Connections
Correction!
I hasten to correct an error in my letter published in the May 02 issue of Going Forward. In the third paragraph, there is a reference to "The Constitution of MIL." There is no Constitution of MIL. I know that; I just plain did not do a careful job of proofreading.
There is The Constitution of Mensa! Mensa International, Ltd. (MIL) is a British company under which Mensa operates in the United Kingdom to distinguish it from British Mensa.
My apologies to your readers who may have been confused by the error.
History, I suppose, can be conveniently rewritten. Mensa was indeed founded originally as a think tank to solve world problems. It was also supposedly limited to those with an IQ in the upper 1%, not 2%, but there were no Mensa-administered tests at that time. In some cases, members simply had to agree that you were intelligent and had something to contribute. (There is an organization called "Torch" that still functions that way.) The original concept did not work worth beans, and before Victor Serebriakoff, Mensa became (for a while) kind of a high-jinks society that even elected Queens of Mensa, somewhat in the manner of a fraternity. Victor reorganized Mensa to have some semblance of real structure and changed the club's direction. The society rebounded as a social organization of peers.
I'm sorry if Mary Kimball believes we should be a democracy, as most members know that we are actually a republic with elected representatives. We always were. And, I'm sorry if the tiny percentage of us who vote in national elections select some "leaders" who write and vote on ASIEs that are in total violation of our Bylaws. I am quite seriously considering filing charges against the AMC to correct these errors. It would be nice to think that we are all knowledgeable enough to avoid these mistakes, or are all bright enough to elect the right people, but our record to date says that we are not.
The May issue of GF is superb. I read it all and liked it. The information under "Sundaze" is interesting because it is an example of "management culture." The management system of a business or social organization is dynamic because it is characterized by continuous change and activity. A culture develops in the dynamics of management as it does in the dynamics of social environment. It is the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns. The input can seem small and insignificant, but the effects are far out of proportion to the input. "Sundaze" refers to a case in which rules of the organization are subordinated to desires of a member of the "club." It is an example of socially transmitted behavior pattern; a contribution to the culture. This management culture sank Enron and Anderson.
The article "Taking Mensa to the Streets" by Meredy Amyx deals well with a division of opinion on a very serious subject. That subject is "commercializing" Mensa by licensing the name for use by businesses. It troubles some members. It particularly troubles those who became members before the practice was adopted. It troubles others because the Constitution distinctly separates "Mensa the Organization" from those temporarily placed in the job of management. The question becomes: Is the name theirs to do with as they please?
The article "If You're Going to Do It, Then Do It Right" by Richard Amyx is well annotated and easy to follow. He deals with "acts inimical to Mensa," and it is a proper topic for discussion. We need this provision in the Constitution, but it greatly needs to be defined more precisely. In its present form it is ripe for abuse. An "act inimical to Mensa" can be whatever you want to call it.
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