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This breaking news story just in: Obama And Fox News Don’t Agree!

What?  You’re not shocked and appalled?  Where are the cries of terror? Come on people, I even put an exclamation point at the end (and some of you know how I feel about those)!  Look! It’s all Capitalized and stuff!  I violated several formatting rules to make it look particularly outrageous! Where’s the outrage!?!?!?!?

Exactly what I thought as I watched the ladies of “The View” discuss this “rift” this morning (what can I say? I love my “Hot Topics” days).

The only thing shocking about this story is the fact that it is being billed as news.

Basically, the White House has said, we’re going to ignore you Fox News.  But there are other issues at play here.  The big one being whether or not White House aids will appear on Fox News programs.  As of right now the answer is yes.  Will Obama be on Fox News?…uh…no.

An issue that I hadn’t even considered until this morning however was the question: is this censorship?

Does Obama saying that he’s paying no heed to Fox News count as censorship?  My first reaction was of course not, that’s ridiculous, and Obama should just stay away from the issue entirely (politically smart and looks classier).  This of course was all while Elisabeth was going on and on about how it’s headed towards McCarthyism.  But it made me think about how people view the president.  Are there people out there that “loyal”?  Putting politics and legislation aside, how much influence do the words of the president have?  Is the president writing off a network enough for some people to shun them as well?

That internal monologue lasted about 30 seconds when I realized that loyal Obama followers aren’t watching Fox News anyway.  But the premise still has some validity.  How much influence will we allow public figures have on our actions and decisions?  Do we really have a choice at this point?  I mean I’m writing about this because I saw it on “The View” so I claim no immunity.  But is it possible to have an original opinion anymore or are they decided for us?

For example, before this whole Fox thing, the big Obama “problem” was the fact that he was talking about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”  instead of the “more important” issues of the war in Iraq and Healthcare.  I use quotes here to make a point, not to downplay any issue.  The point being, who decided which issue was more important?  Why are the rights and liberties of one group of people more important than that of another?  Is this censorship?  Someone’s out there deciding what we “need to know.”

Of course, all of this relies on the assumption that we are all mindless drones who take in whatever is put in front of us, and I think most of us are a little bit smarter than that.  Ultimately it’s a fine line and it’s up to each individual to decide where that line is.

…here’s Sesame Street’s the Count with a lesson about censorship…for those of you with an active imagination he’s saying “count.”  but just in case I’m rating this  PG13

Some other takes on Obama and Fox:

NYT

TIME

Trib Column

and of course

…bi-daily smile…

Potter Puppet Pals (always makes me smile)…

just click the links, you know you want to

…and I have to share some “Glee” love