Comment from JT traveller

Excellent

What a poignant write. Yes. Social media controls our hearts, our minds, our souls. We are victims of false news. The important issues in the world become lost in the thinly veiled attempt at pretense. A well composed write and we must rise up against the machines. J

 Comment Written 15-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 17-Jul-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and your words of support for the piece. estory

reply by JT traveller on 17-Jul-2023

My pleasure and thanks for sharing your work. Jacqueline

Comment from Sally Law

Excellent

Thank you, estory! Someone else sees the endless assaults of mind controlling, behavior modifying, freedom killing slide shows. They don't expect us to think or question. Get in line. We are becoming like China more ever day. My son was a student and a missionary there so I know.

We are ripe for the rise of the Antichrist according to the Bible. I don't think we are far off. The Lord's coming!

Sending you my best today as always..Sally :))

 Comment Written 14-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 17-Jul-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and your words of support for my piece. I am hoping for the return of Christ too. The sooner the better. This world is getting more screwed up every day. estory

Comment from davisr (Rhonda)

Excellent

You have managed, well, to create the robotic voice in this poem. Even though you've left opinions out, the still surface by references to shared events. I have followed a few in your series about the media, and see the common thread.

Take care,
Rhonda

 Comment Written 14-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 17-Jul-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and your words of support for my piece. estory

Comment from BethShelby

Excellent

It is true the media shapes our opinions. I'm not sure our opinions wouldn't be equally screwed if we had no media. There are a lot of people in the press who are sincere and want to bring truth to light. I think we should develop the judgement to be able to use common sense and multiple sources to discern truth from fiction. Just because we hear it from the machine doesn't necessarily mean we're hearing lies any more than it means that everything we're hearing is true. Weigh the source careful and don't toss it as a conspiracy without further scrutiny.

 Comment Written 14-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 14-Jul-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and for your interesting perspective on my theme here. To discern truth from fiction; that is a difficult task these days. I wanted to really get people thinking about who is behind the media and what their motives are and what they might be trying to accomplish through all this opinion manipulation. estory

Comment from JSD

Excellent

Good, satirical and compelling, political writing. Anti-authority, anti-control. Excellent. Your tone is definitely machine-like and it works really well in a '1984' style.

 Comment Written 13-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 14-Jul-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and all your words of support for my little piece. Comparing it to Orwell is very flattering. estory

Comment from royowen

Excellent

I can remember in the early days of computers that folk said the computer doesn't make mistakes, but then again how can one trust the the programmer, or computer scientist? Not that I care particularly but I've had so many things go wrong heh heh, beautifully written my friend, yes, you got that robotic effect, well done, blessings Roy

 Comment Written 13-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 14-Jul-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and I think you hit the nail right on the head. It is who controls the technology, who creates the framework, and that is what we should be concerned with. estory

reply by royowen on 14-Jul-2023

Well done

Comment from Ulla

Exceptional

Oh, you got the message across, alright, estory. We are all being manipulated, whether we like it or not, and it takes a cool head to stay above it all. You managed the mechanical effect very well. Ulla:)))

 Comment Written 13-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 14-Jul-2023

Thanks again for the sixer. estory

Comment from tfawcus

Exceptional

Chilling. The repetitive 'The machine says...' certainly achieves the robotic sense you were after.

On a similar theme, I notice now, with the proliferation of AI, that there has been a subtle change in authentication messages from 'I am not a robot' to 'I am human'. How the boundary is blurring.

I'm sorry to hear of your father's protracted struggle and death. My condolences to you.

 Comment Written 12-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 14-Jul-2023

Thanks again for the sixer. estory

Comment from Iza Deleanu

Excellent

I must confess sometimes I feel like walking on strings, and now I know why, blame it on the machine:), but you are so right. If the machine can produce drought and rain, why not.. humans too. Thank you for sharing and good luck with your writing.

 Comment Written 12-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 14-Jul-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and all your words of support for my little piece. Nice to have you back! estory

Comment from barbara.wilkey

Excellent

And look at how often the machine was wrong. What bothers me is now a lot of the facts are coming out and people still want to believe the lies they were told. Evidence in their personal life would tell them differently. Thank you of sharing.

 Comment Written 12-Jul-2023

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reply by the author on 14-Jul-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and your interesting perspective on the piece. We should be asking ourselves, who are these people and what is their motivation? That's the big question. estory