The Emperor’s New Clothes, Trump & the Democrats
A time for critical thinking
By Darren Starwynn, O.M.D.
October 28, 2024
Critical thinking is based on a desire for truth and clarity, and a commitment to look beyond our fears, biases and blind spots. If you value critical thinking, I request that you read this article with an open mind. See what it evokes in you. If you have some opinions that differ from mine and you read it anyway, that will be a heroic act, so thank you in advance! Your comments and replies are welcome.
Many of the tales we’ve categorized as “children’s stories” are actually parables revealing high truths we adults need to understand. Jesus spoke in parables because it helped him get through to people who could not understand his direct messages about subtle spiritual principles.
A parable of great relevance now is the famous story of The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson..
The very short version of this story goes like this: A very vain Emperor was contacted by two wily men who wished to connive some wealth from him. They promised to make the Emperor the greatest suit of clothing ever that would be invisible to unworthy people. They convinced him to pay huge amounts of money up front for materials. The two tailors then set up their looms in the royal palace and started weaving day after day, yet producing no clothing that could be seen.
None of the Emperor’s ministers and courtiers dared question what seemed to be nothing being produced so they would not be called unworthy and stupid. So eventually the Emperor went on public procession believing he was wearing the splendid new robes, yet was actually naked. All the people cheered him on and praised his new clothes, also not wanting to be called unworthy. Eventually an innocent child cried “The Emperor is naked” and the people were snapped out of their trance. They could no longer deny the truth. Yet the Emperor, still caught up in his illusion, continued the procession naked. His courtiers had to struggle between telling him the truth or keep appeasing him by supporting his illusion.
This powerful story is telling us that mass hallucinations are possible, and do happen in societies.
Does any of that sound familiar?
As a nation we have a difficult choice in the current US Presidential election. I’ll dramatize that choice with a snippet of another mythic story, this one from the Odyssey by Homer.
When Odysseus and his men were returning from the Trojan War they had to go through many trials. One was to sail through a narrow strait in which there were two monsters, one on each side. One named Scylla had many cruel, snarling heads, and would snatch many of the sailors passing by and eat them. On the other side of the strait was Charybdis, who created whirlpools that would suck the entire ship down into oblivion. As captain, Odysseus had to make a choice between these two terrible options.
He chose to sail on the side of Scylla because that way he would only lose part of his crew, while going on the Charybdis side would have killed all of them. So the term a “Scylla and Charybdis decision” has come into our language to describe having to choose the lesser of two evils. When you’re faced with such a decision, as we are now in this election, what is most needed is critical thinking.
I grew up with parents who were staunch Democrats, and I’ve voted Democratic in all the Presidential elections I’ve been part of. In general, I support Democratic platforms such as environmental protection, working toward racial justice and equality, women’s rights and empowerment, LBGQT rights and reducing violence through misuse of guns.
Yet in this election I can plainly see ways I strongly disagree with several Democratic policies. These include censorship of alternative medical information during the pandemic, moving toward compulsory vaccinations, unconditional support for Israel’s destruction of the people of Gaza and trying to push NATO onto the borders of Russia, helping trigger the Ukraine war. And I am aware of institutionalized corruption in both of our major political parties.
Many people I know feel disgusted by one or more of those grievous issues and concluded that they will vote for Trump as a solution, or a protest. I’ve had many conversations with them about this. I can empathize with their desire to protest such policies. Yet in so many cases I feel like I’m seeing significant gaps in their critical thinking, and here’s some specific examples:
Critical Thinking Gap #1: Many of my spiritually aware friends supporting Trump are incensed about what they perceive as the evils of Harris and the Democratic party, yet they seem to give a more or less free pass to Trump and MAGA about his severe transgressions. In order to support their position, they discount or minimize the things he stands for and clearly says he will do. See #3 below.
For example, some friends who believe that pandemic vaccines were engineered to reduce fertility and other health-destroying effects say that Biden was in on planning those atrocities. Yet when I pointed out that Trump was the one to brag about how he rushed those same vaccines out into mass administration through his Operation Warp Speed they say that he was simply “misguided” by his advisors. See the double standard?
Many of my friends and relatives who vote Democratic also could use more discernment. They tend to unquestioningly accept what mainstream media and commentators say about the issues I raised above, and tend to be offended when I suggest there is more to the story.
Critical Thinking Gap #2: Only listening to one kind of media and lacking discernment. Anyone doing a research project who wants to arrive at an accurate conclusion needs to read input and data from many conflicting sources. Yet most people on both sides of the partisan divide tend to only listen to media that is one sided, and often disseminate theories not based in fact. I personally believe some so-called conspiracy theories are actually correct, and are a necessary counter-balance to mainstream media, which censors some important truths. But it is a lack of critical thinking to accept ALL of those conspiracy theories in alt-media without putting each through the lens of discernment.
