. We fear it will disturb our hardened hear
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| The Bridge Between Love and Hate
By Abel Merawi
 August 5, 2021 (Ezega.com) -- I wish to begin with a troubling childhood memory, which is a sort of parable on the bridge between love and hate. Life in Ethiopia used to represent a shared rather than isolated existence. The gates and walls did not prevent you from watching the life of neighbors, and vice versa. The lives I saw were dominant expressions of a love bond, but they were accompanied by unintelligible moments of sadism. I am speaking of husbands beating wives out of ‘love’ or of jealous lovers becoming nemeses. This sadistic tendency was typical of authoritative teachers who thrash students – ‘educating&rs
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| Identity Frames and Humane Response to Suffering
By Abel Merawi
 August 5, 2021 (Ezega.com) -- I wish I could write about the past with the intelligence and arrogance the present affords. But almost anyone with possession of historical documents can do so since one would no longer be captivated by the magical spell of an identity frame. For instance, I could write or even mock the false frame of identity that made aristocracy or serfdom possible since these types of identity are outdated and hokum to me. We no longer afford such luxury when faced with imminent horrors in the present, which add folly to future annals of history. Currently, as both victims and agents of parochial identiti
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| The Plurality of Identity
By Abel Merawi
 June 18, 2021 (Ezega.com) -- It is common to witness people stand in defense of identity to the point of sacrificing their lives. Sadly, such sacrifice is made for a single aspect of identity rather than full identity, holistically. For instance, the defense for ethnic identity may jeopardize the inherent values of national or religious identity. This, in every form, is the person losing battle we encounter every time we imagine a singular identity. For this reason, I am critically reluctant to heed the call for defending a particular identity, unable to select one from the plural elements that constitute my identity. I think this diffi
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| Necrophilia – The Affliction in Servants of Death
By Abel Merawi
 June 18, 2021 (Ezega.com) -- Every life form seeks to perpetuate itself. This is evident in the primacy of reproduction in every species. As Tupac Shakur beautifully articulates, a rose bursting out of concrete seeks life. Human beings are no different as the survival instinct equally operates in us. In Greek mythology, this affirmation of life was personified in Eros, the god of love, or by the Roman Cupid. But Eros fails to explain war, torture, suicide, and the legion of evils that destroy life. This perplexed the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, who coined it a ‘death instinct’ that operates as an unconscious
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| Public Trust in Social Media
By Abel Merawi
 May 14, 2021 (Ezega.com) -- There seems to be a global shift of information sources; a shift from the mainstream to social media. This shift brought both encouraging and discouraging outcomes, and so it may be hasty to jump to a conclusion and harshly criticize either source. However, a proper diagnosis is necessary in both cases if we are to make an informed prognosis. An understanding of this shift requires closer scrutiny regarding mainstream media, the public, social media personalities, and fact-checking.
Firstly, we must observe the defects of mainstream media that have led to public distrust. Then, this public d
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| Invisible Citizens
By Abel Merawi
 April 1, 2021 (Ezega.com) -- The daily hustle we all endure ends when dusk closes in, and we retreat to whatever shelter we call home. But amongst us are the unfortunate ones who remain in the unforgiving street for they have nowhere to go and no place to call home. These are the invisible citizens of the street. In the safety of our home, we are oblivious to their existence. After we closed the gates, we also veil our imagination to external reality by dwelling on our endless personal woes. Our apathy is no wonder as our TV and phone screens orchestrate a lullaby of fairyland. Then when the sun rises, we open our gates but our mental gateway
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| Paideia or Deep Education
By Abel Merawi
 February 4, 2021 (Ezega.com) -- There are moments of a collision between the classroom and the outside reality. The brutal, irrational, and unjust murder of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was such an event. It was almost impossible for a teacher to educate benign children about the fiction behind centuries of slavery and segregation or Jim Crow, which had shown its monstrosity in the murder of a man of peace, love, and justice. To begin with, how on earth can you explain racism between the same race – Homo Sapiens? The perfect and protective classroom world hasn’t been designed to deal with the cruel ways of the world. We
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| Educational Purpose: Good Citizenry Vs Rational Autonomy
By Abel Merawi
 January 26, 2021 (Ezega.com) -- Before diving into a discussion on the purpose of education, I venture into the age-old legend of the hero. Leaving aside the divine touch in the protagonist, which was indispensable in the classics, I portray the purely human protagonist. The hero begins life by participating in the ordinary social routine until maturity brings an insatiable thirst for more. This perpetually grows until the hero is unable to endure the immediate reality. Then the arduous journey into the wilderness becomes the only solution to the hero’s disquietude. Embarking on this journey is breaking socia
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| Conformist Realism in Ethnic Federalism
By Abel Merawi
 December 20, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- The following article revolves around a single vital question: Why are Ethiopians focusing on how ethnic federalism operates while failing to question why ethnic federalism is even necessary? Following the germination of ethnic federalism in Ethiopia, people in almost every realm of life have posited notions that attack or favor the workings of ethnic national identity. Many are the scholars who showed how one ethnic group has triumphed at the expense of others. Countless are the songs that championed ethnic rather than national identity. Numerous are historians, with both good and evil intentions,
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| Forms of Human Violence (Part II)
By Abel Merawi
 In an attempt to understand our mental representation of justice and fairness, psychologists have come up with an interesting experiment. There are many variations of the experiments, but I included the one pertaining to our topic.
