Comment on The Fear of Common Knowledge

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:56:43 GMT

I think the point in the story was that everyone assumed "I must be too sinful to see the emperor's cloths. Everyone else clearly can see them. There must be something wrong with me, so I should pretend I can see them too." Everyone, including the emperor himself, was burdened by the same self-doubt.

It was only when someone who was clearly without sin or guile said that he couldn't see the cloths that everyone else realized the truth.

(Unfortunately, in reality, I suspect the ending of the story really would have been "The child is a sinner and a heretic, or he would see the clothing just like all the rest of us CLEARLY do. Quick, burn the child!")

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