For examples, there are real conspiracies among many politicians and corporations to increase their profits at the expense of consumers, to manipulate the flow of accurate information and hide health risks of some of their products. I also believe there was a conspiracy to hide the full risks of pandemic vaccines from consumers. Yet the widespread theory that the 2020 election was stolen away from Trump is simply false, yet people repeat it because they hear it over and over. For details see this.
Some conspiracy theories are very harmful. For example, many people are being told to ignore extreme weather warnings coming from government agencies that monitor storms because they are from the “deep state”. This could lead to increased deaths as gullible people fail to evacuate or prepare for killer storms.
Critical Thinking Gap #3: Denial of any evidence that challenges your emotional positions and beliefs. If you are planning to vote for Trump, please be courageous and take this simple test: Think back to a time before you started supporting him, maybe even before the current highly polarized situation. Now ask yourself this – Back then, would you have supported any leader who clearly and publicly says he will do any of these:
1. Dehumanize people in the opposition political party by calling them “vermin” or “the enemy within”, and promise that. if elected, he will use the power of government to persecute them?
2. Use the military to suppress peaceful demonstrations against him?
3. Refuse to accept the results of a major election, and instigate violence to overthrow the results?
4. Round up millions of Latino people in a reign of terror, including many who are here legally, and force them into squalid camps for deportation without any rights?
5. Ensure that his followers won’t have to vote for President again after this election? Do this by shifting the US toward the model of Hungary, which is democracy in name, but in which a dictator has suppressed the opposition parties so it is impossible for them to win an election, and in which non-Christians are treated as lower class citizens? Trump mentioned this as his model during his debate with Harris.
6. Either remove most environmental protections that have been put in place since the 1960’s or make it very difficult to enforce them?
Most of my friends who are Trump supporters minimize these statements he has made. They either ignore them, or think “he doesn’t really mean it”. Or they believe that RFK Jr, Tulsi Gabbard and others they consider more reasonable in his circle will influence Trump to be less vindictive. Yet a study of Trump’s psyche ,as outlined by many psychiatrists, indicates that his obsession with revenge will make it unlikely that he would be restrained by these advisors
Another factor that is largely passed over by most media, both alternative and mainstream is that Trump’s mind is rapidly deteriorating. He is simply not up to the complex and demanding task of serving as President of the United States. Just listen to his recent rally speeches for evidence.
What this means is that others will actually be running the government if Trump wins. That will be JD Vance, backed up by a circle of billionaires including Elon Musk. Vance’s attitudes toward women are well known – he wants them to go back to more traditional roles in subservience to the male patriarchal model. He supports the tenets of Project 2025. Do you really want him to be running this country?
So this is one reason why our decision in this election is so challenging. We need to be able to hold complexity rather than black and white polarized views, and that is not as comfortable to the scared human ego. We need to question what we hear from any media, and put it through the test of fact checking and our own inner feelings.
I will be voting for Kamala Harris. Not because she is an ideal candidate I would like to see leading this country. Not because I support many of the actions and corruption of the Democratic party I listed earlier.
I will be voting for her because the structure of our imperfect democracy will be maintained. Environmental protections will be preserved, women’s rights will not be removed, minorities treated more fairly and checks and balances continuing in our government. Then new generations of young people deeply affected by the severe global issues we are leaving them won’t have to also struggle against fascism and totalitarianism in the USA.
I am a Jew. I recently read some translations of Hitler’s Mein Kampf book. In it he states that:
“Jews are the un-Godly inhuman embodiment of all that is evil – they are the devil. Their goal is domination of the world. They have brought in immigrants of color into Germany to weaken the pure Aryan race.”
Pouring this kind of poison into the minds of Germans for many years led to the final solution – suppression and extermination of Jews – “the enemy within”.
I have compared Hitler’s speeches and playbook for gaining power with Trump’s and they are eerily similar. But now the accursed enemy is the Democrats (or anyone who opposes Trump) instead of Jews. He talks about immigrants “poisoning the blood of America” and “radical left lunatics who are so sick and evil”.
Even if you don’t like Kamala Harris and what she stands for, can you really in good conscience put a person of unsound mind, who is saying these kind of things about those who oppose him in this country now, into a position of unbridled power?
When you are invested into an ideology that in some way comforts you or gives you a sense of surety in a scary, unsure world, it takes courage and love of truth to commit to critical thinking. I am willing to have others challenge my biases and blind spots so I can see more of what is true. Are you?