[PEN-L:7741] (Fwd) THE MODERN EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES - Norman Solomon

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Subject:                THE MODERN EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES - Norman Solomon   

THE MODERN EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES

        By Norman Solomon   /   Creators Syndicate

        Once upon a time, in early June of 1999, the man on the throne 
displayed his moral finery as he complained that "children are being 
fed a dependable daily dose of violence." The emperor added: "This 
desensitizes our children to violence and to the consequences of it."
        Courtiers and scribes exclaimed that the monarch was 
resplendent in the garb of wisdom. Reporting his statements with 
reverence, the journalists of the day were generally impressed. They 
nodded with appreciation for the popular verities.
        Sovereigns had long made a habit of going on parade while 
wearing pious garments, and this ruler was no exception. His loud 
costumes proclaimed how deeply he abhorred violence.
        Of course, some of the powerful scribes did not care for this 
particular emperor. They would have preferred the election of a 
different ruler, cloaked in another style. But they were content to 
criticize the current ruler for having bad taste in clothing.
        Meanwhile, there were many prominent defenders. For instance, 
a gentleman named Anthony Lewis was one of the bluebloods who 
found the emperor to be quite presentable. Sir Anthony saw virtues 
and responsibilities. "We are in the war now," he wrote in the New 
York Times as the spring neared its end, "and for the most urgent 
political as well as moral reasons we must win."
        On parade, the sovereign walked with dignity as he showed off 
the golden fabric of his nobility. Along with other influential scribes, 
Sir Anthony cheered and bowed while the stately procession 
advanced, imperial flags rippling in the wind. He wrote death 
sentences like: "NATO air attacks have killed Serbian civilians. 
That is regrettable. But it is a price that has to be paid when a 
nation falls in behind a criminal leader."
        Somewhere in the crowd stood a little girl and a little boy who 
were perplexed. They wanted to know why the scribes, so 
respected and so widely heeded, did not talk about the huge holes 
in the weave of the emperor's pronouncements. In fact, watching 
the parade, they wondered why no one mentioned that the royal 
highness was just about bare.
        The two kids scratched their heads when the emperor 
denounced some forms of media for stirring up violence among 
young people. "The boundary between fantasy and reality violence  
-- which is a clear line for most adults -- can become very blurred 
for vulnerable children," the emperor declared at a Rose Garden 
ceremony.
        "Why does he prance around with a few skimpy strands of cloth 
dangling from his shoulders?" the little girl asked. She became more 
agitated when the emperor's wife stepped forward to deplore a 
"culture of violence that is engulfing American children every day."
        The girl began to worry about lacking sophistication. She 
couldn't find any consistent thread running through the regal 
assertions. The royal couple kept saying that the culture of violence 
was bad. But their great enthusiasm for the present war seemed 
certain to further inflame it.
        "What kind of values are we promoting," the emperor's wife 
asked rhetorically, without a hint of irony, "when a child can walk 
into a store and find video games where you win based on how 
many people you can kill or how many places you can blow up?"
        The little boy tried to sort out the whole situation. "It must be a 
matter of the difference between pretend and for real," he observed. 
"The emperor and his wife don't want us to play at killing people 
because we might get confused and actually do it without proper 
authorization. The point is that we should wait till we're a few years 
older. Then, we could join the armed forces, and if an emperor 
wants us to kill some people we could do so, and everybody will 
praise us."
        "I suppose that's true," said the little girl. "For a while there, I 
figured the emperor for a stark naked hypocrite. But the scribes 
don't seem to see through his finery, so maybe we shouldn't either. 
Or at least we ought to keep it to ourselves."
        "The emperor's wearing some fine new clothes after all," said 
the little boy. "Surely, if he wasn't wearing a stitch, the wise people 
of the mass media would point that out."
        "That makes sense. After all, who are you going to believe, the 
news media or your own eyes?"

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Norman Solomon's most recent book, "The Habits of Highly 
Deceptive Media," was published this spring.