We were listening to the news this morning and I made the remark that the the whole world is becoming stupid \u2014 and that they should all wear dunce caps. As I sat there, mulling over the news, I got to thinking that maybe intelligence has just become an oppressive force on all these stupid people for a long time. I think they believe their stupidity and idiotic tendencies are not something to be mocked \u2014 they should be celebrated. Unfortunately, admitting stupidity is still taboo in our society, so it\u2019s necessary for these people to pretend to have knowledge to survive. Some of our friends often simulate knowledge of, especially, politics and history and readily accept compliments from friends and family on their intelligence, who seem unaware of its fictitious nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, again, I\u2019ve gotten a little off the subject. I intended to discuss dunce caps\u2026 after I had used the term, it occurred to me that you don\u2019t hear it much anymore and probably most of the younger generation don\u2019t know what one is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was young, \u201cdunce cap\u201d was a fairly common term and was always a symbol of idiocy or punishment. But that wasn\u2019t always the case.\u00a0
For the younger readers, the caps were usually made from rolling paper into a cone and writing a \u201cD\u201d or the word \u201cDunce\u201d on the paper to indicate that the person wearing the cap had done something very stupid. They were called a dunce cap or dunce\u2019s cap or a dunce hat or dunce\u2019s hat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The name comes from a Scottish philosopher-theologian named John Duns Scotus. I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s of any significance or an omen or something, but his last name (Scotus) happens to be the abbreviation for the Supreme Court of the United States. His middle name, Duns, comes from the village where he was born and came to be pronounced \u201cdunce.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Duns Scotus was a Franciscan who was ordained in 1291 to wear \u201cthe habit of the Friars Minor at Dumbries.\u201d\u00a0
The dude was a real thinker \u2014 his life\u2019s work was all about the study of this world and the next. He became a master philosopher, linguist, theologian and metaphysical thinker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So how did his name become a synonym for stupidity? For some reason, Scotus was also a proponent for the use of pointy hats. One story is that he was inspired by the use of such hats by wizards \u2014 another says that it was Scouts\u2019 love of the headgear that inspired the popular image of wizards wearing conical hats. Either way, the hats were meant to indicate wise men. Scouts believed the conical shape would act like some metaphysical funnel of knowledge and wisdom. The hats were a symbol of knowledge until after he died (in 1308.) But during the 1500s, the popular thought among church scholars began to turn against the \u201cDunsmen,\u201d and soon the \u201cDunsmen\u201d or \u201cDuns\u201d were thought to be woefully out-of-date in their thinking, and thus stupid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today John Duns Scotus is thought to be one of the great thinkers of the Middle Ages. He was beatified in 1993 by Pope John Paul II, in recognition for his contributions to religious theory.\u00a0
So even though you don\u2019t hear much about them anymore, dunce caps may not represent a proud tradition, but they certainly are part of a long-standing one.
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We were listening to the news this morning and I made the remark that the the whole world is becoming stupid \u2014 and that they should all wear dunce caps. As I sat there, mulling over the news, I got … Continue reading