[Leica] Re: A Defense of my Dream, and Some Etymology

[Douglas Cooper <visigoth@cloud9.net>]

By the way, I'm not sure relating a Leica dream is such a low affair.  Given that a good part of this list consists of collectors, I think it's fair to say that much of the discussion revolves around the iconography of the Leica.  And while I despise Freud (my first novel is mostly an assault on his influence), I believe that dreams do have potential significance as symbols.  Was this a profound dream?  Well, no.  But it was my
first Leica dream, so I thought I'd post it.  (And I thought it was kind of funny, but appear to have been mistaken.)

Also of interest is the word "moron."  So as not to miss an opportunity to promote my fiction... I published a story in Grand Street some years ago called "The Moron."  While writing the piece, I did a fair bit of etymological research.  Turns out that "moron" is a technical term, coined by the repulsive H.H. Goddard in 1910:  it is the highest group in the taxonomy of the feeble-minded, and indicates a mental age of eight to
twelve.  Goddard is the ur-figure responsible for the pseudo-scientific bigotry of the SAT and IQ tests.  His American Association for the Study of the Feeble-minded concentrated, not surprisingly, upon children (for the purpose of eugenics) and immigrants.  Goddard was surprised to find that Jewish immigrants tested at Ellis Island were mostly morons, as he had a high opinion Jewish intelligence.  Of course, he failed to take
into account the fact that most of these immigrants could hardly speak English, and that the test was in that language.  H.H. Goddard may well have been the first verifiable moron of the American Century.

To make this relevant to the list:  it's well worth reading Stephen J. Gould's account of this anthropological movement in The Mismeasure of Man:   he finds evidence of touching up in photos of the "feeble-minded," an effort to exaggerate their supposedly moronic features.  This is essentially phrenology, dressed up as modern science.  Somebody should do a conceptual art piece in which these photos are dissected -- a particularly
appropriate project in this age of digital manipulation.  Perhaps I shall.

Cheers,


Douglas Cooper