Let’s review the end of Hans Christian Anderson’s fable, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”:
So now the Emperor walked under his high canopy in the midst of the procession, through the streets of his capital; and all the people standing by, and those at the windows, cried out, “Oh! How beautiful are our Emperor’s new clothes! What a magnificent train there is to the mantle; and how gracefully the scarf hangs!” in short, no one would allow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, in doing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit for his office. Certainly, none of the Emperor’s various suits, had ever made so great an impression, as these invisible ones.
“But the Emperor has nothing at all on!” said a little child.
“Listen to the voice of innocence!” exclaimed his father; and what the child had said was whispered from one to another.
“But he has nothing at all on!” at last cried out all the people. The Emperor was vexed, for he knew that the people were right; but he thought the procession must go on now! And the lords of the bedchamber took greater pains than ever, to appear holding up a train, although, in reality, there was no train to hold.
When were kids we loved the part that it was a little child who pointed out the truth to the adults. Now that I’m an adult I’m horrified by (1) how adults went along with the charade at all, and (2) when confronted by the truth the Emperor decides “the procession must go on.”
The phenomenal strength of our wiring as social animals enables us to do so much more together than we can alone. This same wiring makes our species incredibly vulnerable to social pressures, propaganda, and lies. Let us remain sober about this reality.
