Obey Me.

The Emperor is Clothed – Why We Must All Pretend.

“Shut up Lenny, for God’s sake, shut up.”

That’s what the crowd says to the lone voice daring to point at the Emperor and cry out: “He’s naked!”

We all know the story. Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale about a vain ruler, conned into parading through the streets in invisible garments, until a child blurts out the truth. But let’s re-imagine that scene for today’s world.

The child isn’t praised for his honesty. The crowd doesn’t chuckle and awake to reality. Instead, the child is hushed, his hand lowered, his mouth silenced. Not because the people don’t see what he sees—but because they’re terrified of what might happen if they admit it.

The New Rule of Silence.

We live in an age where the obvious must be denied if it doesn’t match the official narrative. The Emperor is clothed, because we are told he is clothed. To question that “truth” is to invite punishment, ridicule, or worse.

Honesty, once considered a virtue, has become a liability. In a police-state society, silence isn’t cowardice—it’s survival. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. The voice that rises above the whisper gets marked, recorded, filed.

Why We All Clap.

We clap not because we believe, but because we must. We clap for the Emperor’s fine new garments because to do otherwise would put our families at risk; our wives, our grannies, our war veterans. We nod, we smile, we repeat the slogans, for the sake of our children’s safety, our neighbourhood’s stability, and the fragile peace we cling to.

The irony is brutal: everyone sees the naked truth, but the truth is the one thing we dare not speak.

The Dangerous Power of the Obvious.

The truth has become the most dangerous thing of all. Pointing at it, naming it, risks unraveling the entire fabric of society—or at least that’s what we’re told. And so the crowd, instead of rising up, instead of laughing with the brave child, turns on him.

“Lower your hand Lenny. Bite your tongue. Keep quiet,” they plead.

Not because they don’t agree—but because they do.

A Warning in the Tale.

Andersen wrote his story as a fable about vanity and honesty. But in our time, it reads as a warning: when society values obedience over truth, the Emperor always stays clothed, no matter how naked he is.

So clap. Smile. Say nothing. For in the Empire of Fear, silence is the last uniform we all must wear.