![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lfs.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Emperors-New-Clothes-200_.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBy Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s not just for kids.<\/p>\n Nor is Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes\u201d merely another children\u2019s fable.<\/p>\n Few stories have resonated so deeply with all ages for so many generations that they become an integral part of international culture.<\/p>\n This sly libertarian fable has become so emblematic in folk wisdom that it\u2019s inspired a common catchphrase: \u201cThe emperor has no clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One modern edition, published as a picture book for kids, subtitles the story as \u201cA Story About Honesty.\u201d Yes, it is that \u2013 but also so much more, especially about how honesty and truth are among the first casualties in the war of politics.<\/p>\n Many of Andersen\u2019s stories have inspired movies and musicals, partly because of their imagination, humor and plot twists, but perhaps also because they embody moral lessons for young and old alike about facing adversity with resilience.<\/p>\n This charming but sobering tale, about a foolish and vain emperor who hires two weavers to make him the most beautiful clothes, reflects and reinforces perennial anti-authoritarian and libertarian themes about the pomposities, hypocrisies, illusions and deceptions so often perpetuated by the powerful \u2013 especially politicians and statesmen.<\/p>\n The emperor and his courtiers, afraid of being exposed as unfit, are pressured to pretend to see the \u201cclothes.\u201d Once the suit is finished, the weavers mime dressing the emperor \u2013 who actually remains naked.<\/p>\n As the emperor marches before his subjects, the townspeople go along with the pretense because no one wants to be accused of stupidity or a lack of refinement.<\/p>\n Interestingly, according to his biographies, Andersen\u2019s inspiration for his fable may have stemmed partly from his own childhood, as he once recalled standing in a crowd with his mother, waiting to see King Frederick VI.<\/p>\n When the king appeared, Andersen said: \u201cOh, he\u2019s nothing more than a human being!\u201d Yet, his mother tried to silence him, asking him if he\u2019d gone mad.<\/p>\n Because political discourse routinely resorts to deception, euphemism, exaggeration and denial of reality, Andersen\u2019s fable sadly is destined to remain relevant for generations to come.<\/p>\n For instance, it certainly resonated in the 1930s and 1940s, during the rise of statism and collectivism \u2013 whether sparked by a Lenin or Stalin or Hitler \u2013 that was largely applauded as a progressive inevitability by the leading thinkers, artists and columnists of that era.<\/p>\n Largely, that is, except for George Orwell, who even before he wrote his classic Prometheus-winning cautionary tales Nineteen Eighty-Four\u00a0<\/em>and Animal Farm<\/em>, penned his own radio-script adaptation of \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes\u201d for the BBC.<\/p>\n They say it takes one to know one, and Orwell certainly recognized the continuing relevance of Andersen\u2019s cautionary fable for his era.<\/p>\n Today, when lies (or at least half-truths) are commonly promulgated by presidents, politicians, bureaucrats and outright tyrants in countries around the world, this 19th\u00a0<\/sup>century fable sadly seems as timeless than ever.<\/p>\n Note: Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) wrote many plays, novels, poems and travelogues but is best remembered for his fairy tales \u2013 which include 156 stories across nine volumes.<\/p>\n * Coming up soon on the Prometheus Blog:\u00a0<\/strong>An Appreciation of The Survival of Freedom<\/i>, edited by Jerry Pournelle and John F. Carr<\/p>\n * Read the\u00a0introductory\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>essay<\/b>\u00a0about the LFS\u2019 40th\u00a0<\/sup>anniversary retrospective series of Appreciations of past Prometheus Awards winners, with an overview of the awards\u2019 four-decade history.<\/p>\n * Other Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For a full list of winners \u2013 for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the recently updated and enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>on the LFS website.<\/p>\n * Read\u00a0\u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0an essay in the June 2020 issue of the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the modern genre.<\/p>\n * Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards,\u00a0join\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans. Libertarian futurists believe culture is as vital as politics (and often more fulfilling, positive and productive in the longer run) in spreading positive visions of the future and achieving universal individual rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here is the Prometheus Blog Appreciation for Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s fable \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes,\u201d the 2000 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner for Best Classic Fiction: By Michael Grossberg It\u2019s not just for kids. Nor is Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes\u201d merely another children\u2019s fable. Few stories have resonated so deeply with all … Continue reading Speaking truth to power: Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes,\u201d the 2000 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,2353,1924,2423,160,8,996],"tags":[437,883,881,59,2017,880,882,879,884,885],"class_list":["post-2582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-book-reviews","category-comic-works","category-fantasy","category-hall-of-fame","category-review","category-young-adult-fiction","tag-animal-farm","tag-authority","tag-courage","tag-george-orwell","tag-hans-christian-andersen","tag-honesty","tag-speaking-truth-to-power","tag-the-emperors-new-clothes","tag-the-little-mermaid","tag-the-ugly-duckling"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-FE","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2582"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7508,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions\/7508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Andersen (1805-1875), a prolific Danish author-poet, wrote many popular and enduring fairy tales that embody universal truths about life, loss, betrayal and deception. \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes\u201d ranks among his most popular, along with \u201cThe Little Mermaid,\u201d \u201cThe Nightingale\u2019,\u201d \u201cThe Princess and the Pea,\u201d \u201cThe Red Shoes,\u201d \u201cThe Snow Queen,\u201d \u201cThe Steadfast Tin Soldier,\u201d \u201cThumbelina,\u201d \u201cThe Ugly Duckling\u201d and \u201cThe Little Match Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes,\u201d although it has been translated into more than 100 languages since its publication in 1837 in Andersen\u2019s third anthology, may be too simple and short a tale to justify a full-length play, musical or film. (Yet, I\u2019d love to see someone try to adapt it, perhaps interwoven and fleshed out with another Anderson fable, because its enduring themes are surprisingly sophisticated and subtle, with strong appeal for adults.)<\/p>\n<\/a>Although the weavers claim to fashion the most beautiful clothes with the most elaborate patterns, they\u2019re actually con men who only pretend the make the clothes while convincing the emperor that they\u2019re using a fine fabric invisible to the \u201chopelessly stupid\u201d or anyone else unfit for his high royal position.<\/p>\n<\/a>Yet, an innocent child, unafraid to speak the truth, shouts that the emperor is wearing nothing at all, emboldening some adults to echo the child. Even though the emperor finally realizes that the child is telling the truth, he continues the procession to avoid embarrassment and sustain the Big Lie.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n