The Arrogance of Height

   Nicknames are useful devices when insecure people want to show disrespect for those who do not agree with them.
   (And yes, nicknames can also be terms of endearment, but that's another issue.)
   Currently, the new guy in the Oval Office denigrates his opponents with such terms as "Little Marco," or "Little Rocket Man," when he speaks of Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, or Kim Jung-un, the ruler of North Korea.
   Oddly, he does not use such terms when speaking of Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, who stands 5  feet, 6  inches tall.
   Kim Jung-un is reported to be 5 feet 3 inches, and Sen. Rubio is said to be about 5 feet, 8 inches. 
  The president has made much of the size of his own ... whatever, assuring audiences that "There's nothing wrong down there, I can tell you." And he says he stands 6 feet, 3 1/2 inches  tall.
   That's the same size as Elwood P. Dowd's invisible friend Harvey the Rabbit. That extra half-inch was very important to Harvey, as it is with the current president.
   Why that's so important is a matter for psychologists to discuss, along with the issue of height generally.
   Considering all these factors, an argument could be made that height is one reason why the president dismissed former FBI Director James Comey, who stands 6 feet, 7 inches tall.
   For the record, the average height of an American man is 5 feet, 9.5 inches. In Canada, the number is 5 feet, 9 inches, roughly the same as in France. In Germany, the average is 5 feet, 11 inches, and in Britain it's 5 feet, 9.75 inches.
   In other, less prosperous countries in Asia and Latin America, the average is lower.
   Curiously, the issue of relative height is mentioned more often by men who are taller than average than by those of average stature or less.
   One wonders why.