Why do authority figures so often wear silly hats?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

It seems to be a universal human impulse - as far as I can tell, it's cropped up completely independently in a great many cultures. Why should "this person is important, and so we will put something ludicrous on their head to indicate that they are worthy of respect" be a natural way of thinking? I mean, obviously adding height is part of it, but it seems to go further than that...





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Double_crown.svg

[rucky]

1. The Vatican called.

They want their bandwidth back.

[Justpat]

8. LOL. n/t

[marmar]

2. Sometimes the teacher makes them do it.....

[SpiralHawk]

3. Ahhh, the Ministry of Silly Hats (R)

More powerful than even the Ministry of Silly Walks (R).

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

4. cool post, but should be redone with smaller images. It's not a usable thread

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

13. While holding the CTRL key down, use your mouse scroll wheel

to adjust the size of text and images on your page. The size can be adjusted downward so you can see the complete image.

[izquierdista]

5. The explanation

By the esteemed Prof. Carlin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FKOVFyd3nc

[RKP5637]

7. +1000, +++ n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Good question but I don't think the pictures have to be actual size.

[Patsy Stone]

9. "How do you know he's a King?"

"He hasn't got shit all over him."

In the same vein, I've always wanted to know why crazy dictator guys always wear the same outfit every day.

[RC]

10. Your question is easy.

'cause crazy dictators are almost always right wing conservatives and don't like change. Change scares them.

[pipi_k]

11. Actually, I rather like the Native American headdress...

As for the rest of 'em...they all look like bozos

[TheMadMonk]

12. For the same reason "important" people dress elaborately,...

...grow their fingernails long, surround themselves with useless hangers on, or blow the price of a decent second hand car on a bottle of spoiled grape juice.

Brand recognition. How can you be important if unimportant people don't SEE how important you are? And also see that you don't have to WORK for a living.

[Stevenmarc]

14. Who knew they had Vuitton in 18th century Japan

[Odin2005]

15. My World History proff said she always wanted to do a course on "History though funny hats".