"Is That A New Suit?"

When I was a very young boy my Mom bought us a set of books called "Child Craft",they were great.These volumes contained classic children's stories , poems , and fairy tales.One of my very favorite stories was "The Emperor's New Clothes", it was the story about vanity , pride , honesty ,and truth. For those of you who don't know the story,it's about the ruler of a small kingdom who wanted a fine set of clothes to parade before his people to reveal his splendor to them . Many tailors came before the king bringing him fabrics from all over the world , yet the king rejected each sample brought before him . Then one day a wily tailor came to the kings court with a large box tied with a golden ribbon.He knelt before the king and said,"Your Majesty , I have brought you a fabric so fine and so unique that only especially gifted people can see or even feel it.People of limited intelligence will not be able to see or feel this rare fabric".The tailor then opened the box and made un-folding motions in front of the king and his court,in reality the box held nothing , but he made elaborate gestures of shaking out the mythical cloth. He first looked at a duke and said "Have you ever seen anything like this before in your life?",and the duke not wanting to appear un-intelligent began raving about the finery of the fabric.Well to make a long story short the emperor commissioned the tailor to make him a fine new suit from this rare cloth. The day of the emperor's parade arrived and the tailor went to the emperor's bedroom and carefully "dressed" the emperor in his regalia. The national band lead the parade down the street which was full of loyal citizens ,all of whom had heard the tale of the amazing fabric used in their ruler's new suit. Down the street came the emperor holding his head high , the crowd stood cheering ,none willing to admit to the kings nudity not wanting to appear stupid, until a young boy screamed out "He doesn't have any clothes on!".The boys statement began a wave of laughter until the noise filled the tiny kingdom. The tailor had the good sense to run away , and the emperor learned a valuable lesson in humility.I believe this classic tale has a lesson that still applies today. The "main-stream media"reminds me very much of the kings court , they seem to take anything the Obama administration says as absolute truth no matter what it is or what any other source or opinion may be.Once again this weekend the White House has spoken out against the Fox News Network , dismissing them as an un-valid news agency.It seems to me that Fox looks quite a bit like that little boy who pointed out to the rest of the citizens that the emperor was naked. One voice among many speaking the truth can be a great benefit to the many who have been mislead by popular opinion or deception. This continuing attack on Fox News is reminiscent of the Nixon administration as it targeted those they considered enemies of the then sitting president.For an administration that pledged it would be the most transparent ever they seem awfully upset by a single news agency that may be revealing that the emperor is naked. America needs those who look beyond the surface ,those who are willing to show both sides of the issues , those willing to challenge the status quo; when those who speak out are marginalized by the people in power then maybe they are on to something. Perhaps America should pay a little more attention to this administration's wardrobe , at least we have one small voice that does!