B
BlueBeard
Guest
Naw, I don't take it he thinks his behavior was justified. He's explaining why he was tested.What did I just read
I mean dude, that’s a lot of violence. You had some serious problems if you thought those were okay reactions to what was going on.
That part's always bothered me, people telling me what their IQ is. "Oh, my IQ is 162, I'm a genius!" Then it turns out they got that IQ verification after a 10-question Facebook quiz. (So many people do that! They can't tell you the agency they went to, or the certified psychologist who administered it. Always ask for those details. And these two gentlemen, I take them at their word. I think we can take it for granted, they were authentically tested).
Example why you should ask? There was a girl with an IQ of "220" in my class. Repeatedly brought it up. But I think I've only ever heard of one person over 200, and I recall, that pretty much means "intelligent beyond measure."
Turns out, her mother determined this from a statewide standardized test her daughter took in 2nd grade at school. Her mother "did the math," you see. She saw the age level equivalency that her daughter scored at for vocabulary, seeing it was more than double her age. Figuring tested age over chronological age, she came up with that number. Well, what the hell. I kind of suspect that happens quite a bit.
When I found out *that's* how she arrived at the 220 IQ for her completely dysfunctional daughter (in high school now), with such a terrible social life, terrible experience with teachers and counselor, I just slapped my forehead, closed my eyes and sighed. Hoo boy. I wanted to shake the mother: "You totally fucked up your kid!" The high school counselor complained he couldn't help her, because she'd say things like, "You can't help me, because you aren't gifted, meaning you have no chance of understanding gifted kids like me." Yet, no sign she was gifted, though. Certainly not in her academic performance. Just continually using her mother's misguided sense of what IQ was to insist this is why her teachers couldn't teach her, why other kids couldn't like her, why she couldn't get a date to prom. She did okay. I mean, she wasn't stupid. But a 220 IQ? that's ... I'm not qualified to say, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't much more than slightly above average. Who knows.
People *can* be much humbler than that. Look. I was tested, too. Twice. A teacher believed I was a "genius" and had it arranged. Folks agreed. I was excited by the attention. Conducted by a psychologist from the Area Education Agency. My result was 144, just inside the high IQ bracket, but only moderately gifted, as genius doesn't start by some groupings until 160. We all thought that was cool (my mom and me).
But that and $3 will get you a coffee at Starbucks. IQ really isn't an indicator of anything. And it certainly isn't the way to win arguments.
It did mean I would catch on really fast without much effort in my courses at school. Pretty much was always no. 1 in any class. But consider the setting. It was like putting a race horse on a track and goading it to beat the other horses. Zoom! Ding ding ding... winner's circle!
Rest of life? No real advantage I can think of. Sort of pisses me off, because people expect more from you and you're embarrassed if you fuck up, if some "simpleton" puts you in your place. Ouch.
I compare it to having been given a Ferrari to drive from home to work and back. In normal traffic. Most days I never get up to the speed limit, let alone open it up, show what she will do.
And that I *can* get to the point faster, so what? The guy ahead of me in the 1950 International Harvester combine is still going to get there first if there's no passing lane that lets me stomp down on the gas. And even when there *is* a passing lane, sure, I'll whip past him in a cloud of dust -- just to be held up at a stoplight, get to watch him in my mirror catch up before it turns green. Or, I'll wind her up and skid into a ditch. He'll putt-putt by me laughing, or worse yet, have to come down in the ditch to tow me out.
When it comes to mental acuity, all I wished for my own children was that they have natural curiosity. That's so much more important. Nice to have both, but at least have that. Some of my favorite, all-time legends of academia were not "brainiacs," not considered geniuses because of high IQs. It was because of their curiosity and their diligence in chasing down an answer, their persistence: "I can't leave this alone. I have to figure it out."
That is NOT a rule of thumb, not the way it has to go. Genius isn't necessarily socially crippling. Some geniuses are so humble and accessible, so self effacing. You might not even suspect they are geniuses till they floor the shit out of you with how articulate they are. Stand there wondering to yourself, "Where the hell did THAT come from?"
As was said, works both ways. You IQ is no defense of sounding stupid, I suppose; and "sounding as if" they don't have a high IQ is no indication the other person is stupid. Language barriers, level of education, the hit-in-run situation we have in these forums where we didn't see all the arguments, or we just came from one and come upon a posting we'd read differently if we hadn't had our mind full of the other one.
In my case, it's like the farmer leaning on a tractor tire stares into my eyes doubting my intelligence and uses simple common sense enough to prove I'm wrong, and I'm looking left and right, trying to find a way out of this embarrassment: "You have proven *me* wrong?" It's HARD to swallow down my pride, admit I was being stupid and was being condescending, to say, "I was wrong. Sorry."
It's not just "I disagree" then. It's more like, "Oh goddamn... I was... wrong? Crap. You got me there. You're right."
My go-to consolation when that happens is to look that person who proved me wrong in the eye and at least say: "Awesome. Now I don't have to be wrong anymore. Thank you for helping me see that." I don't like to be wrong, but I would really hate to be wrong twice. No excuse for that, or continuing to be wrong.
Low or high IQ has nothing to do with having a respectable argument -- or, being "stupid" or "smart," in other words.
It only means I have the capacity to spot error more quickly than the established mean, faster than the mathematically calculated "average" person. But the town drunk on his worst night could possibly form a respectably sound argument. We really have to listen to his reasoning and his evidence. If those pan out, the argument itself wins, even if the guy is slurring words and staggering, making it hard for us to follow along.
Now... look at that right here. Look how LONG it took me to say that? It is a constant embarrassment to me, that my responses are so long. I have incredible ENVY of those who can come in and with a simple turn of phrase, maybe one or two sentences, make a completely brilliant response.
I have an IQ of 144, so I've been told. Yet look at this communication fail. If I had a little more time, I'd make this much, much shorter.
In general, everyone be kinder to people in the forums. I'll try to be, too. Because when *I* don't understand what another person says in here; it doesn't make *them* stupid.
If they really *were* stupid or deranged, then that's not a worthy opponent to climb in the ring with. I'll either lose because they show me up, making me look like a fool; or I'll just look as if I thought I was finally well-matched, capable only of "debating" with someone with seriously low mentally capacity.
Let's go with the "I disagree" that SigmatoZeta suggested. (God give me patience, sure. But please, first teach me to be courteous).
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