Being a MENSA member and not doing anything to help the planet
or
Being a SDMB member and whining about inactive MENSA members?
Whew!
I think some of you need to take a few deep breaths.
It’s just a harmless little group that chooses I.Q. scores as membership.
I joined back in the late 80’s. Went to a few meetings, didn’t particularly enjoy them so I quit going. But I didn’t resent them - just wasn’t my thing. They were people like anybody else. Some level-heads, some geeks and everyone in between.
Not counting this post, I’ve told exactly 2 people I was a member and it came up in conversation.
Setting around a table and coming up with solutions for the worlds problems is comparitively easy. Raising the money, doing the leg work and convincing ours and other governments to go along with your plans is the hard part. You don’t have to be a MENSA for that. “Genius is 10% inspiration, 90% persperation”.
Besides what about the people that COULD join but don’t. Are they off the solving-the-worlds-problems hook just because they didn’t?
Saving the world is the responsabilty of EVERYONE who cares about such things.
I joined the local group here, just out of curiousity. I really don’t think those puzzle things mean anything. If I was really smart then I’d have a real cool job at a desk earning a six-figure income and working on a neat laptop instead of writing speeding tickets and breaking up domestic disturbances in trailer parks.
The group wasn’t totally nerd-like. There were some real great, down-to-earth types. I think only one or two people were really pretentious about the whole high IQ thing. They sort of spoke down to me like I had cribbed the notes for the test or something.
The only thing we really had in common was being able to solve those puzzle thingies. As much fun as they were to solve, they were less fun just talking about them.
I think one member was a semi-informed Braves fan but he didn’t know the usual starting lineup or pitching rotation. I stayed for about an hour and left. I didn’t solve any world problems, however I did manage to locate my car in the hotel parking lot. 
I don’t attend anymore because they usually interfere with softball or my scheduled movie bonus night at Blockbuster.
Not to hijack, but I do not think that this statement is totally correct. A decrease in cognitive ability IS assosciated with a inadequate amount of oxygen; however, most people are already supplying their brains with enough oxygen, and more oxygen will not help. A good analogy for this is a car. If you do not have evough fuel in the car, you have problems. If you have five gallons of fuel in the tank, you are fine. If you have 15, it is the same as five performance wise. Ask a neuroligist and they will tell you the same thing.
I was in Mensa. All it was to me is a social calendar. Alas, I am not a social person at all. They even forgot my birthday (snif).
I don’t spend hours on brain teasers; I spend minutes. Either I get it by then or look at the back pages for the answers, which is not often.
Oh, by the way, I find, except for Sneevil and Drainthelizard, that the SDMB posters are for the most part very intelligent indeed. Posting and visiting this site is the true sign of intelligence. (Hey moderators: I came up with a new slogan for you. But I want a cut if you use it.
This from the site in my first post:
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Maybe it’s not actually an increase in oxygen, but what other than oxygen would cause the temporary (and swift) increase in attentiveness?
Okay, so Mensa is a social group for people with a common interest. Nothing wrong with that; SDMB is such a group, and there are several other groups to which I belong. But they all have something in common; none of them have any membership fees. Why do people in Mensa require that you pay to socialize with them?
The Ryan:
For the same reason any club charges dues–to cover the printing costs of the membership card and the newsletter. Also, some of the local groups do charity work for libraries and literacy causes.