Cancelled

jail

PHOTO PROMPT © Carol Carr

“Come along, Sam.”

Brodie was the oldest guard in the prison, the one who’d slip you an extra cigarette or talk to you some. Sam was glad it was Brodie walking the last mile with him.

“No pardon, huh?” Sam’s last joke was lame but he was terrified. Six armed guards walked behind them and stood as Brodie strapped Sam into the chair.

The audience was filled with social media influencers all with smartphones ready to video his demise.

“Any last words?” Brodie asked.

Sam screamed, “Bad mouthing that lady President ain’t a capital crime!”

They threw the switch anyway.

It’s Wednesday and time again to participate in this week’s edition of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.

I did an image search of the photo and came up with a match but decided not to pursue the historical route. After a few seconds, I recalled an episode of The Orville called Majority Rule. I wrote a commentary about it on Substack but basically it’s about a society mirroring 21st century Earth where public opinion on social media pretty much ran the country and anything downvoted enough constituted a “crime.” If the crime is bad enough according to anyone with a smartphone, the person could be electronically lobotomized so they only spout phrases approved of by the State without independent thought.

I know Trump has been accused of silencing his critics including late-night talk show hosts (not by lobotomy or death fortunately), but any ideology can become dystopian, so the door could swing both ways. I doubt we’ll go this far (I hope), but like the Orville episode, it’s a commentary to prove a point.

a wobblegong and his boy

Cover image for my novel “A Wobblegong and His Boy”

I put that together with a “conversation” I had on Bluesky touting the qualifications of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for President. I responded with a list of her more spectacular gaffes and was treated to a virtual tongue lashing due to anyone daring to “tip” a sacred cow. It’s not really an egalitarian platform but imagine if it were the only one AND had the power to do more than chastise or potentially “cancel” you on the internet.

Protect free speech because it’s definitely going away in a number of western countries right now.

To read other stories based on the prompt or to submit your own, go to Inlinkz.

My YA science fiction novel A Wobblegong And His Boy is up to thirteen reviews/ratings on Amazon with 89% of them being 4 and 5 stars (slowly gaining traction). Don’t forget you can also review my novel at Goodreads.

Happy Wednesday.

24 thoughts on “Cancelled”

  2. Yep. So right. We even have a Free Speech Union over here in the UK. Sometimes they’ll take up your case for you. They’ll always advise you. Naturally I’m a member. 🙂

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  11. Free speech is terrifyingly close to extinction. I can see this playing out in a dystopian future.

    The Orville was (is?) a great show. I can’t believe Hulu hasn’t brought it back yet. There’s also an episode of Black Mirror that’s similar to that episode. Of course, that takes place on Earth.

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