../images/Emo63.gif האם מנזה הוא ארגון סנובים?
מאת דייב שולמן נשיא כבוד מנזה בינ"ל From its inception Mensa has been accused of elitism and, occasionally, snobbism. We have members, amongst the almost 100,000 of us, who agree with this labelling and act in a way that gives credence to the accusations. However, we also have what seems to be a massive majority who do not consider that they, as individuals, should be classed this way and who do not agree that the society should carry the label. Mensa probably has members from every walk of life and with every possible attitude and demeanour. We have heads of industry and leading politicians; scientists; legal; medical, etc. We also have a massive majority who hold white and blue collar jobs. Our members stack shelves, sweep roads, strip, burgle, farm, fish etc. Some are incarcerated, many are unemployed and some are unemployable. Many enjoy debate, discussion the pursuit of knowledge and education. Many more are happy to simply carry on their lives as pleases them without any need or desire for more. Basically, what I am saying is that Mensa is composed of a myriad members, each of whom have their own way of life and their own goals. Mensa itself has no opinions and certainly does not ever claim to be better than others or even to be different to others, except those differences that are based on the results of an IQ test. It is usually found that new members are pleased to have discovered that their IQ is in the top two percentile. A few have the tendency to think that their high IQ indicates that they are smarter than the general population. Usually they find out very soon that having gained membership has not made them any different to what they were before, except that they may notice that they still do things that a person with a high IQ should not be expected to do. It is at this stage that members realise that they can still pull the door marked push. Those who benefit most from knowing that they are supposedly "bright" are those unfortunates who grew up feeling different and estranged from their schoolfellows, thinking that they themselves were strange misfits. Only when they met and talked to Mensans did they realise that they may well have been a flower amongst weeds. In those cases, and there are very many of them, you can say that they are different, and you would be right, but different is not the same thing as elitist or snobbish. Mensa is not a club restricted to rich people. It is not a club restricted to top echelon academics. It is a club whose members have proved that they have met the qualifications. They are not that rare. Simple statistics show that one person in 50 can qualify. Every full bus that passes can carry a member or a potential member. And don't forget that that member could well be the driver (personally, I know some of them). "manobla" (I'm sorry, I don't know your name) indicated that the value of intelligence is what you do with it. Mensa has tens of thousands of members who don't seem to have done very much with theirs ("If you are so smart why aren't you rich?" is one yardstick). There are an infinite number of non-Mensans who have done many things using their intelligence, even though they would have scored less on an IQ test than a Mensan. We are ordinary people, all of us. We start the day by putting one leg into a trouser, as does the rest of the world. We are either blessed or cursed with a high IQ, depending upon your viewpoint. What we are not, at least collectively, is elitist or snobbish. We are members of a society that has rules of membership. That is a form of exclusivity, not elitism. I cannot join many organisations as I do not meet their qualifications. I cannot join my local electricity company's sports club; I cannot join the railway company's social club. I am not employed by those companies. Are those organisations elitist? I suppose they are but I don't believe that word would be applied to them in the same way that it would be applied to Mensa - there is a degree of jealousy or begrudgery in the air at times. Most of us are here to learn from each other; to be here for each other in times of trouble and of happiness. We can and do meet in venues that are free or inexpensive or in places that are palatial and costly. We do not - and should not - aim for the lowest common denominator in every instance. Mensa Israel is a new experience for many of you. You are in at the beginning of what could and should be a burgeoning and challenging National Mensa. Throw off the labels of elitism and snobbism and do not let any attitudes pervade that would give the impression to others that those labels are applicable to Mensa. Floreat Mensa. David Schulman - Dublin, Ireland.
מאת דייב שולמן נשיא כבוד מנזה בינ"ל From its inception Mensa has been accused of elitism and, occasionally, snobbism. We have members, amongst the almost 100,000 of us, who agree with this labelling and act in a way that gives credence to the accusations. However, we also have what seems to be a massive majority who do not consider that they, as individuals, should be classed this way and who do not agree that the society should carry the label. Mensa probably has members from every walk of life and with every possible attitude and demeanour. We have heads of industry and leading politicians; scientists; legal; medical, etc. We also have a massive majority who hold white and blue collar jobs. Our members stack shelves, sweep roads, strip, burgle, farm, fish etc. Some are incarcerated, many are unemployed and some are unemployable. Many enjoy debate, discussion the pursuit of knowledge and education. Many more are happy to simply carry on their lives as pleases them without any need or desire for more. Basically, what I am saying is that Mensa is composed of a myriad members, each of whom have their own way of life and their own goals. Mensa itself has no opinions and certainly does not ever claim to be better than others or even to be different to others, except those differences that are based on the results of an IQ test. It is usually found that new members are pleased to have discovered that their IQ is in the top two percentile. A few have the tendency to think that their high IQ indicates that they are smarter than the general population. Usually they find out very soon that having gained membership has not made them any different to what they were before, except that they may notice that they still do things that a person with a high IQ should not be expected to do. It is at this stage that members realise that they can still pull the door marked push. Those who benefit most from knowing that they are supposedly "bright" are those unfortunates who grew up feeling different and estranged from their schoolfellows, thinking that they themselves were strange misfits. Only when they met and talked to Mensans did they realise that they may well have been a flower amongst weeds. In those cases, and there are very many of them, you can say that they are different, and you would be right, but different is not the same thing as elitist or snobbish. Mensa is not a club restricted to rich people. It is not a club restricted to top echelon academics. It is a club whose members have proved that they have met the qualifications. They are not that rare. Simple statistics show that one person in 50 can qualify. Every full bus that passes can carry a member or a potential member. And don't forget that that member could well be the driver (personally, I know some of them). "manobla" (I'm sorry, I don't know your name) indicated that the value of intelligence is what you do with it. Mensa has tens of thousands of members who don't seem to have done very much with theirs ("If you are so smart why aren't you rich?" is one yardstick). There are an infinite number of non-Mensans who have done many things using their intelligence, even though they would have scored less on an IQ test than a Mensan. We are ordinary people, all of us. We start the day by putting one leg into a trouser, as does the rest of the world. We are either blessed or cursed with a high IQ, depending upon your viewpoint. What we are not, at least collectively, is elitist or snobbish. We are members of a society that has rules of membership. That is a form of exclusivity, not elitism. I cannot join many organisations as I do not meet their qualifications. I cannot join my local electricity company's sports club; I cannot join the railway company's social club. I am not employed by those companies. Are those organisations elitist? I suppose they are but I don't believe that word would be applied to them in the same way that it would be applied to Mensa - there is a degree of jealousy or begrudgery in the air at times. Most of us are here to learn from each other; to be here for each other in times of trouble and of happiness. We can and do meet in venues that are free or inexpensive or in places that are palatial and costly. We do not - and should not - aim for the lowest common denominator in every instance. Mensa Israel is a new experience for many of you. You are in at the beginning of what could and should be a burgeoning and challenging National Mensa. Throw off the labels of elitism and snobbism and do not let any attitudes pervade that would give the impression to others that those labels are applicable to Mensa. Floreat Mensa. David Schulman - Dublin, Ireland.
