[geeks] Mensa

[der Mouse]

> Are there any Mensans here?  I've been thinking of joining, and I was
> wondering if anyone would care to describe their experience.

I'm not an M, but my ex was (and likely still is).

My impression of Mensa is that it's a social club for people who don't
want to have to deal with idiots - and for people who want to feel that
they're better than hoi polloi.  What proportion these groups occur in,
and whether people fitting neither occur in numbers great enough to
matter, will depend on your local chapter.

I once attended a Mensa brainstorming group, specifically to provide a
non-M perspective.  (They were pondering the question of why Mensa
Canada's membership was only some tiny fraction (a few per thousand?)
of those eligible to join.  As someone who could have joined if I cared
to but who chose not to, they wanted my take on it.)

Watching the Ms talk was absolutely fascinating.  The feeling I got was
that they were used to being treated as special, looked up to, etc -
for example, they would interrupt without any apparent awareness that
there was anything wrong with doing so.  I also got the feeling they
had enough of their self-image wrapped up in being smart that they were
insecure about their smarts and needed constant egoboo - and felt
threatened by anyone *really* smart.  (I've met a few *really* smart
people - the sort of person whose IQ, if it could be measured, would be
up in the range where the usual tests are no good at all (200+? I
forget) - and they have uniformly been very nice and not at all Letting
You Know They're Smart.)

I don't make any pretense that I think those people were a
representative sample of Ms.  But I went to a joint US/Canada annual
gathering with my ex, once, and really, I'd say don't bother unless you
want a social club or you want egoboo for your smarts - and if you want
either, be prepared to deal with getting some of the other too.

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