The Emperor’s New Clothes
Folktales keep hanging around because the sorts of lessons they teach are timeless and universal. That said, some gain more relevance than others over the years, and I’ve always thought The Emperor’s New Clothes one of the most pertinent to our own time.
Do we still believe in the wisdom of crowds? I think it’s hard to in the present day and age. What this parable warns us against is the danger of mass delusion, or “pluralistic ignorance.” It’s a top-down phenomenon, first infecting the court, which turns out to be the easiest part. Courtiers, aware of how slippery the greasy pole of advancement is, will do anything to get along. As for the Emperor himself, the whole idea works out pretty well for him. It’s a sort of shit test for the courtiers: if they’ll go along with this, they’re likely to go along with anything.
The tailors, meanwhile, are our influencers. We know they must be good because they’re making so much money. And the scam finally takes on a life of its own. Because even when exposed (literally) the Emperor has to keep pretending. The show must go on. The kid can say what he wants; if there’s enough money at stake the illusion will continue to be propped up.
Virginia Lee Burton’s illustrations go back to 1949 but they stand up well in terms of how she conceived the story, emphasizing mirror effects. Because we don’t see ourselves as we appear in a mirror, in an accurate reflection, but only as others see us. Reality is a carnival or funhouse. And even if we know that everything about it is a lie, we’ll all still play along.
Alex Good 
It’s almost as if there were daily developments in a current news story that go along with a lie that everyone knows is going to end one way, but we have to pretend that we don’t. As previously noted, there’s a reason why they’ve allowed court cases and Truth Social until now; the coup de grace has to be delivered by the public in November, yet not before Trump’s base are diversted of every cent they have. But yeah, the polls are so close, it could go either way, yadda yadda…there’s a danger in the way the media are manipulating this….oh, what, you were writing about a fairy tale? What is the alternative to going along?
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Not going along! I mean, you don’t *have* to call these phonies out, but at least not pay attention to all the crap. Just turn away. For me the story speaks to our myth of a meritocracy. I’ve given up on the number of geniuses or supertalented or whatever types lionized in the press who are basically incompetent at everything. They’re not even any good at what they’re supposed to be experts at.
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I still have my compendium of Hans Christian Anderson stories, I grew up with them. I think a fair few still are relevant to today’s world and this one more than most. Great review!
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Thanks! Yeah, this is the story I keep coming back to, really almost every day, just seeing what’s going on. We all know what’s happening but we pretend as though it’s normal because he’s the emperor and we like a good show and don’t want to go against popular opinion.
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It’s funny how everyone sees themselves as the little boy and not one of the crowd. And they are the first to jump on others who actually do have a differing opinion.
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Yep, there’s no love for whistleblowers. This is as old a story as Plato’s parable of the cave. What if someone told the people that it was all a sham, and he was right? They’d kill him.
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