DISCUSSION THREAD -- APRIL 2024 75 WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Could have voted for
A Harmless Drudge - @Victoria Silverwolf
Lost in the Noise - @THX1138
Greenwashed Truth - @astrojosh
Antisocial Media AKA In Your Face Book - @Peter V
Turning the Tables Is Sweet Indeed - @Parson
Presentation Is Everything - @paranoid marvin

Voted for
Ghosts of a Digital Past - @Bren G - very neatly summing up one of the problems of everything being digital
 
I struggled between these three...

@holland B(l)ackmail - I thought it was a most original concept, well articulated and I like the contrasting writing format

@ParsonTurning the Tables – bonus points for embracing the theme full on and for dropping a great truth of our ultra-politicalized age

@paranoid marvinPresentation is Everything – great take on the theme while humiliating an advanced alien race for the benefit of our primitive human egos.

PM edged the others out by a slim margin as it gave me a good laugh on an otherwise dreary day.
 
Mentions - Cats Cradle, JohnnyJet and Christine.

I was split on Mosaix and PM, with PM getting the vote with a nice last line.

With no votes or mentions I'm off for a good cry, which I will start streaming once I have reset my password and online security - I'm not a bot and who cares about the number of bicycles in the pictures, just let me log in... Bowler1 finally has a reason to cry as he remains locked out of his computer.

Who posted this post - I've been hacked!!!
 
My Short List and *** Favorite ***:

A Harmless Drudge - Victoria Silverwolf
*** Voices Not Forgotten - Cat's Cradle ***
Disengaged – Culhwch
When Earth Cried Wolf – emrosenagel
Well, We Tried… - mosaix
So'rce Checked - Paul J. Menzies
The Oort Witch Project – Phyrebrat
Presentation Is Everything - paranoid marvin
 
Bowler1 dries his eyes and with a final sniffle, waves a thanks to Starbeast.

Picks up a pitchfork with a smile, normal service has resumed.
 
My vote: @Troyzan787--for that perfect, last-line punch of irony that's so hard to sell in 75 words.

My shortlist:
@Victoria Silverwolf--the story really captures (ha) Johnson well.
@holland--really pulls off the text medium! And I love the immediate stakes of the first lines.
@Cat's Cradle--love the comparison of a futuristic technology with a historical one; adds both perspective and another layer of haunting.
@Culhwch--nails the pacing and the tight prose.
@Peter V--books have many uses!
 
Congratulations @Victoria Silverwolf it's obvious that you've got these contested down to a science.

---------

It's obvious that my own story was written out of frustration. My observation is that every news outlet is something pretty close to a purveyor of one sort of propaganda or another. Some are less and some are more subtle than some others, but none of them seems immune. And what I once thought would be a bit of a tonic, lots and lots of news sources, has instead become a driving force for more and more radical shaping of the news to fit a predetermined agenda, probably because people want to hear stories that fit with their predispositions.

But I also want to thank everyone who mentioned my story. All of them were beloved.
 

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