The emperor’s new clothes
Shabbat Shalom to all our readers.
One of the most celebrated tales of the famous Danish author Hans Andersen tells of a vain emperor obsessed with sartorial fashion who hires two swindlers posing as weavers who promise him the finest suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone hopelessly stupid or unfit for his position.
The emperor sends two ministers to inspect the “finished product”. They see nothing but pretend otherwise for fear of being deemed unfit for their positions. They tell the king, “The suit is fine as fine can be!”
Eventually the king goes to inspect. He too sees nothing but pretends otherwise for fear of being exposed as unfit to be emperor. When he parades the new “suit”, all his subjects, not wishing to be seen as hopelessly stupid, proclaim as one: “The suit is fine as fine can be!” But an innocent little child in the crowd cries: “Look, the emperor is naked!”
I have always been gripped by this story. It highlights one of the most frightening facets of the human condition – the tendency to follow the crowd no matter what for fear of being marginalised or labelled stupid, unfit, bigoted, naïve, archaic, or out of touch with reality. Countless delusions have been perpetrated throughout history in the name of mindless conformity with the “wisdom” espoused by the noisy crowd.
One of the first such mass delusions recorded in any literature is the meraglim episode in this week’s parasha.
Twelve men of sterling reputation are sent out to reconnoitre Eretz Yisrael. Ten of them misinterpret what they see and return determined to propagate the “new wisdom” to the masses as effectively as possible. Their most strident lobbying was done after the initial summit meeting in the presence of Moses and Aaron. “They broadcast ‘diba ra’ah’ – a slanderous report – about the land … to the Bnei Yisrael” (Bamidbar 13:32) spreading out among the populace and disseminating far and wide their poisonous propaganda (Abarbanel). Goodness knows how many times they reinforced their revisionist message, doubtless replete with seductive succinct soundbites.
Gradually the virulent message began to take firm root (as the Hebrew word “diba”, related to “devek”, glue, implies) among an ever-increasing number of the populace. After all this was the voice of the majority – 10 out of a dozen hand-picked ambassadors, enough to decide a criminal case in many jury systems.
And, having taken root, one would have been thought stupid or naïve to oppose this new accepted wisdom.
Moses and Aaron are suddenly the “oldies”, the “political and ideological dinosaurs” who are “out of touch”. And there is no intolerance like the intolerance of those brainwashed into a new creed. “The whole community said to stone them” [Joshua and Caleb, the two dissenting Moses-supporting tribal leaders] (14:10).
Why? For reinforcing an age-old message that Eretz Yisrael is the nation’s Divinely-appointed inheritance? Impossible, surely? No – just a sign of how well the “meraglim” had spread their poison. Even the tzadikim among the people were inhibited, it seems, from sticking their necks out in defence of the truth. The suit is as fine as fine can be!
The “meraglim” episode serves as a sad paradigm for every manifestation of what we now term “political correctness” or, more latterly, “wokeness”, in today’s mixed-up society. So-called experts weave imaginary theories which become doctrines and men and women of power and influence convince themselves that the doctrines are clothed with substance. Then they become dogmas and the masses dare not demur for fear of being labelled stupid or unfit.
A tiny country a third of the size of Tasmania surrounded by hostile regimes who seek its demise is constantly labelled and libelled by the chattering classes a bullying aggressor which, again according to their spin, is now one of the worst-perceived nations in the world. No prizes for guessing the country!
The expression “mercy killing” is no longer deemed an oxymoron by many people. In every Australian state, it is now lawful for doctors to assist patients in killing themselves.
Lies are repeated until they are perceived as facts and people dare not oppose them for fear of being vilified.
Are we going to wait for our children to cry out as eventually they will: “Can’t you see the emperor is naked?”
The author of four parasha books, Rabbi Chaim Ingram has recently published Lattices of Love regarding our prayers.
comments