The true bun fight divider - intelligence

[Bennifer]

Seeing as we?ve got some bunfights going on, I thought I?d ask about a different divider than class ? intelligence. I?ve a fair few friends from a range of backgrounds and levels of education. Sometimes, I can find myself thinking ?how can you not know this?? with some of my friends who are lovely. It might be something historical, geographical, or political. I?m not suggesting I?m a towering intellect, but I suppose, I?m relatively well educated. Is it patronising to have friends where you steer clear of topics. How do you cope with this issue in your daily life?

Oh god yes Thumbwitch I agree with that.

Where we live now and where DH grew up there are a lot of people proud of their ignorance.

I find the Economist is excellent for a balanced view

I read it for everything except Economics, in 2008 I felt it was captured by the bankers and feel it hasn't broken free yet.

I havent read the whole thread but someone I know who certainly isnt stupid didnt know who Barack Obama was until I mentioned him. He had just made history by becoming president. She doesnt care for the news apparently.

I come from a very academic background & did very well at school, but I do wonder now what having such a mass of general knowledge actually DOES for me. I do very well at pub quizzes but that's about it. Being an all-round know it all certainly made me Miss Unpopular at school and now I don't have any expert in-depth knowledge of specific subjects, just shallow trivial knowledge of many things. It really doesn't benefit me all that much!

Funny, I see it the opposite way - as being one of the few publications that actually sees how crucial financial services and the bailouts are/were and doesn't go in for uninformed and pointless 'banker bashing'.

It is rightly anti excessive bonuses and risk taking, though also rightly understands that high pay is the reality of that sector and only government regulation is going to get in the way.

Getting a wee bit off topic there..

Not trying to boast I promise, but I and my sister both have very high IQs (within top 1%), professionally tested for medical reasons.

We are also both what most people would consider 'ignorant' or 'ill-informed', because we don't socialise much (socially awkward and shy), and we don't read the news nor engage politically.

I can't speak for my sister (though I know she thinks very similarly to me), but in my case I simply find the world extremely painful to engage in because the vast majority of people do not relate to me, nor I to them, and so I tend to protect myself by withdrawing to a very small circle of family and friends, and focus on what I can do there rather than the world at large.

This is not because I don't want to relate to people, and I do not look down on anyone nor consider myself better in any way, its just that communication is painful, and most people's thought processes confuse me. I'd liken to some of the difficulties people with certain special needs face (I actually work with people who have special needs as I relate to them and their challenges better!)

So I don't think withdrawing from worldly knowledge and involvement is necessarily a question of intelligence, although there may well be some correlation.

Whatever "knowing stuff" actually means deep down, I place a value on it. I think because it makes people interesting, as they can discuss a range of issues, and secondly because it reflects a curiousness in the world around them. It's a Good Thing.

Maybe that's a good definition of intelligence: curiosity. Open to new things or new ways of seeing things; not thinking you have arrived...

My SIL is someone I would consider pretty thick tbh - she has a good professional qualification but you simply cannot have a conversation with her about ANYTHING apart from her children and local gossip (i've known her for around 13 years now and, believe me, I've tried to find something). She has no opinion or interest in any of the following - books, TV, film, music, current affairs, fashion, travel, science, sport. She is also very low in emotional intelligence - no empathy for anyone's suffering or joy. If I try to just talk children stuff with her, it has to be all about hers, nothing about mine.

We don't really get on

I found my intelligence took a nose dive the day I emigrated. Not because my brain cells suddenly blew away as I went through customs, not even because I lost my curiosity, but because the (relatively limited) range of subjects that you need to be able to talk about to be considered well informed differs from culture to culture.

After 20 years, I am happy to say that my intelligence seems to be coming back. There are also signs that I am developing a sense of humour- in other words, I am learning how to make people of this culture laugh.

I saw the russian 28up! last night - fascinating. Very emotional culture, russian. philosophical too, as a matter of course.