Day: February 18, 2023

WDP — Stranger In a Strange Land

Fandango59 Comments

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

Am I patriotic? Good question. I used to be. Back in 1999, my answer to this question would have been unequivocal. You’re goddam right I’m patriotic.

But then the century turned. The Supreme Court handed George W. Bush the presidency of the United States even though Al Gore received more votes. Maybe that’s when my faith in my country started to erode. And it has been chipped away ever since to the point that I don’t know if I’m patriotic anymore.

What does it mean to be patriotic? It means being loyal and devoted to one’s country and its ideals, principles, and values. It also means being proud of one’s country, loving it, honoring its history and symbols, and doing one’s best to contribute to the country’s success and wellbeing.

Ideals, principles, and values, huh? I’m afraid there’s the rub. The ideals, principles, and values that I see being embraced in 21st century America are unrecognizable to me. I do not share them. In fact, I am appalled by them.

I can honestly say that I am no longer proud of my country. I feel like I’m surrounded by people who I don’t understand and who don’t understand me. People who are not only dishonoring the history and symbols of the nation, but appear bound and determined to tear it all to shreds. And that breaks my heart.

The trouble is that, despite all this, despite my disappointment and disillusionment, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. And I’m too old to start over someplace else, anyway. So here I will remain, a stranger in a strange land.

SoCS — “Pro”

Fandango12 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has asked us to “find a word that starts with ‘pro’ and use it any way you like in your post.”

I didn’t get much sleep last night and I am really tired and I’ve got a lot on my mind. So I went to a chatbot called Chat AI and asked it to write a blog post that uses a lot of words that start with “pro.”

Here is the result.

Prolific writers often strive to promote their savvy, professional prose with precision and prudence. Producing quality content requires prolificacy and proper planning. Proficient writers possess powerful prose and often require a process that includes preparing and proper proofreading.

Professionally crafted blog posts typically move beyond expression to engagement, prompting readers to promote the piece with purpose. Professional writers must remain dedicated to the process of providing accurate, promotional prose. Practice makes perfect in producing powerful and persuasive blog posts.

Productive authors should be proactive in developing ideas that are both promising and provocative. Providing the right material promotes engagement and establishes the writer as professional and poised. Prominence among the blogosphere is possible with proper planning and the promotion of authentic ideas.

Providing online readers with powerful prose and persuasive perspectives can propel an author’s profile reach prospects and potential pay. Professional bloggers possess poise, stamina, and strategic planning when it comes to producing impressive content.

Producing an effective, focused blog post requires practitioners to work smart and with precision. Professional bloggers realize that proper proofreading is paramount in maintaining their perceived proficiency. Productive authors must be prepared and plan on promoting their piece with purpose.

So there you have it. Do you think it sounds like it was written by a chatbot? I do. And yet, when I ran it through a tool called ChatGPT Detector, it came back and said that it was only “2% likely this comes from GPT-3 or ChatGPT.”

Image credit: I created this using an app called AI ART. I call it “A Robot Writing a Blog Post.”

FOWC with Fandango — Boring

Fandango20 Comments
FOWC

It’s February 18, 2023. Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “boring.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.