Mensa: Difference between revisions

 

''-To promote stimulating intellectual and social opportunities for its members.''|From [http://www.mensa.org/ Mensa International's website] "About Mensa"}}

 

 

“[[Meaningful Name|Mensa]]” means “table” in Latin, and the logo is the world on a table, demonstrating the coming together of equals – like the Knights of the Round Table<ref>Only less like regal knights and more like a bunch of people eating snacks and trading really bad puns while playing Trivial Pursuit.</ref>. The unofficial mascot is the [[The Owl-Knowing One|owl]].

A country will have an Annual Gathering (AG) once a year. For instance, the American and Canadian AGs are usually held during the [[American Holidays|American Independence Day]] (July 4th) or Canada Day (July 1st) holiday weekends respectively. Sometimes World Gatherings are held, such as in 2006 to celebrate 60 years of Mensa - an estimated 2,500 members from over 30 countries attended.

 

 

What would you see if you went to a Mensa event? Well, keep in mind that at the forefront Mensa is a social organization. The main point is to spend time with other people with a like level of intelligence. What you find for the most part is people sitting around and talking, playing games, sharing jokes and doing other things normal people do. You’ll see all the sorts of people you would see at any social gathering. Probably not everyone you see will be a member, either. A Mensan's spouse and children are welcome at events, whether they themselves actually qualify or not.

Mensa is a name, not an acronym, so only the first letter has to be capitalized.

 

 

Anyone can join if they have scored at the 98th percentile on the accepted tests. After that requirement, any human, any color, any creed, any income level is welcome to join. All you need is one test score - low scores on previous testing does not count against.

 

 

 

 

* Many of the tropes under the [[Intelligence Tropes]] index can be applied somewhere to someone in Mensa.

* [[Agree to Disagree]]: From the Mensa International Website:

* [[All of the Other Reindeer]]: Mensans are not a stuck-up bunch thumbing their noses at the dummies. Quite the contrary. Many Mensans were the dorks, nerds and geeks in school and remember all too well what it was like.

* [[Almighty Janitor]]: Remember: Intelligence is born, not made and college degrees are earned, not granted. There are many, many Mensa members who are college professors, authors and the like – but there are also many truck drivers, janitors, and other blue-collar workers. <ref>There are also multiple-degree professionals who have not scored high enough to join Mensa.</ref> When you go to a convention, and everyone is dressed in their street clothes it can be really hard to tell the difference between the blue-collar and white-collar workers - which is sort of the point of Mensa. Many “almighty janitor” sorts don’t advertise their membership because it usually attracts uncomfortable “why aren’t you a rocket scientist” questions they don’t want to have to bother answering. Fact is, a high IQ does not always a good student make.

** The top 0.0001% is [http://www.megasociety.net/ Mega Society]. Get in there, and you're ''literally'' one in a million. You would certainly have the right to brag, though some argue that this far "off the chart" it's hard to gauge exactly what it means with so few examples around to study.

* [[Better Than It Sounds]]: Sit around with a bunch of smarter-than-thou types? No thanks! Wait... [[Geek Reference Pool|they're quoting that obscure show I like that everyone else has forgotten]]? Wait... you know all about this subject I'm interested in? Wait... you guys know how to have fun? Where do I take the test?

* [[Child Prodigy]]: Averted, usually. Oh, if a prodigy who is being reported about on the news is also a member of Mensa it will get pointed out, but most kids in Mensa are just kids. Really ''smart'' kids, but normal kids all the same. To be a prodigy you have to be good at something well before you should be, and intelligence doesn't always manifest itself in early musical ability or math skills.

* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Sharon Stone, [[Jodie Foster]], and James Woods are listed in many places on the Internet as members of Mensa, but are not. This ''doesn't'' mean they qualify or not, they just aren't members is all. Just because you are smart and famous doesn't mean you go out an join all the organizations you qualify for, after all.

** The same sometimes applies to a certificate of Mensa membership displayed next to a diploma. Some consider it bad form because the top 2% is something you are born with, not something someone else can earn.

** This trope is also why many Mensa members don't talk much about their membership. People start thinking you're smart and then they start to think you can walk on water, and ''then'' [[Reality Is Unrealistic|they get frustrated because you're not fitting their own idea of what "smart" is]].

* [[Pair the Smart Ones]]: Mensa has plenty of singles looking for a match.

* [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]]: If you're looking at them expecting them to do what's generally considered "smart" based on what you've seen on TV, you'll be disappointed.

