I realized that “Mensa” didn’t contain enough numerals to be a phone number, and knew it must be understood that any future member would be able to figure out the next two digits in the sequence. I tried dialling MENSANE, MENSAIL, MENSAFE, and MENSAAB, but got three rebuffs and a fax tone.
From “How I Joined MENSA” by Steve Martin
MENSA is a big con. my mother humoured me when i was around 14 or so and i posted back the mini iq test from some paper or magazine or other. of course they replied wow you’re a genius, you better come and get tested in a strict testing environment for real qualified geniuses. they scored me well on their test of words, maths, and square patterns with dots where you have to pick if the next dots should be up or down or whatever. all multiple choice of course.
did alright on the vocab stuff because i read a lot. put my best guess for everything else. big surprise then they gave me an OFFICIAL cert that said you are mega clever why don’t you pay to join up? being a naive child of course i wanted to. mum said something to the effect of do you think they are playing you? i thought she was shitting me and just didn’t want to pay the sub. obviously i’m a fuckin genius. but i knew she didn’t have the spare cash so said yeah nevermind fuck em
dossed the rest of school thinking i didn’t need it, why bother when i am a certified genius? never occurred to me that spending all my sunday job money going half on twenty fags and an eighth of soap bar wasnt genius level decison making
i’m doing alright these days but still fuck mensa
Genuinely don’t know if I qualify. I tend to score pretty high on the tests because my brain “gets” the exact kind of logic they usually test. What is more important though is that the tests suck in so many ways that it makes the results basically useless. Also I have yet to meet anyone who brags about their IQ score who happens to be anyone worth knowing.
They’d need to pay me a lot of money to get me to even consider joining Mensa.
Jamie Lofus did a podcast: (My Year In Mensa)[https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-my-year-in-mensa-55379945/]
Monthly emails about gathering with members, a useless plastic card and your ego filled to the brim. Don’t waste your time and money, weed is better.
I know someone who joined on a bet that he couldn’t get in, and he said the exact same thing.
Its funny to qualify and not go after it. After exploration I found the same things. Whats the point? Only thing I could find was hey you can hang out with smart people.
Its lonely being SMRT so this seems like it might be a good thing, but you know what… you put a bunch of smart people in a room and they are all used to being the smartest in a group and its insufferable.
Better to not bring it up, and just find people that share your hobbies tbh.
I mean, it also selects for people that have something to prove.
Mensa membership is directly correlated to taking online IQ tests.
Truly intelligent people don’t.
the mensa paradox.
people smart enough to get in, are smart enough to know it’s got worth it
Bingo. What’s more insufferable than a person whose life revolves around lauding their own achievements? A room full of them.
And yet it exists. Ego might seem like a pretty useless motivator, but it doesn’t seems to anticorrelate with intelligence. If anything, it correlates, probably because when you’re “the smart one” it becomes a vicious cycle pretty easily.
maybe there’s a perfect point where you’re smart enough to hit that 15% hotel discount
Yeah, I’m reconsidering now that someone mentioned that. I’m not going to the meets, though.
Groucho Marx couldn’t have said it better. Oh … wait.
It’s like buying a knighthood from an organization that claims to have rights to grant such things. Even though the title is meaningless.
Mensa is the same.
IOW it’s an organization designed to take your money for a title. They get money, you get a meaningless membership.
Hey my knighthood came with a certificate and everything! It’s easily given me $100 worth of joy, anything that’s not survival is bullshit. Lean into stupid if you can afford it and it makes you happy.
I see one key difference, in social value:
Someone tells me they bought a meaningless knighthood: hearty laugh and a high five.
Someone tells me they’re in MENSA: Awkward silence and maybe a mental note to check how they’re doing more often.
Hah, yes. This is a good take.
In Spanish, mensa means stupid. You’d think geniuses would’ve chosen a better acronym
Blame the Romans.
Both words are derived from late Latin mentalis, from Latin mens, ment- ‘mind’.
There used to be a discount on condoms but it never got used.
This type of humor is paramount.
Look up Jaime Loftus’ excellent podcast “My Year in MENSA” for an in-depth look at the organization.
It discounts my impression of them.
Same.
The entire concept of mensa always rubbed me the wrong way
It just feels like its only purpose is to be a magnet for narcissists.
You’re supposedly one of the smartest people alive, and yet you somehow concluded that a good use of your limited time on Earth is to blow smoke up your own ass with a group of other pretentious jerkoffs who know how to cheese IQ tests
I listened to a podcast basically saying once you’re really smart, it’s likely your life just really sucks. Of course there are a handful of people who are wildly successful, but most high IQ people just feel like nothing in the world was built for them. Basically the father out on the bell curve you are, the less the world is made for you to function happily in, whether your IQ is 60 or 140. If you want to be smart and happy, a doctor or lawyer or whatever, 125 is the sweet spot. 140 is depression.
It just feels like its only purpose is to be a magnet for narcissists.
I’ve seen a few dating profiles near me with women claiming to be in Mensa. I’m glad they mention it, as it’s a dog whistle for me to move on to another profile that will inevitably ignore me because I just don’t stack up.
~That’s meant to be funny.~
I think that’s a red flag, not a dog whistle. the latter is intended by the person publishing it
I think that’s a red flag, not a dog whistle. the latter is intended by the person publishing it
Most people smart enough to join are smart enough not to.
Don’t forget racists. Plenty of those are drawn to the Mensa labels, too.
This is worth the entire post and more. I’m chuckling while my kid gives me weird looks from the other room.
Most of us MENSA members are also liberals.
Thinking one step further: Even if I somehow got into MENSA (unlikely), I can’t imagine ever saying, “I see you have a MENSA discount…” ugh.
If there’s any discounts they probably take the form of a link on a website that gets you 10% off (clicking the link installs a cookie that increases your prices on that website by 10%)
For anyone else wondering what a “MENSA” member is:
Mensa International is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world.[3][4][5] It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test.
I was already questioning why school/university cafeteria staff should get any benefits that aren’t present in other jobs.
I found this on their website: https://www.us.mensa.org/shop/benefits-and-services/
Fucking perkopolification of the discount landscape yet again
Yo 15% off at hotels and inns. Dope benefit
