Provocative Questions

Fandango’s Provocative Question #52

Fandango23 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

My provocative question today came about when I heard a celebrity being interviewed on a talk show and she commented that she is “living the good life.” That got me wondering exactly what “the good life” is, and, more important, whether or not am I living it.

So the question today is this:

What does living “the good life” mean to you? Do you think that you’re living “the good life”?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #51

Fandango18 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

My provocative question today is about blogging etiquette.

I am probably guilty of what language maven Ben Zimmer refers to as “peeveblogging.” According to Zimmer, peeveblogging occurs when a blogger (e.g., me) uses his or her blog to vent about language, usage, punctuation, and grammatical faux pas. So yes, I admit to being a peeveblogger. A proud peeveblogger, at that.

Erin McKean, who used to contribute to a weekly language column, “The Word,” for the Sunday Boston Globe, wrote a column about a decade ago entitled “Correctiquette.” Ms. McKean took a shot at people like me. In that column she wrote, “If the person’s meaning is perfectly clear, realize that what you’re really criticizing is their style — and style, or taste, is pointless to argue over.”

When it comes to pointing out grammatical or usage mistakes of others, McKean wrote, “Be honest with yourself: do you really care about helping the other person, or do you just want the thrill of being right?”

So this leads me to today’s provocative question.

If people find typos or grammatical, punctuation, spelling, or usage errors in your posts, do you welcome having them pointed out to you, or do you resent it. As a blogger do you let people know about such mistakes or do you just let them go?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #50

Fandango21 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

My provocative question today is a little different. It’s not political. It’s not about ghosts or beliefs, or even philosophy. It’s more personal.

Are you ready?

Would you be willing to give up everything you have if you could go back and start your life all over again? Why or why not?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #49

Fandango43 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

My provocative question today is a follow up to my Friday Flashback post from this past week. I featured a nine-year-old post from an old, now defunct blog of mine, that referenced a survey claiming that 37% of Americans believed in the existence of ghosts. Curious about that stat, I wanted to find out, nine years later, if more than one-third of Americans still believe in ghosts.

I was surprised to come across this chart, which suggests that today, 45% of Americans believe in ghosts.1921E7D8-E95F-43A4-92A1-380BE3AD91A3So that is what precipitated this week’s provocative question. I am asking you, my readers, who are not just Americans, but who come from all around the world, to answer this question:

Do you believe in ghosts? If so, how would you define or describe these beings and what makes you believe they exist? Have you had any personal experiences with ghosts?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #48

Fandango33 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

Today’s provocative question has to do with the government’s role in providing widely available and cost-effective healthcare. The United States is the only western democracy that doesn’t provide fee and universal healthcare for its citizens.0D91D50B-9DBB-4718-A67A-3F54BA1E4998This is a big issue being debated by the more than a dozen individuals who are competing for the Democratic nomination to face off against Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

The chart below shows that almost half of all Americans get their heath insurance through their employers. The other half is covered by a public program (such as Medicare for the elderly or Medicaid for the poor and disabled), has purchased individual health insurance directly from an insurer, or has no health insurance at all.E4F38CCA-57D0-44D2-ACEC-D8A3C335C3DATwo of the contenders, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, are supporting a “Medicare for all” (or “single-payer) approach.

Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare financed by taxes that covers the costs of essential healthcare for all residents, with costs covered by a single public system.

Under a single-payer system, all residents of the U.S. would be covered for all medically necessary services, including doctor, hospital, preventive, long-term care, mental health, reproductive health care, dental, vision, prescription drug, and medical supply costs.

It would eliminate employer-sponsored healthcare plans offered by private, for profit health insurance plans.

Other candidates for the Democratic nomination are proponents of offering a hybrid type approach that allows people to choose between a comprehensive, government-sponsored, Medicare-like program and their employer-provided health plans through private insurance companies.

All this leads me to today’s provocative questions:

Do you believe the government of a country has a responsibility to provide universal, affordable (if not “free”) healthcare for its citizens? If you live in the United States, would you favor a Medicare for all/single-payer health plan? If you live outside of the U.S., does your government provide universal healthcare? If so, how do you feel about it? If not, what kind of healthcare coverage do you have?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.