Violent Headlines Draw Attention… Explosions!
I probably don’t have to remind any of you that President Obama recently left the country to tour several countries in the Middle East, culminating with a major address to the Arab people in Cairo. You would have to be living in a cave to not be aware of the magnitude of the speech, and apparently even cave-dwellers still found out.
Unsurprisingly, every news source in the galaxy chose to cover the trip, writing countless articles and op-eds probing into the President’s every word and deed. For some reason, despite the region’s recent history of violence and warfare, many reporters seem to have gone out of their way to write misleading headlines. They turned this:
into this:
Now, I normally like to get my news just from reading headlines, but I fear that the impressions that I received about this trip may be unfounded.
Ben dodges sniper fire, hops landmines, and gets really, really nitpicky about figurative language after the jump:
First, I was horrified to learn from The Huffington Post that the venue where Obama gave his critical Cairo speech “Draws Fire.” Don’t they have gun-control laws in Egypt? How dare they allow people to shoot weapons anywhere near the place where the President of the United States is giving a speech. Maybe the fault lies with White House event planners, who decided that Obama should give his speech at a local “Target.”
Soon after that, Politico reported, in a terrifying breach of national security, President Obama was forced to “Walk Muslim Minefield.” I suppose that’s certainly one way to prove your sincerity to skeptical diplomatic partners in the region, but I feel like Obama would have been safer elsewhere.
A mere two days later, Politico continued its portrayal of President Rambama by covering the President’s decision to follow-through on his criticism of Senator McCain, who wouldn’t “follow Osama bin Laden to the cave where he lives.” The President, apparently drawing on his years of sniper training in Chicago (finally answering Mayor Giuliani’s question of “what is a community organizer?”), “Took Aim at Osama bin Laden.” I must say, it’s about time. However, I can’t help but wonder if this recent attack on our al Qaeda adversary was prompted by bin Laden’s recent attacks on the President’s sincerity in foreign policy decisions. Why doesn’t President Obama send his military after Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity while he’s at it?
Finally, to show that he will be an even-handed partner in the Middle East peace process, Obama decided to use violence in all directions. Political Wire reported that President Obama “Coordinated Attack Against Israeli Settlements.” Israeli leader Netanyahu was reportedly “stunned,” an expected reaction to an unprovoked American assault on one of its closest allies.
My point is that Obama is just using powerful rhetoric. Discourse may not be as exciting as violence, but overusing war-imagery just makes reporting less gripping when it’s actually about war. Besides, it really seems like a mistake to write lots of articles about Middle Eastern diplomacy and then fill them with lots of metaphorical images of war and destruction.
On the other hand, I’d like to note my sense of gratitude that these headlines appeared under the Obama Administration. During our last presidency, I can’t help but imagine that “coordinating attacks” and “drawing fire” would have been much more literal.
Editor’s addendum: Enough said.
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Ben Theodor tried to tame the blogging beast within by murdering his former blog, Change We Voted For, in cold blood (his first attempt, Election Day Countdown, expired due to natural causes). However, like so many cheap horror movie villains, Ben's sarcasm simply couldn't be kept down, and has found a permanent home here at BOTO. Read more.
