Appreciating the Emperor's new clothes -- as designed by NSA

"Big Brother" Crying "Wolf"? (Part #5)

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The argument above exploits Aesop's "wolf" and Orwell's "Big Brother". Not to be forgotten are other well-known tales through which the challenges of trust have long been articulated in support of community and cultural wisdom. Those of Br'er Rabbit and Mullah Nasruddin offer a bridge across obvious cultural divisions.

Of particular relevance to this argument is the tale of The Emperor's New Clothes (1837) by Hans Christian Andersen. As the Emperor of the moment, Barack Obama could be understood to be disporting a new set of clothes -- carefully designed by the US government propaganda machine to persuade the world of the credibility of the claims regarding the current terrorist threat. The clothes are claimed to be a "new" design -- in contrast to that of the past, now deprecated (as outmoded).

The Emperor's allies, through their various spokespeople and commentators, necessarily express admiration for the clothes -- for the most obvious reasons, if they wish to continue to be "accepted at the imperial court". The difficult is that the Emperor's new clothing is virtually transparent. It does not exist -- except to the extent that it can be compared to a "cloak of invisibility". But few with careers and funding to protect would care to draw attention to that fact.

Unfortunately for the courtiers and the Emperor, there are now many without any position to to protect at court -- as a consequence of imperial policies. As with the "Little Boy" of the tale, they can rudely attest for all to hear that the Emperor is "wearing no clothes". He is naked -- although primus inter pares. Manning, Assange and Snowden could each be understood as the "Little Boy" of the tale.

The entanglement of that tale with the fable of Aesop is further discussed separately (Entangled Tales of Memetic Disaster: mutual implication of the Emperor and the Little Boy, 2009).