The Emperor's New Clothes

Image: Ai generated image of an empty mirror.

Do you remember the Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Emperor's New Clothes? It is the tale of a vain and powerful ruler who is obsessed with fashion and being seen as the most fashionable person in the kingdom. He is approached by two swindlers who promise to make him the most amazing outfit that will appear invisible to anyone who is not smart or fashionable. The King hires them, and then as they bring his "new" outfit, he cannot admit he sees nothing. None of his followers and advisors can admit they see nothing, for fear they will lose their place at his court. The entire town turns out for a parade, with everyone calling out how wonderful the new outfit is until a child calls out that the King is undressed.

Hearing this story as in kindergarten was impactful for a couple of reasons. One, my parents had spent five years trying to convince their four boys that you were not allowed to run around outside without any clothes, even if no one was around. You weren't supposed to pee behind trees, either. For a busy boy enjoying summer (or spring, fall or winter) that was a bridge too far. Why should you have to go inside when there were so many places to go outside?

The second reason is that kids are pretty black and white in their reasoning at that age. When you see something, you believe it. I mean, you saw it, right? So, of course it is true. There are not a lot of options. The idea that an entire town would disregard their own eyes seemed fantastical. (Writer's note: fantastical is my 64-year-old language asserting itself. As a five-year-old, I probably would have said stupid.)

I feel like we are living through The Emperor's New Clothes right now. People are not calling out what they see with their own eyes. We fire the Bureau of Labor chief statistician because Trump didn't like the monthly jobs data report. What? The Smithsonian has tied itself in knots over removing a mention of Trump's two impeachments from a display on the American Presidency, coming up with multiple stories about what happened and why. The Senate confirmed, to a lifetime appointment on the federal bench, a Trump official after refusing to hear credible evidence that said official told DHS staff that they would need to disregard judicial rulings if they were to carry out Trump's wishes.

Not to mention that the current administration is going to persecute anyone who was remotely connected to any investigation of Donald Trump from the 2016 and 2020 elections or other crimes. And, of course, everything will be done as cruelly as possible, because in the end, cruelty is the object.

We cannot abide cruelty. We must find our voices and call out the things we see that violate our values. We must never let our collective history, good and bad, be rewritten in ways that reduce the complexity and truth of our shared past.

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