Headlines as koans, except when they aren't

koan /koh'an/ n. A Zen teaching riddle. Classically, koans are
attractive paradoxes to be meditated on; their purpose is to help one to
enlightenment by temporarily jamming normal cognitive processing so that
something more interesting can happen (this practice is associated with
Rinzai Zen Buddhism).
-- from http://dictionary.die.net/

You probably knew what a koan was before you read the definition above. But have you ever considered the headline as koan? Jessica Winter at slate.com has. She says of New York Times headline writers: "Your mission is to distill a piece to its essence in a few words without sacrificing nuance, and usually, you are more than up to the task."

But sometimes those headline writers fall into a pattern that looks more philosophical than declaratory. Read all about it.