Schlock and awe from CNN

May 12, 2009
By Billy Dennis

CNN has a profile on its Website about Peoria’s one and only congressman, and naturally, the focus in on his relatively your age and his upcoming birthday-party/fundraiser.

And the headline above this journalistic masterpiece? Schock and awe: The GOP’s young secret weapon?

To which I say: Enough, already. We get it. It’s a play on the phrase “shock and awe,” which according to Wikipedia:

“… technically known as rapid dominance, is a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power, dominant battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force to paralyze an adversary’s perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight. The doctrine was written by Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade and is a product of the National Defense University of the United States in 1996.

And article says it the phrase was used widely by the military prior to the Invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Aaron Schock’s fans might like the term because it implies a action and strength, but I am sick of seeing it. Not because of any animosity toward Congressman Schock, but because I am just sick of seeing it in every friggin headline about the guy. We get it. “Schock” equals “shock.” Ha ha ha.

If you can’t think of a headline that, you know, sumarizes the content of the article, then go for the bad pun.

I realize that no amount of criticism is going to get MSM outlets like CNN to start doing articles of any substance about him. Maybe after his first scandal.

But until then, please layoff the hackneyed puns in headlines, OK. And that goes for bloggers, too. I did a Google search for “Schock and awe” and got 1,010 results, and MOST were of the blog variety.

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2 Responses to “ Schlock and awe from CNN ”

  1. RomanII on May 14, 2009 at 9:42 am

    Billy: what did you mean by “maybe after his first scandal”? Do you and Diane know something we haven’t seen in print yet?

  2. Billy Dennis on May 14, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    What I mean is that he’s a politcian, and inevitibly, there will be some sort of scandal. Call me a cynic.