Posted on 01/19/2004 10:52:54 PM PST by JohnHuang2
Wesley Clark and the curse of intelligence
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Mike Martz, the head coach of the St. Louis Rams, is widely considered to be one of the smartest men in the National Football League. He is the architect of The Greatest Show on Turf an explosive offense that set numerous records for offensive production and the word "genius" frequently appears in the same sentence with his name.
His team, however, has again fallen short of its Super Bowl expectations, mostly because the brilliant coach made a boneheaded decision that shocked even beer-befuddled couch potatoes across the country, only the latest in a series of inexplicably bad decisions that have cost the Rams dearly over the last three years.
John Madden, on the other hand, is hardly known for his acumen. His butcheries of the English language are legendary "few yards are better than none yards" but he has the diamond-encrusted ring that has so far eluded Mike Martz. And few would argue that Madden's Raiders had more talent than Martz's Rams. So, how is this possible?
The truth is intelligence is not synonymous with success. A certain amount can be very helpful, to be sure, but beyond a certain point, the ability to see diverse possibilities starts to become a hindrance. It is much easier to weigh the odds of three or four options than it is to balance 10 or 12, and it takes less time, too. As data gathering and processing capability increases, the ability to focus and ignore unwanted information becomes increasingly important. Otherwise, there is a tendency to become either paralyzed with doubt or divorced from reality as one gets lost in elaborate probability models.
George Bush is cut from the John Madden mold. He is not a stupid man his estimated 125 IQ puts him well above the norm but he is by no means brilliant. Like JFK, who is known to have had an IQ of 119, he has an ability to focus on the actual situation at hand, even if he does not have a gift for beautifully articulating it.
Smart politicians such as Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Richard Nixon, whose IQs come in at 137, 140 and 143, respectively, have for the most part been failures at the highest level. Their ability to incorporate information also gives them a strong tendency to micromanage, which is a disastrous characteristic for any executive. Note that Jimmy Carter, an unsuccessful president by any standard, was the most intelligent president of the modern era.
There is another danger, too, for the intelligent presidential candidate. To the average man, one of the great mysteries of life is how brilliant academics can be so reliably stupid. This is because there appears to be a strong correlation between one's level of intelligence and the importance one places on the abstract as opposed to quotidian reality. Thus, a brilliant Marxian economist can dismiss a century of total socialist failure with a wave of the hand, because none of the historical real-world applications precisely matches the theoretical vision in his head.
Both leading Democratic candidates appear to be highly intelligent men. Howard Dean is a doctor; Wesley Clark is a Rhodes Scholar. But it is becoming increasingly apparent that both men are more wedded to their abstract internal visions of the world than how it actually operates according to objective reality. This is how Gen. Clark can make bizarre statements about a European right of first refusal on American national security and Howard Dean can believe that raising taxes is good for the economy despite two millennia of evidence to the contrary.
Neither man makes any sense to the logical observer, but that is unimportant. It makes sense in some ideal place in their heads, and for such men, that is all that matters.
Based on the two men's comments over the last few months, I am quite sure that Wesley Clark is the most intelligent of the candidates for the Democratic Party nomination. He has said almost nothing capable of withstanding even the most cursory analysis, and his globalist view of the world appears to have more in common with Star Trek than with what history suggests is a Hobbesian free-for-all of ambitious, power-hungry men wrestling for wealth and influence. More than most, Gen. Clark appears to suffer from the curse of intelligence. America would do well to avoid him.
I can max the Hi-Q! (you know, golf-tees-on-the-triangle?)
So Bush is a mass murderer. now? And what's he stealing? ----oh yeah, oil of course ---he sneaks it out after dark and transports it in Chinese junks disguised as fishing boats. Then he sells it to Russian Submariners in Vladivostok in exchange for Kremlin Nesting Dolls, which he launders for cash in the Bahamas!.
Pretty smart for such a stupid man!
Some know-it-all FReeper recommended an online website to check your IQ a few months ago. LOL. Proving your point, I scored a 167 and nary a one of them neurons has figgered out how to turn my tar-paper shack into a mansion. Or how to sell the Great American Novel I've been writing, editing, and rewriting for 20+ years. Or how to produce the award-winning screenplay I've recently finished (my father said it was okey-doke before he died, that's quite an award to me).
It seems, as I look around me, the successful folks tend to be the ones who actually "do something" while us smarty-pants types only "dream" of doing something.
The most "successful" person I know is a third-grade drop-out who cuts grass for a living. All day, every day. Winter, spring, summer, fall. Seven days a week . . . except from 9-12 on Sunday morning when he goes to church with his wife and children.
Rufus' IQ, if we could measure it but we can't because he can't read, would probably be around eighty or ninety at best. But Rufus has a wife who adores him . . . and he's put eight of his nine valedictorian children through college with his mowing-money. And the ninth child, valedictorians all, graduates in May, 2004.
I can solve the challenges of Rubik's Cube in less than a minute. Rufus wouldn't even try. He's got grass to cut.
Can you get the pegs off of those golf-tee puzzles at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant?
I can only make it to 3, which certifies me "ig-no-ray-mus." I've invested considerably more than a minute trying. (I suppose this admission that I eat Cracker Barrel food doesn't help my standing either.)
LOL! Good point!
Without a high Emotional Maturity Quotient (EMQ), a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ) can be a recipe for disaster in personal relationships and in one's chosen field of endeavor.
And age has very little to do with it. There are lots of young people who are quite emotionally mature and lots of very old people who are still emotional basket-cases.
Among the emotionally immature, high IQ mentalities in today's society we find the politically correct elites [PC police] who actually do believe that UTOPIA IS AN OPTION if only the right micro-managers are incharge.
Personally, I don't believe there are ANY emotionally mature people in the DemocRAT party, except for the cold, calculating, dictatorial, criminal mentalities / cynical opportunists who use those foolish enough to disregard the reality of the baser instincts in the human nature, and instead choose to believe that utopia on earth is an option they can vote for.
I don't know who wrote it, but I agree with this statement:
"There is no arguing that classical IQ, as measured by most intelligence tests, is important in our personal, academic, and professional success. However, emotional intelligence [maturity] matters as much as the classical IQ. One could almost say that emotional intelligence [maturity] is a prerequisite for the proper development and actualization of our other intellectual abilities."
ROFLMAO!! Sorry, I live in the boonies in West Texas. There's not a Cracker Barrel within 300 miles of me.
One more thing about IQ tests . . . ssshhh . . . this is just between you and me . . .
I scored 167 the first time. But the second time, a week later . . . using the same website, I only scored 135!!!
So I gave up. Hell, I was afraid my Alzheimer's was kicking in and I'd seen enough. I conveniently leave out the second score when I'm in bragging mode.
For some real brain-busters (and you don't even have to leave your chair to go find a Cracker Barrel), check out this sliding block puzzle website -- almost all of the puzzles (both classic and modern) can be played right on the website as Java applets. Just drag the blocks around with your mouse.
A couple of my "deceptively simple but looks freaking impossible" favorites: Adam and Eve, and IPP 19.
. .
Also, the following site has a huge gallery of various types of "handheld" puzzles: Puzzle World.
When it comes to the Cl*nt*ns, though, it could be narcissistic personality disorder (Or it could be both
Only among liberal-arts types. Engineers, scientists, etc, are firmly tied to the real world. Either the bridge falls down or it doesn't; either the chemicals react or they don't, etc. Experiments sometimes destroy abstract theory, hence experiments are paramount.
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