In America, last Sunday. During the 89th annual Academy Awards. Host Jimmy Kimmel teased movie-star Meryl Streep. Kimmel joked, "Nice dress is that an Ivanka"? Streep, along with the award show’s audience, groaned with disdain. The troublemaker could be Counsel to the President Kellyanne Conway. The woman who famously argued on behalf of alternative facts. A few weeks earlier Conway, reacting to reports that Nordstrom dropped the President’s daughter, Ivanka Trump's fashion line. Decided to hawk Ivanka's clothing herself. The hitch was that Kellyanne marketed Ivanka’s fashions during an appearance on FOX News.
Blurring the lines of her position as a key Whitehouse staff member. Nonetheless, Conway ploughed-ahead. Unmindful of the fact that peddling Ivanka’s clothing was unbecoming to many.
America, is this a new version of an age-old fairy tale?
Couple Conway’s unfitting marketing ploy with the Streep vs Trump twitter war. The result, Ivanka’s fashion line mocked by thousands of Hollywood’s elites. Chances are Conway may have a challenging time trying to spin this event. On the other hand, how many Americans would express surprise, hearing Kellyanne’s chipper voice on the morning news? Claiming, the Oscars’ audience members did not see and hear what they saw and heard.
Kellyanne insisting. "Did you hear all the movie stars clap and cheer for Ivanka’s wardrobe line?” This prompted America’s polite news anchors, desperate to pamper the delicate ego of President Trump, to acquiesce.
"Sure, Kellyanne that is what we heard".
Are we Watching the Emperor’s New Clothes II?
The fairy-tale explores an old idea. A vulnerable leader, one who is obsessed with image. May well be in danger of being bamboozled by his own con. Movie stars know a few things for sure. They understand image and fashion. After all, they are master jesters.
Streep, Kimmel, and most of Oscars' audience were in on the joke.
Conway, on the other hand, might be cut from the same cloth as some of the old fairy tale’s main characters. Alive on today’s airwaves. Therefore, a question the American people may want to consider. Is Conway a modern-day swindler straight from the pages of a longstanding fable?
This may well be one of the most important questions of our time. One that has origins in childhood lore.
Many may agree the fairy-tale describes what is happening today. In the Emperor’s New Clothes. A couple of con-artists arrive in town to take advantage. This is what they did. The swindlers made-up an alternative fact. Claiming they were master-weavers. They swore they were artists who knew how to weave the most impressive fabrics ever worn. The swindlers insisted, the colors and patterns they wove into fine clothes had a magic quality. Their fabric consisted of special cloth. As a result, their clothes had a remarkable way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office. Or who was unusually stupid.
Will Americans catch on?
You guessed it. The tale ends with the Emperor walking through crowds of his people, naked. Worse still. People in the crowd did not voice the truth. Instead, they clap and cheer. An unresolved ending for sure. Until a young child calls out. "He is naked"! The child’s nervous father, aiming to please, declares. "Did you ever hear such innocent prate"? Some in the crowd laugh and whisper to one another. Repeating exactly what the child just said. "He hasn't anything on"! "The Emperor is naked"! At last, the whole crowd cries out. "The Emperor has no clothes"!
Shivers ran up and down the Emperor’s spine. He knew they were right. Even so, he thought, this procession must go on.
With that, he walked more proudly than ever. His noblemen held high the Emperor’s lavish train. One that was not there. Invisible to the naked eye. Sound familiar?
It is Read Across America time. Maybe on the list ought to be 'The Emperor's New Clothes.'