Scenario: Imagine someone promised to give you 10,000 birr without asking any service in return. Then told you: “There is someone in the other room with whom you can choose to share the money. You are free to give this stranger nothing, all of it or anything in between.” You accept this term and were just about to leave, when this person gave you the final warning: “I have told this
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| Dozens of Ethnic Amharas Massacred in Western Ethiopia
By Staff Reporter
 November 3, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- The rebel Oromo Liberation Front known as ‘OLF Shene’ on Sunday night massacred at least 34 ethnic Amharas in Guliso district, Qanqa locality in western Ethiopia, the Oromia Police Commission has said.
Described as one of the most deadly massacres in Ethiopia’s history by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the death toll from the attack is expected to surge as 11 people are missing.
Commissioner General Ararsa Merdassa on Tuesday told journalists that 34 people were killed in the attack and 11 others also went missing. A school and 50-60 houses were burned by the rebel group.<
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| Forms of Human Violence (Part I)
By Abel Merawi
 October 29, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- Have you ever wondered about violence? Specifically, have you seen how violent we humans can be? The act of violence fits well into its definition, which can be summarized as: An act of aggression that is manifested in being wild and turbulent and result in injuries and destruction. This definition revels the meaning of violence based on its manifestation, but doesn’t say anything about the source of violence. Moreover, it might as well be the property of humans, animals or even natural forces. Natural forces like floods and animals can also be wild and cause destruction. However, violence car
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| Deadly Disputes Leaves At Least 27 People Dead in Eastern Ethiopia
By Staff Reporter
 October 29, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- Deadly disputes between ethnic Afar and Somali peoples in eastern Ethiopia have left at least 27 people dead and several others wounded, officials from the Somali regional state have said.
The disputes occurred along their common border areas between Monday to Wednesday and at least 27 civilians were killed, the regional government said in a statement.
Somali Issa tribe representative Mohammed Mussie told DW Amharic service that additional two individuals were killed by unidentified gunmen while funeral ceremonies for the dead were taking place.
Currently memb
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| Court Hands Down up to Life Imprisonment over Attempt to Kill PM Abiy Ahmed
By Staff Reporter
 October 27, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- Ethiopia’s High Court on Tuesday handed down 5 years to life imprisonments against five individuals who were found guilty over the failed assignation of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The individuals were found guilty of killing two people and wounding more than 150 others by throwing a hand grenade during a rally held on June 23, 2018 in support of the reforms Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had introduced, the court’s prosecutor said.
Accordingly, Tilahun Getachew who threw the bomb at the the Prime Minister but fell short in the crowd was sentenced to
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| The ‘Having’ Mentality
By Abel Merawi
 October 22, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- Let us begin with a question Erich Fromm asks in his book ‘To have and to Be’: Who are you? Are you what you have or something else? If you are what you have, who will you be when you lose your possession? Your reply depends on your personal disposition or character. However, just like the individual, every age has its own character. This character is a mentality we develop in our relation to the world. Modern age is characterized by the ‘having’ mentality. In the individual, this mentality is manifested by the tendency to own things in order to enjoy them. In society, it is represented in capit
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| Unidentified Gunmen Kill 12 Civilians in Southern Ethiopia
By Staff Reporter
 October 21, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- At least 12 civilians have been killed and others wounded when unidentified gunmen attacked farming villages in southern Ethiopia, according to local officials.
The attackers killed 12 farmers and wounded five others in a surprise attack in Shubi locality- Gura Ferda district in Bench Sheko zone, Commander of the Gura Ferda District Police Bekele Beyene told local media.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which took place in an area over 400km south of the capital Addis Ababa.
The farmers were killed while they had social gathering and currently membe
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| Group Narcissism
By Abel Merawi
 October 16, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- It is customary to cite some Greek literature to shade light on many issues. The reason has to do with their genius in employing artistic creativity to show profound universal aspects of the human condition. I too will use the following Greek legend to exemplify the central idea. Once lived a lad named Narcissus. He was at the prime of his life with unparalleled beauty that captured the heart of every girl. But that was not all, the beautiful maiden goddess named Echo, was also hopelessly in love with him. But the heart of Narcissus was filled with vanity to the point of rejecting even the love of a goddess
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