annielaurie's Journal: Shock and Awe

From Yahoo comes this wonderful list of banned words for 2004. At the top of the list is "metrosexual," which apparently describes males who are into fashion and grooming but in reality conjures up visions of illicit hanky-panky on various subway systems.

"Shock and Awe" made the list, and no wonder. I personally credit our friends at CNN with turning this phrase into an instant cliche.

I first heard the term about three days before the actual bombing of Baghdad started. Someone gave details of a book or military paper of some sort that described a total saturation bombing effort. The general idea was to scare the living daylights out of the enemy by giving them a sort of preview of military coming attractions while softening them up. Such an attack was intended to inspire "shock and awe" in the recipients. Dark images of places like Dresden, London, or God forbid, Hiroshima were conjured up. I listened, nodded, and being myself, hoped it would never come to that.

It also conjured up recollections of the "pity and awe" you're supposed to experience while watching a Greek tragedy. Oedipus and Jocasta realize the awful truth. She hangs herself. He, after a bit of angst over her dead body, blinds himself with the brooch from her gown--but lives on to suffer. Pity and awe are the order of the day. It's a kind of saturation bombing of the emotions to be followed by catharsis, which any woman will tell you is just a good cry.

On the day the bombings in Iraq actually started I had escaped from my computer to have lunch with an old friend. Afterward, I went to a mall bookstore and saw a cluster of folks gathered around an ominous-looking television picture. The eerie green night scope revealed huge explosions in Baghdad, while the speaker yielded enormous crashes and booms. It didn't take long to figure out what was going on.

Of course the good folks at CNN were there to remove all doubt:

-OK, ladies and gentlemen. Here's some actual footage of the shock and awe.
-This is the shock and awe bombing. You're seeing it live on CNN.
-We're bringing you live footage of the scene in Baghdad as the American shock and awe efforts get under way.
-Step right up, get yer shock'n'awe here. Hurry, hurry, hurry!

Bingo! The bombing started, and ten minutes later, a cliche was born. How many times can you use the term "shock and awe" before we break for commercial? It's like the Greek play, only it's a saturation bombing of our linguistic sensibilities followed appropriately by nausea and boredom.