Last spring, a friend suggested that I consider joining MENSA, the group for highly intelligent people. Without any false humility, I’m reasonably sure that I’d qualify, but I don’t think I’ll bother, even though joining might extend my circle of acquaintances. Groucho Marx’s comment about not wanting to belong to a club that would invite him to join aside, I dislike the thought of being evaluated before I can join. I also suspect that a club based on intelligence is a false sort of elitism, with misplaced criteria for membership.
Part of my reluctance is a deep-seated dislike of being evaluated. When I was in Grade One, I needed speech therapy to pronounce a hard “c” properly, and was shunted into the slow readers’ group solely on that basis. The appropriateness of that assessment is indicated by the fact that, by the end of the year, I was reading at a Grade 7 level, but the unfairness has left me with a lifelong detestation of tests and evaluations. Report cards, job performances – anything of the sort sets off an alarm and a sense of injustice in me. So, right from the start, the idea of writing an intelligence test in order to belong to a group unsettles me. Although I usually do well on tests, I don’t exactly seek them out.
At any rate, I don’t approve of self-appointed elitism. I’ve always believed that, if you have any talents, you should be self-deprecating about them, and people will appreciate them without you having to trumpet them (how I actually worked in marketing for a couple of years with that attitude escapes me now). In fact, if you have to trumpet your abilities, then either you over-rate them or you need to work on your insecurities (don’t we all). And if you don’t have them — well, better to stay silent in that case, too.
Besides, the elitism of MENSA has always seem misplaced to me. The first MENSA member I ever knew usually found a way to mention his membership within ten minutes of meeting a new person, and I don’t remember a single conversation in which he didn’t boast about his affiliation. He was fond of hiking solo, despite repeated warnings, and having been lost on several occasions, but insisted on continuing the practice. He died in his early twenties because he fell off a cliff while taking a short cut on a trail. I don’t know, but I’ve always imagined him thinking that he knew better than the posted warnings because he was supposed to be intelligent. That would have been just like him.
To be fair, other MENSA members I’ve met since haven’t been so conceited. Yet, at the same time, most of them haven’t been extraordinary people, either, although they all had something of the same sense that they were special that the young hiker had. So, with all respect, I suspect that intelligence alone is an insufficient criteria for being an interesting or accomplished person.
Personally, I’d rather hang out with people who have done something. I’m really far less interested in people who are quick with a pun or able to cite knowingly the latest geeky reference than in people who are experts in their chosen fields. When I hear a writer talk about her latest work, a free software developer enthusing about the new features in his upcoming release or executives talking about expanding their business, I don’t care about their intelligence. What I respond to is their obvious love of what they’re doing. Imagination and enthusiasm are what make these people worth spending time with; their intelligence is interesting only so far as it supports these traits.
Nor, in my experience, do you find many such impassioned people who are fixtures in their local MENSA chapter. The reason, I suspect, is that they don’t need the validation of hanging around a self-proclaimed elite. They’re too busy with what they love – and they’re all the more interesting for their preoccupation.
I could mention, too, the shortcomings of all existing measures of intelligence, but that’s a topic for another day. The real point is, by demeanor, temperament, and preferences, an organization like MENSA just isn’t the place for me. I’m sure that, for some people, especially when young, MENSA can be a much-needed refuge, but, for me, belonging to the group would be looking for companionship in the wrong place. I simply don’t value intelligence as an isolated quality – or myself – as much as most MENSA members apparently do.
Funny you mention your encounter with a MENSA member who worked that fact into conversations.
I knew someone who did that very thing 15 years ago, and found his need to do so quite annoying.
Never thought highly of MENSA since.
I find it is the same with people who go to Ivy League colleges. For some, there is a need to impress that I don’t quite grasp. There are so many different types of “smarts”, which no test can reveal. In my opinion, real intelligence comes from ones ability to adapt to situations and overcome adversity; not from a Scantron and a #2 pencil.
