Joel, seriously I say "You are right!".
Jokingly I say, no baby, we were not "convincing ourselves", we just had a huge amount of tolerance power.
ex-l, hi. I was in fact expanding further on the story, as I was jogging earlier!
I think the problem started when for the first time the taylor showed inexistent pieces of clothes to the Emperor, for him to choose from. If at that time the Emperor had said, " hey, what are you trying to do, are you joking? Do you want to cheat me, do you think I am a fool? Guards, arrest this impostor!!" There would have been no aggravation. But maybe the Emperor had no self-esteem and thought, "well, if the guy is saying, look at this brocade, and what about this damascus, this silk with gold thread, why not picking the blue one ...?". I am the stupid one not seeing the clothes"!
So, he bit. He did it once and couldn't stop, otherwise he'd loose face in front of the court. The situation became more serious. The taylor raising the stake. Measuring non-existing sleeves and so on. Due to the Emperor's bad example, all subjects fell prey of a wrong conviction. In the end, that lack of discrimination and power to face, resulted in a total disaster! At the official ceremony, the Emperor showed up in his underwear, since the custom made suit was non-existing. Difficult to find a remedy at that point!!
Lesson would be; if possible, keep your eyes wide open. Do not take the bait. Do not be afraid of asking questions if something sounds untrue or nonsensical. Nor of being naughty or disobedient. Prevention is better than cure. Love and peace.