Card carrying member of the Smart Fellah Club.

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend recently, and it’s really starting to get on my nerves.  Seems that folks are so proud of their high IQ’s that they feel compelled to post the numbers as some sort of self-effectuating monument to their superiority.  That’s all it boils down to… superiority.

They might just as well whip out their cocks and lay them down on the table side-by-side, and get it over with.  The funny thing is, they are the only ones whipping out said cock, and in the absence of any other contestants are proclaiming themselves the winners.

It’s evidence of a special kind of arrogance.  In an "I’m bettr’n you and feel compelled to prove it.  See?  I have the paper and all" sorta’ way.  Arrogance has its time and place, and trust me, there are much better ways to go about it.  Proclamations of a high IQ, followed by an actual number as though your audience much cares, are the shallowest and least effective means.

The grandest flaw in waving your IQ card under people’s noses is the IQ test itself and what it represents.  First, the test is usually administered when we are young, most commonly just before entering high school.  It is a means to rapidly categorize children into groups and cattle-drive them into the schools and programs that will benefit them the most (for expanded info, read this short yet concise article HERE).  It is frequently used as a qualifier for private schools.  It does not take into consideration experience and knowledge over time, it’s merely a measure of how well you take tests.

Guess what?  You can jockey a #2 pencil like nobody’s business.  Congratulations, you’re a number on a page — part of a formula to find the right pigeonhole to stuff you into.

Some of the smartest folks throughout history were written off in their youth as being of average or below intelligence.  Do a little hunting around, you’ll find a few names you recognize.  Time and experience proved otherwise.

As Mensa has pointed out to me, there is another problem with whipping out that IQ number like a crucifix in front of a vampire.  He says that the folks you’re brandishing it against will fall into one of two categories: those of a lower IQ who will think you’re an asshole for being higher and pointing it out, and those of a higher IQ that think you’re a fool for calling attention to your obvious deficiency.  The only audience that will give you any credit are those with the exact same number.  Great — form a club.  Meet for drinks once a month and pat each other on the back.

An IQ test is no measure of common sense, personality or actual knowledge.  It is a poor test of the capacity to learn.  It is barely a measure of cognitive ability and base comprehension.  The greatest myth perpetrated in the last century is that the IQ test is the be-all, end-all measure of a human’s brain power — a yardstick by which to measure one’s worth.

Most commonly, it seems that those who cling to that magic number are compensating for a deficiency elsewhere.  A truly intelligent and secure individual has no need for it.  They know how smart they are and are also clever enough not to brag knowing that they will eventually be wrong about something, and therefore not come off as an ass.

Humility and judicious application of one’s opinion and the statement of facts are more a measure of intelligence than patting one’s own back and shooting off at the proverbial mouth.  More often than not, the IQ medal when worn around the neck comes with the mystical ability to make someone seem aloof and uncaring of the opinions of others, when in reality approval and awe are being sought like a candle in the darkness.

As an aside, some of you might find THIS article an interesting read.  I’ll leave you with a quote I swiped from it:

"I pensieri stretti & il viso sciolto. — Closed thoughts and an open face."
– Sir Henry Wootton to Milton in relation to his visit to Italy in the 1630’s