Independent Judgment and Introspection: Fundamental Requirements of the Free Society

Why don't the adults in the story of "The Emperor's New Clothes" support the boy who commented on the emperor's decidedly missing wardrobe? Why don't more people practice the independent judgment of that boy?

The answer is fear, real or imagined, of what might happen to them.

More often than not, our fears of expressing independent judgment stem from what others might think of us. Disapproval, maybe rejection, is the worst that might happen, yet the anxiety caused by self-doubt can be so stro...