* [[Required Secondary Powers]]: See [[Almighty Janitor]] above. Many people assume a lot of things about intelligence that are sometimes associated, but not a part of intelligence. Being smart doesn't mean you like classwork, got along well with teachers (try taking a class where you can think circles around the teacher- some ''really'' don't like it!), having good interpersonal skills, etc. That's why the vast majority of Mensans are average joes, just going on about their lives and not rocket scientists.

* [[It Runs in The Family]]: There's a strong genetic connection to intelligence. When one person joins Mensa, it's not uncommon for other family members to discover they qualify and join, too.

** 2% of the population of the 2012 United States of America (310,973,921) is about 6,264,020. If that percentage of the US were rearranged into its own state it would be the population size of Missouri, and the 18th most populous state of the 50. American Mensa (The largest chapter in the world) only has 57,000 members in 2012 (Which would only amount to a small city or county in the USA), so it's not that Mensa folks walk among us, but ''lots'' of smart folks walk among us. Some of them probably don't even realize they're that smart. You can apply the same math to your own country.

* [[This Ain't Rocket Surgery]]

** In Italian it's "cafeteria", an extension from the original "table".

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

** [http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Mensa Series of four strips here.]

* ''[[The Far Side]]'': One character lets slip the "D-word" at a Mensa convention. It's "duh". (Not [[Truth in Television]]. Mensans have plenty of "duh" moments, it could even be argued they hit them harder.)

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'': It’s revealed in the first season that Rodney is in Mensa, and Shepard qualified but decided not to join. Atlantis evidently has its own Mensa chapter. (Presumably informal, as it would probably violate security to inform the organization of an offworld group.)

* ''[[Las Vegas]]'': [[Brilliant but Lazy|Delinda]], who is a member of Mensa, but usually acts very flighty and has a short attention span. She used to be a psychology major, and can still reel off several concepts from the field at the drop of a hat, but quit because it was boring.

 

== [[Magazines]] ==

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': Lisa is invited to join the Springfield chapter of Mensa in "They Saved Lisa's Brain". The members of the Springfield Chapter are Comic Book Guy, Dr. Hibbert, Principal Skinner, Professor Frink, and Lindsay Naegle.

'''Lisa:''' [reading his shirt] "[[Dick and Jane|C:/DOS C:/DOS/RUN RUN/DOS/RUN]]". [laughs] [[Geek Reference Pool|Oh, only one person in a million would find that funny]].<br />

'''Professor Frink:''' Yes, we call that the "Dennis Miller Ratio." }}

 

* Scott Adams - creator of the comic strip ''[[Dilbert]]''

* [[Isaac Asimov]] - author of more books than you can shake a stick at<ref>Asimov was a long-time member and Vice President of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly; he described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association.</ref>

* Derek Keith Barbosa - aka rapper Chino XL

* Theodore Bikel - Was Nominated for an Academy Award for 1951's ''The Defiant Ones''.

* Asia Carrera - the former pornographic actress

* Leslie Charteris - Writer and author of ''[[The Saint]]'' novels

* Adrian Cronauer - the inspiration for ''[[Good Morning Vietnam]]''

* Antonella Gambotto-Burke - Australian author of ''The Eclipse: A Memoir of Suicide''

* Nolan Gould – American actor, ''[[Modern Family]]''

* Lucy Irvine - Author of the 1983 book ''Castaway'' ([[Title Confusion|Not related]] to 1997's movie ''[[Cast Away]]'')

* Myles Jeffrey – Actor in ''[[Early Edition]]''

* Erik Kuselias – [[ESPN]] radio and television personality

* Mell Lazarus – Cartoonist, creator of comic strips ''Miss Peach'' and ''Momma''

* Janet McDonald – Lawyer and author of African American young adult novels

* Michael Muhney – Actor in ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' and ''[[The Young and The Restless]]''

* Markus Persson – Creator and developer of ''[[Minecraft]]''

* Julie Peterson – ''[[Playboy]]'' Playmate of the Month: February 1987, and graduate of Life School of Chiropractic.<ref>So that's ''Dr.'' Julie Peterson... Playmate of the Month, 1987.</ref>

* Ashley Rickards – Actress on ''[[Awkward]]'' and ''[[American Horror Story]]''.

* Sir Jimmy Savile – English DJ, actor and television/radio personality.

* Deborah Yates - Member of the Radio City Rockettes.

* [[Roger Zelazny]] – American writer

 

{{reflist}}