IQ has been discredited as a measure of capacity for intelligence anyway. The real insult is having a serious belief in that pseudoscientific bullcrap (as opposed to just the colloquial use).
Sincerely,
A >175 IQ former MENSA member from England.
Joining was fun. I hit the ceiling on the test so they invited me down south for an invigilated test. Then I sat another one because I hit the ceiling on that one too. My final score was high 170s, which made me feel really good about myself.
After that, it was downhill. I only ever went to one annual meeting. It was predominantly white men who think scoring in an abnormal range on certain standardised tests makes them somehow better than everyone else - the sense of entitlement was through the roof. I came home early.
I stayed in the society, I subscribed to a couple of special interest group mailing lists for a few years. Then I cancelled.
I occasionally got letters for a few years afterwards inviting me to rejoin, saying I don’t need to take a test again, then they gave up.
i never joined mensa, though i had the option to. and yeah you just confirmed all the reasons why i hadn’t lol. entitled dudes who believe so hard that results of a test make them better than others that they are approaching actual delusions of superiority, having to sit among people like that would make my blood boil
well, i suppose it’s a logic puzzle skills test, not an emotional intelligence test.
i despise how IQ is almost revered by the overall society, and i hate how, despite everything, that stupid result does make me feel good about myself, tempting me to feel better than others
My mother told me the murder of the intelligentsia is one of the first steps of a fascist regime and that the Mensa roster is a hit list. Then ten years later she voted for trump.
Given that IQ is profoundly racist and white people score much higher than any other race (not because white people are smarter but because the tests are racist), I very much doubt it’d ever be used as a hit list.
for a personal interpretation & in large part summary of the above material:
IQ tests are not a general smartness tests, that is impossible to measure. IQ testes measure your ability to solve logic puzzles, and that supposedly measures your logic itself (at least the tests that have no cultural bits, the ones that include cultures also have some testing of your memory based largely on your country’s school curriculum. more on why that’s a problem later)
can someone be naturally amazing at logic? of course, they can, but that skill needs to be nurtured, or at least allowed to flurish. and this is supposed to happen in schools.
now what happens when a person with the potential to score high in an IQ test doesn’t enjoy the privilege of peaceful learning? what happens when their family life is difficult? what happens when during their schooling years they have to focus on surviving, instead of learning and nurturing their skills? well, they score lower, of course. their potential doesn’t disappear, but it gets used in a different direction, to help them survive in life. and logic puzzles don’t play a big role in survival so that particular skill is not tended to and therefore doesn’t develop as well as it could in ideal circumstances.
now let’s look at racism. we’re not talking about day to day racism, though that also plays a part, but institutionalised racism - the one that keeps pushing minorities into poverty, and keeps them there harder than white people, because as we know, poverty is a trap that’s difficult to get out of even for those not pushed into it with institutional racism.
add the two together - IQ tests measure your logic puzzle solving skills, which develop only if you have access to decent schools & you’re allowed to learn without interruptions, without having to worry for yourself or your family. institutionalised racism pushes minorities into poverty, which means they lose access to good schooling, and have to worry for themselves and their families from an early age.
this in turn results in minorities scoring lower on those tests, but not because they are stupid, but because their intelligence has to be used for surviving, and they are not allowed to comfortably indulge in solving logic puzzles to develop the skills that IQ tests look at to “measure intelligence”
it was at -1 when i saw it, which is what prompted me to attempt to give a step by step process leading to the conclusion you gave as it seemed to me folks just lacked context
IQ has been discredited as a measure of capacity for intelligence anyway. The real insult is having a serious belief in that pseudoscientific bullcrap (as opposed to just the colloquial use).
Sincerely, A >175 IQ former MENSA member from England.
What’s mensa like? What do you do there? I’ve always been curious. Surely there will be some interesting conversations/ideas?
