Okay class, today’s lesson is the word ‘Oxymoron’. yes, we’ve all heard it before: Government Intelligence; Jumbo Shrimp and so on. How about Informed Journalist?
I present for your evaluation the following two paragraphs:
This summer, the School of Business is offering a class that will teach students how to create an online, virtual world where characters can talk, do business and make money.
John Artz, a professor of Web-based systems development, will virtually introduce students to the GW Island, a place in Second Life, and teach them how to create and use business models in this new environment. His students will travel all over the “world” to conduct virtual business in the “Marketplace,” but in reality, the 40 student, two-session class will take place in a computer lab, he said.
No changes or funny business by me. These two paragraphs literally appear as the first two paragraphs in the story. Additionally, I really don’t think it’s the author who fumbled. But rather the editor. It is they who write the headlines and hack and whack what once may have been a good story into what sometimes turns out to be an oxymoronic jumble of noodles.
I’m not pointing this story out to be mean or cruel. hell, I do this all the time. I just though it a cute chuckle and wanted to share that chuckle. 
Oh – and this is the actual headline – it’s what grabbed my attention. If this were actually the case, wouldn’t it grab your attention, too?
Tags: Secondlife, Socially Inspirational, Media
