The Emperor’s New Clothes

Many people know this fairy tale from the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Two crooks succeed in convincing the emperor, his court and the whole country that they made magic clothes for the emperor, clothes which are invisible for stupid, incompetent people. All countrymen are afraid to be unmasked as stupid and stand in awe for the emperor’s new clothes. Except one little boy who was unaware of the magic property of the clothes and shouts in the crowd that the emperor is not wearing any clothes at all.

We may identify ourselves with the cheering people, who turn with the wind when suddenly everybody else does. This is the so-called mainstream. We should identify ourselves with the emperor. No one really escapes from the position of the emperor. Our idleness and fear of appearing stupid continuously blackmail our reason. This doesn’t happen occasionally, it happens continuously. We are forced to live a life of rational denial and self-deceit as we are blackmailed by others on our intellectual capacities. This, in a certain way, tells us something about society as a whole. Our society is trapped in a number of self-constructed paradigms. Some of these paradigms are absolutely foolish. We don’t question them as we don’t want to be considered a fool. How can we get rid of these paradigms? We need to listen to ignorant little boys and girls.

Let me give some examples of foolish paradigms. We all believe that working from nine to five is actually a smart thing to do. We drive ourselves, always at the same time into massive traffic jams. Is that so smart? All these office jobs, are they really so meaningful that we all have to be there at the same time? Is it really needed that we all drive hundreds of kilometres, daily, alone, crossing thousands of people who do the same in the opposite direction? When vacation time starts, we drive ourselves into traffic jams on the highways to the south, every year again. Is that a smart thing to do? Or we take the plane and spend our precious free time in front of security gates at the airport? I want to be the little boy who says this is not smart.

The Emperor’s New Clothes  was wonderfully narrated and sung by Danny Kay in his movie Hans Christian Andersen and it was recorded for eternity on this wonderful vinyl record, which I remember so well from my childhood. Enjoy the song.

Picture: from the book Andersens Sprookjesschat, Zuid-Nederlandse Uitgeverij – Antwerpen/Amsterdam 1966