The emperor and most of his people who heard the swindlers were adults, and they were less confident about their own senses and abilities and trusted more in what outsiders had to say about them. The terms “foolish”, “stupid”, and “unfit” are generally taken as demeaning. To avoid being called such words, the adults chose to believe the words of the swindlers. They even reached a point where they were lying to themselves so that they did not think of themselves as losers.