Wesley Clark and the curse of intelligence: Vox Day explains why smart men do dumb things

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, January 20, 2004 | Vox Day

[cookcounty]

" Any FReepers want to volunteer their IQs?

I can max the Hi-Q! (you know, golf-tees-on-the-triangle?)

[pointsal]

ping

[cookcounty]

" Unfortunately, leftism has infected the current administration (who are 'conservative' in name only), hence the belief they can use war, mass murder, theft and lies to 'remake' foreign societies and remold human nature

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!

[geedee]

. . . articulates exactly why the smartest people can fail . . .

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.

[Lazamataz]

you had a lot better chance than if you tested with (say) the scarily intelligent Laz.

Duuuuuhhhh, I like she, cuz her
says I are smart.

[tsomer]

I can solve the challenges of Rubik's Cube in less than a minute.

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.)

[LPM1888]

But General Schwarzkopf was smart enough to stay out of politics.

LOL! Good point!

[Matchett-PI]

"Smart" people can be just as much a slave to their emotions or temperament (including a tendency towards recklessness or risk-taking) as anyone else."

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."

[geedee]

Can you get the pegs off of those golf-tee puzzles at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant?

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.

[Ichneumon]

Can you get the pegs off of those golf-tee puzzles at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant?

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.

[Virginia-American]

I read "Can the President think?" when it was published. A few years later he and his lovely wife inspired me to read Cleckley's "Mask of Sanity" and Hare's "Without a Conscience", two excelent studies of psychopathy.

When it comes to the Cl*nt*ns, though, it could be narcissistic personality disorder (Or it could be both

[Rytwyng]

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

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.