WHO WILL TELL THE EMPEROR?
In 1837 Hans Christian Andersen’s story, “The emperor’s new
clothes” was first published and this beautiful tale of an emperor’s
indulgence, pretentiousness and pomposity has become a classic allegory to
highlight the importance of critical thinking and honesty. For those of you not familiar with the tale I
will supply you with a condensed version.
Although emperors may pretend that they are not ordinary people, they
are. One should never confuse wealth and
position with the notion that those possessing both are beyond reproach or
shortcomings.
The emperor is surrounded by people who constantly bow and
curtsy and who can’t wait to fulfill all his demands and wishes. They are jostling for attention and currying
favor. As a consequence the emperor
feels that he is the cleverest and most important person in the world, yet at
the back of his mind there is the ever present niggling doubt that perhaps not
everyone can be trusted. Do they really
like me?
Although his paranoia was felt by everyone around him, and
especially by those who dared to supply him with answers he didn’t like and who
consequently are either immediately fired, or in some cases even disposed of,
there was no way for the emperor of finding out who were truly honest and trustworthy.
Enter a coterie of crafty con-artists and scammers who told
the emperor exactly what he wanted to hear.
They claimed to be the weavers of a special cloth, incredibly beautiful,
but with one added magical feature: only those clever and honest can see their
creations.
Always tell the emperor what he wants to hear.
The emperor wanted to know which of his men (please remember the times this was written in and that the role of women was rather limited and trust in women in general was in short supply. Some of the pundits amongst you may infer that not much has changed!) were unfit for their positions and above all he wanted to be able to tell clever people from stupid ones. As an aside; wow, how wonderful if life was that simple! No more background checks!
I can visualize the performance: the empty looms and the
so-called artisans weaving the illusionary yarns, swaddling the cloth, holding
it up to the light, voices thrilling with delightful oohs and aahs, exclaiming
for all to hear, “Oh, how beautiful are the emperor’s new clothes”.
The emperor of course pretended to admire the fabric because
he didn’t want to reveal that he couldn’t see anything. In other words, heaven forbid, that HE was
stupid and couldn’t be trusted.
Of course, the emperor was not disappointed in the gushing
reaction of all he employed. All of them
bowing and scraping, oohing and aahing, as he struts around naked around the
palace.
The moral of the story is that one should never be afraid to
speak the truth, even when faced with social pressures or consequences, even
going as far as challenging authority.
It highlights the dangers of conformity without question, of simply
following a leader and denying the importance of critical thinking and
honesty. When it turns into collective
denial all you’re left with is hypocrisy and societal failure.
In Andersen’s tale the emperor is eventually persuaded to
leave the palace and show himself to the people of the nation, people who have
been alerted to the fact that the emperor’s special clothes will reveal who is
clever and who can be trusted. They have
been primed to ooh and aah with great enthusiasm. We all know how it ended. It was a little boy, watching the parade go
by, who stated the obvious.
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