the emperor(s) has no clothes, indeed.

Here's a blatant illustration:

Two little girls walked along on their way home from school. One of them is well-known as their teacher, Mrs. Smoochy's pet. But she seemed to be good-natured, nevertheless. So her classmates saw nothing harm in befriending her anyway. The teacher' pet started conversation:

"Tell me, is it fun to play on the yard?"
"Why, surely it is! Why?"
"I've been spending too much of my time studying indoors, accompanied by Mrs. Smoochy. I've been wondering..."
"Yes?"
"Is it fun to play with you guys?"
"Of course it is! You have to join us sometimes!"
"Well, I..."
"Come on! It will be fun. You can't study all the time!"

The teacher's pet didn't say anything. The very next day, the girl who was trying to befriend the teacher's pet was grounded. She was told to stand in schoolyard, punished and humiliated for the entire school to see. Her mistake was that "she had been downgrading the value of studying, insulting the teacher's pet, thus insulting teacher's authority". The poor little girl didn't even get to hear the verdicts before her punishment.

It could be an unfortunate true story in a school somewhere. But to be displayed in a prestigious nine-stories building?

Whoa.

So what's the moral of the story, children?

(1) Corporate culture is 1984, revisited.
(2) Drama queens are dangerous.
(3) The emperor(s) has no clothes indeed. But unlike in fairy tales, the real-world emperors wouldn't spare his time being embarassed and questioning when the children pointed out their nakedness. They simply had the kid executed.

[I couldn't come up with a more layered illustration, because the event itself was unbelievably banal]

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