Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site v1.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!dcdwest!ittvax!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!philabs!v1!charliep
From: charliep@v1.UUCP (Charlie Perkins)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Re: Discussion about Mensa (emalf)
Message-ID: <114@v1.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Dec-84 19:29:45 EST
Article-I.D.: v1.114
Posted: Thu Dec 20 19:29:45 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 24-Dec-84 02:44:14 EST
References: <205@unc.UUCP> <992@opus.UUCP>
Organization: IBM Research, Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
Lines: 32

-------------------------------
I think what's bugging people about Mensa is the tension between the
following two facts:
     a: I.Q. is supposed to be "inherited" and not "earned", and
     b: People are therefore excluded from membership for no fault
        of their own.  This is very "Un-American".
What's worse is that exclusion is taken as a clear indication of
"inferiority" -- much as if a black person were excluded from a
whites-only assocation and then regarded as second class because
he was not "in".

Probably one reason that many people join Mensa is to try to get a
better understanding of themselves.  This is especially true if they
have somehow received special treatment during their lives and therefore
feel less able to relate to the people they encounter during their
everyday lives.  This effect could be exaggerated by the strong
taboo associated with discussing one's relative "intelligence" with
others.  Even people in Mensa never do that.  So, a lot of people may
never become really comfortable with the subject.

I suspect that a large proportion of netnews readers would be welcomed
into Mensa.  I'm sure many would then find other poorly understood
groups to denigrate.

A thought: On a broader scale of things, the difference between
           A. Einstein and (say) R. Reagan is really not that much.

Charlie P.
-- 

Charlie Perkins, IBM T.J. Watson Research
philabs!v1!charliep,  perk%YKTVMX.BITNET@berkeley,  perk.yktvmx.ibm@csnet-relay