Moratorium

[derspatchel]

That's it, I'm declaring one. Right here, right now. Moratorium time, kiddies, and here is the subject: "Shock Jock." No more shall we use the phrase Shock Jock. Yes, yes, I know it makes a nifty rhyme and the hard-K sounds help as well, but like so many pet phrases before it, the term has become overused to the point of meaninglessness

Comments

[resk]

Hi there. I'm new to you. I discovered you through this post by minkrose.

By a not-so-strange coincidence, I posted about The Imus Thing just 2 days ago. As you can see, I did not refer to him as a "shock jock" in my initial post, but I did drop that "title" into one of the comments. I agree with you about the absurdity of it and will no longer utter the term.

By a strange coincidence, I completed my Master's Thesis yesterday. This is notable because my project was an adaptation of the Kurt Vonnegut novel The Sirens of Titan. And because Vonnegut also died yesterday.

I liked your Bokononist post. You have been friended.

[resk]

You think that's weird. Check this out.

[fancycwabs]

Shocky Jockey. He could hawk turkey jerky during his promo spots.

[redtheblue]

The first time I saw him on MSNBC I was confused. It's this very crusty, wiry old man hunched over a console, grudgingly croaking into the mic every so often, and looking for all the world like he'd rather be rotting in a box. He's just one more reason not to be up at 7 a.m. in the central zone, and there were already enough before he was born.

Shock jock? Not until I saw his 40-years-younger wife.

[derspatchel]

And God bless him for it. Oh, Bobbie Dooley, you crazy mmm-hmmmer, you.

[derspatchel]

Actually, Hendrie ended his show last year, which may have been for the best at this point. I have tremendous admiration for a man who could control both his voices and the phone filter button near-simultaneously. He was a professional troll I respected.

[archangelsk]

If you haven't seen it already, check out this piece by Ana Marie Cox which, when taken with your remarks here, makes me think that such rampant use of the term "shock jock" is just a crypto-apologia by people who want to defend Imus but who don't want to be thrown to the wolves as (perhaps) they think is being done to him. I'm sure it's quite a sting for other media types to see the industry eat one of its own this way, no matter how much Imus deserves it.

[derspatchel]

Well, I've only really heard the S.J. term used in the mainstream media pieces, and even then, mostly as the opening line to each article. I don't think I've heard any half-hearted Imus defenders use it, as the connotation really is negative.