For Steems sake - a message to my followers

I'm sure there are many of you who don't pay much attention to what is going on in the actual running of the Steem blockchain and that is understandable. You are just here to post your content and enjoy others, including mine I hope. This is the real value of this social media and without you the community there is no use in Steem even existing. Don't forget that.

However in the last few weeks it has been pretty difficult to avoid the the posts about the governance challenges that Steem is going through. What has been a pretty decentralised community owned internet experiment is now under the full control of one entity. So Steem has become like Facebook or any of those other systems many of you tried to escape. Due to their censorship and not being able to say Fuck, Bollox or show an image of a nipple.

Before I share my next post about my sculpture work. I wanted to give you a few thoughts on my reading of the situation and why I think that we should all get involved if we wish to continue being part of this great ecosystem.
What has happened is that one Guy. Let's call him Justin cause that's his name has acquired over 50% of the voting rights to do whatever he wants with Steem. He has locked out all other voices and can now take whatever actions he sees fit to change the direction of where this chain goes.
The only thing he doesn't possess is you the community which as I said before is the true value of Steem.
There are many great minds trying to think of ways to bring control back to the people and now it is time for you to step up for all our sake.

Have you voted

If you have any Steem powered up it is your right or should I say responsibility to vote for the direction you would like Steem to go. Visit the witness page and cast your vote for those you have seen bring value to the chain. Justin controlled the top 20 but if you scroll down to 23, Vote all the ones you can from there. These are your community witnesses, like the politicians who represent you. At the moment you have no representation.

Have you Steem sitting on an exchange

If you have Steem sitting on an exchange bring that over and use it to increase your vote. At the moment Justin is using it to vote for himself because he is friends with the exchanges and like banks they gave him a loan of it. It is yours but they control it.

Be informed

As this moment it is crucial to be informed or else tomorrow there may be no more Steem to come back to. Read some posts about what is going on and show we can come together to make a New NewSteem.

What am I doing?

All I can really do at this point is use my vote. I don't store tokens on exchanges so the only way I can increase my voice is by writing these words and hopefully get through to others how important these issues are so they take similar action.

I really hope we can get through this but one thing is for sure I will be around to watch the fireworks wherever the Community brings them.