Lately I keep thinking our biggest problem is that we confuse intelligence with loudness and arrogance, when really it's the opposite.
Intelligence is humility. It's listening and paying attention. It's understanding there's stuff you don't know or understand.
Fuck the Smartest Man in the Room.
It's so very bizarre, how the social meaning of "intelligence" is so fluid and inconsistent and has nothing to do with the actual definition. And not just the meaning and usage of the word, but whether it is something to strive for or something that is socially shamed.
@Frances_Larina @charliejane it's effectively used as a means of supporting the delusion that we live in a meritocracy, as a means of justifying the exclusion of other perspectives, & as a means of justifying the denial of autonomy.
As it's used, the concept does not exist. There is no numerical value one can assign to rank intelligence & correlate it to their value, impact, & contribution to society (one's connections & net worth will always have a higher correlation). As such, the purpose of measuring people's problem-solving abilities must be different than the purported meaning of intelligence/IQ (which people seem to use interchangeably). It seems to just be a lie embedded into our language to reinforce support for hierarchy & imperialism.
Yoko's Asterisk 🏳️⚧
Frances Larina
Noa