The BBC and Mensa have both apologised after a leading member of the society called anyone with an IQ below 60 a “carrot” live on air.
Peter Baimbridge, a Mensa member, made the comments during an interview with BBC Breakfast.
He was being asked about the effectiveness of IQ tests at judging intelligence.
“So most IQ tests will have Mr and Mrs Average scoring 100 and the higher you get, the brighter you are. And if your IQ is somewhere around 60 then you are probably a carrot,” Mr Baimbridge said.
And…
One viewer, an employee of learning disability charity Mencap, said she was “shocked” and “disgusted” by the comments.
Well, that didn’t take long…
One of the complaints read out on air came from a Dr Sullivan who said: “As a clinical psychologist who has worked with many people who have an IQ below 60, I find these comments to be offensive and completely incorrect. Such comments perpetuate the stigma around an individual with learning difficulties.”
So, we have “shocked”, “disgusted” and “offensive”. All we need now is “inappropriate” and we’ll have a full set.
Oh, yeah…
The presenters also read out some of the complaints on air. British Mensa apologised for the comment, saying it was: “totally inappropriate and does not represent the society’s official position or view”.
Baboom tish!
Even so, Mensa members have done a lot for we lesser mortals.
The Sinclair C5…
Good Lord yes, the C5. That was a game changer if ever there was one.
We need Diana Moon Glampers – the “Handicapper General”
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron ]
I’m pretty sure you fail an intelligence test by paying to be a member of Mensa.
Having been a member since I was 13, I would resent that remark. That said, I’m in my late 20s now and my dad is, for reasons even I don’t understand, still paying for my membership himself, you might have something there.
As for myself, these days I think my IQ is probably closer to carrot.
I have never understood why people would want to join such a club. After all, an IQ test measures your ability to do IQ tests. What it tells us about intelligence is of very limited value as intelligence is much broader than the ability to do puzzles. So, yeah, a club for people who have scored above a certain point in a pointless test? Beats me.
I find the comment to be most offensive to carrots. However, the cabbages would not object over-much.
FFS! Here was me reading the title and expecting ‘gingers’ to have found offence in something orange coloured, such as….carrots.
As for the BBC and Mensa – no surprises there for the grumbling apologies.
154 IQ? Bunch of fucking morons.
“One of the complaints read out on air came from a Dr Sullivan who said: “As a clinical psychologist who has worked with many people who have an IQ below 60….”
Wait! Is he talking about patients? Or his colleagues?
XX And if your IQ is somewhere around 60 then you are probably a carrot,XX
NO!
A half rotted cabbage maybe, or even, in extreem cases, a cauliflower, but some of my best friends are carrots, (And the odd cauli) and there is nothing wrong with them!
Just don’t ask them to prove the mandelbrot set whilst applying it to interstelluar geography, and explaining the implications for “the big bang theory”.
(IQ is somewhere around 60….ALSO known as “Chavs.”, OR “Paris Hilton”)
Poor little diddum thickoes
Longrider, old top; where was ‘unacceptable?’
That would have been the glacé cherry on the cake, wouldn’t it?
I watched that interview, but don’t remember the reference to the carrot. What I do remember was the mensa guy pretty much saying that IQ tests are useless anyway as they don’t test intelligence only the ability to solve problems. So he was probably showing how stupid the scores are in that a low score means you could be a normal human or a carrot, there would be no difference because the system is crap. It’s like BMI measuring health.
Could he perhaps have meant that an IQ as low as 60 is not a human IQ and that such a low IQ would be that of, for example, a carrot…. or a tree……or a cow? Oh…. Not a cow….. A cow has a higher IQ than 60.
It might well, then, be that there are people (brain-damaged people, for example) who are not as intelligent as a cow, but may be as intelligent as a carrot.
There has thus been nothing offensive at all – mere statement of fact in a jocular way.
But that is all too complicated to explain. Might as well just say the apologetic words and get on with it.