“Well, I don’t know about you chaps, but I think – as a MENSA member – that your opinions are completely unfounded. It’s like I was telling the guys…you know…at MENSA…the other day…(we always get together, us MENSA guys, every 2nd Wednesday after the Blue Moon, for our MENSA meeting)…”
Blah…
I took my GRE to get into grad-school, and apparently a 1250 is the bullet score to get into MENSA…so I’m qualified…but I also cannot help but feel this amazing sense of conceit in paying dues to say I’m in the smart-people club…
And honestly, I’m afraid that someday I’d find myself spouting just that trite nonsense above, namedropping MENSA left and right, while annoying all the people smarter than me who knew not to join such a silly club…
…
But some small part of me is thrilled at the idea of being “MENSA qualified” and having turned it down…that’s a club in itself. It’s like applying to Harvard Business school, just so you – on the off chance you get accepted – can reject their acceptance!
Don’t mean to be harsh, but you seem to be projecting your own pretensions onto the group. You’ve met a few members, yet you feel qualified to cast judgment over the entire club. Could it be that some members just enjoy the company and conversation of other intelligent people and are not in it to have something to brag about at cocktail parties? The only one mentioning anything about intelligence as criteria for being interesting or accomplished is you.
For every one time your hiking buddy mentioned Mensa I ‘d be willing to bet you’ve brought up your 7th grade reading level story at least 5. In fact this whole article seems to be your way of saying “Sorry I wont be able to make it tonight, I have a MENSA meeting at 6″
I didn’t mean to come off so severe but you reminded me of those annoying Bloggers who announces the fact that they have a blog every chance they get. Don’t you just hate them:)
Just thought your article was little narrow minded, thats all. No hard feelings.
You take the time to write a personal attack on somebody you don’t know, and you say you don’t mean to be harsh? Let’s be serious: of course you do. You just want to think of yourself as a nice person while you’re being harsh.
As for judging a group by the members I’ve met, what else am I going to do if not extrapolate from my experience? That’s known as inductive logic. Nor did I ever claimed to be conducting a scientific survey.
I also wonder how you imagine someone can talk about personal experience without mentioning relevant details about themselves. But, for the record, I can’t remember the last time I mentioned my early reading ability in conversation to anyone; it would be pathetic to boast about something like that as an adult. At most, I may have referred obliquely to it in blog posts about early reading experiences, but that simply goes with the subject.
Obviously, the entry hit you the wrong way for some reason, so you chose to take a little tour through my life, cherrypicking bits you thought would make a good personal attack. You wouldn’t happen to be a Mensa member yourself, would you?
Bruce,
I just felt you judged the entire group based on your interactions with only a few people. Didn’t mean to sound so standoffish. No hard feelings.
Not all of us boast about such things. It seems as if you are just looking for something to carp about. You met somebody once who rubbed you the wrong way. Big deal–every person who reads this has had that experience.
Mensa is a social group and you might be able to join or not. Either way, get over it.
The only reason I am at this exact website at this passing moment happens to be Msn.com’s fault. I browsed their home page ( out of boredom ) and came across a smart celebs IQ type article. In the article there were mentions about Mensa. Being a college student I of course skipped searching the scholarly journals and when straight to Google and this page was listed first (under “mensa elitist”).
Your words are exactly what i wanted to hear or see. You can have all the intelligence in the world and zero motivation. I am uncertain of this combination, it could be disastrous. My IQ is unknown but i couldn’t imagine it being to high, oh well. I know this because i took a standardized test to get into college and was on “probation” because of it.
While I can’t mention Mensa on my next resume, I do have my own personal club and its called The strong back and weak minds SBWM. Is that self-deprecating?
Well I read your Boredom rant and feel i am lacking mental resources. Did you start this blog out of Boredom?
I’m a Mensa member because my friend suggested I take it so I could put on my Grad. School applications. I passed, big deal. The Mensa test like any other IQ type test doesn’t actually rate how intelligent you are (note, I can’t spell very well), it only tests your ability to figure things out from context and how well you can learn. Some people think they are special because of, others know we are not.
Most social groups have criteria that must be met in order to join, Golf Clubs, Churches, Alumni groups, etc. The main way communities are formed is through a seperation of ‘us’ and ‘the other’. The seperations are based of differing criteria, Mensa’s just so happens to be a test score, not your ethnicity, not your religion, not how wealthy you are, it’s just another social group. No big deal.
