>>>Actually, if I was in charge organizing a new Mensa, knowing too much about religion, sports and (my addition) TV trivia would disqualify the candidate :).
>>
>>Just out of interest, what would a candidate need to know about to qualify that person, if you were in charge of organizing a new MENSA ?
>
>Well, having started with what I would rather have not, now I'm supposed to say what I would have... probably a good IQ on an unbiased test (if such a thing is possible), intellectual curiosity... and as far as cultural views go, I'd go for the width, i.e. some sort of renaissance person. To differ from what is called 'Fach Idiot' in German, i.e. being narrow sighted, delimited to one field of expertise. In practical terms, knowledge of languages and science; being equipped with such knowledge myself I probably show some disrespect to the humanities, but it'd be my private project, right?

MENSA probably started as someones private project too, but somehow got above itself.

IMO, I treat MENSA in the fashion of Groucho Marx, I wouldn't want to be a member of that type of club if they wanted to be a member. It seems to be a group of people who are unduly concerned with letting the world know they are "intelligent" because of their ability to perform pointless tasks, which to me seems to be showing a complete lack of intelligence.