Joining was fun. I hit the ceiling on the test so they invited me down south for an invigilated test. Then I sat another one because I hit the ceiling on that one too. My final score was high 170s, which made me feel really good about myself.
After that, it was downhill. I only ever went to one annual meeting. It was predominantly white men who think scoring in an abnormal range on certain standardised tests makes them somehow better than everyone else - the sense of entitlement was through the roof. I came home early.
I stayed in the society, I subscribed to a couple of special interest group mailing lists for a few years. Then I cancelled.
I occasionally got letters for a few years afterwards inviting me to rejoin, saying I don’t need to take a test again, then they gave up.
mensa always sounded like it was just a scam for people who think they’re smart
It was started as a eugenics dating club. There’s a reason that Mensa and Σ4 are primarily white dudes.
i never joined mensa, though i had the option to. and yeah you just confirmed all the reasons why i hadn’t lol. entitled dudes who believe so hard that results of a test make them better than others that they are approaching actual delusions of superiority, having to sit among people like that would make my blood boil
well, i suppose it’s a logic puzzle skills test, not an emotional intelligence test.
i despise how IQ is almost revered by the overall society, and i hate how, despite everything, that stupid result does make me feel good about myself, tempting me to feel better than others
Bridge and tea on Wednesdays.
Who discredited it?
Scientists
My mother told me the murder of the intelligentsia is one of the first steps of a fascist regime and that the Mensa roster is a hit list. Then ten years later she voted for trump.
Given that IQ is profoundly racist and white people score much higher than any other race (not because white people are smarter but because the tests are racist), I very much doubt it’d ever be used as a hit list.
Maybe a shit list.
to those downvoting this comment -
your IQ test results might as well be your zip code
for a proper explanation, check out Bell Curve by Shaun
for a personal interpretation & in large part summary of the above material:
IQ tests are not a general smartness tests, that is impossible to measure. IQ testes measure your ability to solve logic puzzles, and that supposedly measures your logic itself (at least the tests that have no cultural bits, the ones that include cultures also have some testing of your memory based largely on your country’s school curriculum. more on why that’s a problem later)
can someone be naturally amazing at logic? of course, they can, but that skill needs to be nurtured, or at least allowed to flurish. and this is supposed to happen in schools.
now what happens when a person with the potential to score high in an IQ test doesn’t enjoy the privilege of peaceful learning? what happens when their family life is difficult? what happens when during their schooling years they have to focus on surviving, instead of learning and nurturing their skills? well, they score lower, of course. their potential doesn’t disappear, but it gets used in a different direction, to help them survive in life. and logic puzzles don’t play a big role in survival so that particular skill is not tended to and therefore doesn’t develop as well as it could in ideal circumstances.
now let’s look at racism. we’re not talking about day to day racism, though that also plays a part, but institutionalised racism - the one that keeps pushing minorities into poverty, and keeps them there harder than white people, because as we know, poverty is a trap that’s difficult to get out of even for those not pushed into it with institutional racism.
add the two together - IQ tests measure your logic puzzle solving skills, which develop only if you have access to decent schools & you’re allowed to learn without interruptions, without having to worry for yourself or your family. institutionalised racism pushes minorities into poverty, which means they lose access to good schooling, and have to worry for themselves and their families from an early age.
this in turn results in minorities scoring lower on those tests, but not because they are stupid, but because their intelligence has to be used for surviving, and they are not allowed to comfortably indulge in solving logic puzzles to develop the skills that IQ tests look at to “measure intelligence”
People can downvote my posts all they like, I can’t see them because my instance doesn’t have downvotes. My post’s on +6, and yours is +1 (+2 now)
it was at -1 when i saw it, which is what prompted me to attempt to give a step by step process leading to the conclusion you gave as it seemed to me folks just lacked context
Nuance? On the Internet? How optimistic :)
T–T
if even one person learnt something new today i’ll consider that a win
I don’t think people using the phrase as an insult need to believe in IQ.