And you are correct, how else to make your opinions of things other than by your own experiences?
I was a Mensa member for a while. I never got into it all that much, to be honest, but after reading your comments, I’m going to renew my membership just to piss you off.
Why would I be pissed off by the actions of somebody I don’t even know? You want to do something foolish, that’s your right.
I have to agree a bit with Dienda Time. You met a few people and decided that all 150,000 members across the world are like the few jerks you have met.
High I.Q. doesn’t mean anything if you can’t translate the ability to problem solve, find obscure patterns and think abstractly into something useful -whether you use it to be as a writer, scientist, actor, teacher, plumber, mechanic, whatever. It also doesn’t make you charming or witty or give you empathy, but there are plenty of people I know who are tremendously smart, charming, talented in their field and thoughtful of others. They see both the big picture and how the small bits fit so when something is going awry – or will go awry – they can help solve the problem. Some members of Mensa meet to discuss the various schools of though that define string theory; some just get together to watch “Lost.” Some just play poker; others have writer’s groups.
Don’t judge and entire group of people from the .002% of them that you actually have had contact with. While it may be your personal experience, you experience is clearly limited.
You will find that some members Mensa are elitist, self-aggrandizing asses. You will find those in just about any group of people. But you also find well-rounded, kinds individuals who like to hang out together. I don’t think you should have such an issue with that.
It’s funny how easily people connected with Mensa seem to take offence. I never said anything about everyone in Mensa being jerks.
I simply said that belonging to Mensa was not any guarantee that you were an interesting or creative person — and that’s basically what you say in your second paragraph, Rowan.
Bryce, you put down Mensa members as being sure of their being someone “special: even though you did not, in large part, find them to be anything more than ordinary, lacking in passion and enthusiasm, and who needed the validation of hanging out with the self-proclaimed elite. Then you are surprised that any member of the group would take offense.
And while I strongly believe that enthusiasm and imagination are key to hiring people in certain jobs, if I come across someone with these traits who is also very intelligent, I will hire that person over someone who cannot understand, think, and/or reason as quickly.
I don’t recall Mensa ever projecting itself to be a group of wildly creative or interesting people. It’s initial purpose was to have smart people on hand to help Great Britain get stability back after WWII. That said, I have yet to find a Special Interest Group that is tackling the issues like universal healthcare, the homeless situation or the failure of not only public schools, but the millions of dollars that go into special needs kids programs that are also a failure. These kids need help that works. I found one that told me they did tackle issues such as these, but in the 13 years of this group’s existence, they have not once taken any of their ideas beyond group discussion. While there is nothing saying that all SIGs must be socially relevant and try take action – it would be nice if one was.
“intelligence alone is an insufficient criteria”…Tut, tut. That should be “insufficient criterion”. Criteria is the plural of criterion and should only be used when you are talking about more than one factor. Doubt if you’d get in to Mensa anyway. People who keep blogs are far more conceited than Mensans, in my experience. ;o)
You’re right about the use of “criteria” and “criterion.” But anyone who uses a grammatical mistake in a casual setting as a means of personal attack clearly suffers from intellectual poverty. Your effort at insult says more about your own struggles to feel superior to a world that intimidates you than anything about me.
As for the general nature of bloggers, at least they’re trying to produce something. That has to be more worthwhile than petty sniping at someone else’s efforts.
Bryce, did you not see Mick’s emoticon? It was a winking smiley face which implies he was just playfully teasing you.
I love it when comment sections turn into a contest to see who can leave the douchiest remarks:)
Do I win???
Now here’s something to think about. So you met some obnoxious people who couldn’t get through a sentence without mentioning a mensa affiliation 600 times. For this reason you think all mensa people are obnoxious. What if you actually HAVE met other mensa members…who weren’t obnoxious…but you didn’t know they were in mensa because they weren’t shoving it down your throat.
Maybe it’s only the obnoxious ones who go around telling you about it.
If you read the entry, you’ll find that I add that not all Mensa members have that habit.
I saw it. But emoticons can be used for a lot of things. In this case, I doubt playfulness was intended, especially since I don’t know the person.