Shalom, Thunder fans!
Although last night’s battle against the Spurs may not have produced the outcome we all wanted, don’t get too pessimistic. The teams have only played one game, and just like the country of Israel, the Thunder may just have what it takes to survive, persevere and – who knows – unleash another Middle Eastern war!
In case you missed it, The Oklahoman made news yesterday when – on the precipice of the NBA Western Conference Finals – it published, and then deleted, a comically awful guest op-ed that outlined the very stretchy “similarities” between the OKC Thunder and Israel.
It only lasted an hour or two online before being deleted, but here’s a surviving social media screenshot:
Yep, that’s right. Who hasn’t been sitting around the house, watching sports or war highlights on cable news, and then found themselves thinking – you know what, the parallels between the Thunder and Israel are too difficult to ignore! I must write this down!
Nobody except the author? Okay. Just making sure!
Surprisingly enough, the author of the piece wasn’t Jenni Carlson.
It was actually a guest op-ed submitted by Eitan Reshef – the real-life younger brother of former OKC news vixen Erielle.
Although Eitan gets credit in the byline, his article – like a disturbingly large quantity of The Oklahoman’s guest op-eds – was written entirely by AI:
Yep, I’m not sure what’s more embarrassing – submitting an editorial to your hometown paper that’s so bad it gets removed just hours after publishing, or using AI to write it!
Anyway, when I first saw the article was deleted, I thought I’d share it so everyone could get a taste of its stupidity, but since it was written by a predictive algorithm, why waste time? If anything, I should just file an AI response that compares the Thunder to Palestine!
The parallels between the Thunder and Palestine are rooted in resilience, identity and survival against long odds. Both are defined by young populations, deep communal loyalty and a belief that recognition must be earned in the face of overwhelming outside pressure. Neither controls the larger narrative around them, yet both continue to endure through unity, persistence and a refusal to disappear from the global conversation.
Seriously, I should use AI to pack that into a nice article. They can even use this image:
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
