Monthly emails about gathering with members, a useless plastic card and your ego filled to the brim. Donβt waste your time and money, weed is better.
this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
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I know someone who joined on a bet that he couldn't get in, and he said the exact same thing.
Its funny to qualify and not go after it. After exploration I found the same things. Whats the point? Only thing I could find was hey you can hang out with smart people.
Its lonely being SMRT so this seems like it might be a good thing, but you know what... you put a bunch of smart people in a room and they are all used to being the smartest in a group and its insufferable.
Better to not bring it up, and just find people that share your hobbies tbh.
I mean, it also selects for people that have something to prove.
Mensa membership is directly correlated to taking online IQ tests.
Truly intelligent people don't.
the mensa paradox.
people smart enough to get in, are smart enough to know it's got worth it
And yet it exists. Ego might seem like a pretty useless motivator, but it doesn't seems to anticorrelate with intelligence. If anything, it correlates, probably because when you're "the smart one" it becomes a vicious cycle pretty easily.
maybe there's a perfect point where you're smart enough to hit that 15% hotel discount
Yeah, I'm reconsidering now that someone mentioned that. I'm not going to the meets, though.
Bingo. What's more insufferable than a person whose life revolves around lauding their own achievements? A room full of them.
Groucho Marx couldn't have said it better. Oh .. wait.
Itβs like buying a knighthood from an organization that claims to have rights to grant such things. Even though the title is meaningless.
Mensa is the same.
IOW itβs an organization designed to take your money for a title. They get money, you get a meaningless membership.
I see one key difference, in social value:
Someone tells me they bought a meaningless knighthood: hearty laugh and a high five.
Someone tells me they're in MENSA: Awkward silence and maybe a mental note to check how they're doing more often.
Hah, yes. This is a good take.
There used to be a discount on condoms but it never got used.
This type of humor is paramount.
In Spanish, mensa means stupid. You'd think geniuses would've chosen a better acronym
Blame the Romans.
Both words are derived from late Latin mentalis, from Latin mens, ment- βmindβ.
Look up Jaime Loftusβ excellent podcast βMy Year in MENSAβ for an in-depth look at the organization.
It discounts my impression of them.
Same.
The entire concept of mensa always rubbed me the wrong way
It just feels like its only purpose is to be a magnet for narcissists.
You're supposedly one of the smartest people alive, and yet you somehow concluded that a good use of your limited time on Earth is to blow smoke up your own ass with a group of other pretentious jerkoffs who know how to cheese IQ tests
I listened to a podcast basically saying once you're really smart, it's likely your life just really sucks. Of course there are a handful of people who are wildly successful, but most high IQ people just feel like nothing in the world was built for them. Basically the father out on the bell curve you are, the less the world is made for you to function happily in, whether your IQ is 60 or 140. If you want to be smart and happy, a doctor or lawyer or whatever, 125 is the sweet spot. 140 is depression.
It just feels like its only purpose is to be a magnet for narcissists.
Iβve seen a few dating profiles near me with women claiming to be in Mensa. Iβm glad they mention it, as itβs a dog whistle for me to move on to another profile that will inevitably ignore me because I just donβt stack up.
~Thatβs meant to be funny.~
I think that's a red flag, not a dog whistle. the latter is intended by the person publishing it
I think that's a red flag, not a dog whistle. the latter is intended by the person publishing it
Most people smart enough to join are smart enough not to.
Don't forget racists. Plenty of those are drawn to the Mensa labels, too.
This is worth the entire post and more. I'm chuckling while my kid gives me weird looks from the other room.
For anyone else wondering what a "MENSA" member is:
Mensa International is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world.[3][4][5] It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test.
I was already questioning why school/university cafeteria staff should get any benefits that aren't present in other jobs.
Thinking one step further: Even if I somehow got into MENSA (unlikely), I can't imagine ever saying, "I see you have a MENSA discount..." ugh.
I found this on their website: https://www.us.mensa.org/shop/benefits-and-services/
Fucking perkopolification of the discount landscape yet again
Yo 15% off at hotels and inns. Dope benefit
Half off soft drinks at Texas Roadhouse!
ASSMEN/MENSASS has pro-state biases
Apparently they get 15% off at Comfort Inn
Oh shit, maybe I need to reconsider, as a very poor person with fancy test results.
And Alamo Car Rental!