The story I heard was that while Ali scored well enough on the verbal portions of the test, he performed very badly on the math portions, dragging his overall score down.
Wasn’t Ali trying to avoid service? I think it’s ridiculous to think that he had a low intellect, when you can plainly see and hear how witty and quick minded a young Ali was. That man was no dope. It makes a lot more sense to imagine he “Christmas treed” the test because he didn’t want to fight in Vietnam.
according to history books, most of the early monarchs of France were considered unintelligent even for dark age monarchy to the point “moronic” was mentioned in medieval texts
a lot of the Spanish monarchy was also considered stupid and possibly mentally ill after Ferdinand and Isabella
:dubious:
‘Dark ages’? Not a term you’d find any reputable historian using.
‘Most of the early monarchs of France’. Can you list a few? Which medieval text called which king(s) moronic?
Bump
Im reading this excellent bio of Ali. He was a hero to me. However, looking back at Alis life with a more objective eye, I can see some evidence to believe that Ali far more street smart than book smart. He placed trust in dubious men who took financial advantage of him. He refused to listen to his personal doctor who told him to stop fighting in 1977 even though he himself knew he was in decline. He believed that allowing his sparing partners to batter him in training would toughen him. His open and obvious cheating on his wives leads me to think he either didnt care if they knew or didnt think his actions through.
The press gave him a free ride on so many issues. His racism directed at Joe Frazier, his lack of commitment to training, his shortcomings as a father.
What emerges after the hero worship dies away is that he was a deeply charismatic and simple man with many flaws. He was used by others to further their worldviews but his own actions didnt always align with the them be they political or religious. He was hustled by associates and friends out of millions but Don King was the worst cheating him out of his 1.2 million dollar purse for fighting Larry Holmes. https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/don-king-up-to-his-old-tricks-again-1.308406
This kind of rules that out. I think given the evidence, it’s reasonable to assume Claudius was a perfectly intelligent person who was smart enough to realize being viewed as a dumb inconsequential cripple was a good way to stay alive during the various bloodbaths the Julio claudian dynasty was involved in
Well there is Charles the Simple:
While Simple is probably a mistranslation, his other titles seem to suggest he was in fact dumb:
His nickname ‘simplex’ or the simple is misleading. The Latin ‘Simplex’ was given to him meaning straightforward as in loyal or without guile. The nickname ‘the Simple’ has stuck with him even though its meaning has been corrupted. He was not, however, generally complimented by the chroniclers. He was called Charles the Stupid by a later chronicler for an incident in 919 where he abandoned his men.[1] Besides this, he was called stultus (fatuous), hebes (stupid), insipiens (foolish), parvus (small) and minor (inferior)
It’s often difficult to separate out cognitive disabilities from mental illness or other issues. Look at the example of the extremely successful pop vocalist Susan Boyle, who was considered in her childhood to be learning-disabled but who was re-evaluated post-stardom as having Asperger’s and above-average IQ.
In fact, that’s the reason why Peter the Great ended up on the throne. Ivan was his half-brother, his father’s first wife’s son. Technically, he should’ve ruled and not Peter. But since he was in such bad shape, it was agreed that they’d become “Co-Tsars”, to appease Ivan’s family, but that’s about it.
If being born heir to a throne counts as being “successful”, another potential candidate for the cognitively-underqualified label would be Charles II of Spain.
Even today in the West where access to education is much improved over the historical norm, it is still very hard to separate out cognitive ability and lack of education. Figures like Muhammad Ali and Chuck Yeager have something in common–both grew up dirt poor in areas with abjectly terrible public education systems, they came from families that did not culturally value education, and while both graduated High School it was obvious they were not done well by their educational systems. Ali had dyslexia and could barely read or write upon graduation, but as was not abnormal at the time he was passed on through (this sometimes still happens today.)
Ali had started amateur boxing at age 12, and had little interest in education as he saw his future in boxing, Yeager went into the military basically right after High School during WWII, and he never imagined the lack of a college degree would limit his career as a pilot. In fact it arguably didn’t limit him too badly, it kept him from the astronaut program but he retired a Brigadier General in the Air Force, that’s not something that usually happens to stupid people–in fact Yeager was the first commandant of the school that trained the first astronauts as pilots.
The OP doesn’t exclude sports: teeming with successful morons, albeit often skillfully managed by others. Or borderline idiot savants: supermen on their gore competencies but other wise falling-down nudniks.