In a long long long Facebook thread, I commented that Local
Groups are allowed to express opinions. One member reasonably requested that I
point him to the policy upon which I based my statement. Here it is:
Constitution of Mensa
II. The Policy of Mensa
B. Mensa encompasses members representing many points of
view. Consequently, Mensa as an organization shall not express an opinion as
being that of Mensa, take any political action other than the publication of
the results of its investigations, or have any ideological, philosophical,
political, or religious affiliations.
C. Members or groups of members may express opinions as
members of Mensa, provided their opinions or actions are not expressed as being
those of Mensa as an organization.
So no one can say “Mensa endorses Jenny McCarthy for
President.” (However Mensa can sponsor academic research and publish results
which say that blondes who hate vaccinations statistically perform higher than
billionaires who wear toupees on certain tests of political leadership
aptitude.)
Furthermore, groups of members may express opinions. Local Groups are groups of members. They just can’t present themselves as speaking for all of Mensa as a whole.
Furthermore, groups of members may express opinions. Local Groups are groups of members. They just can’t present themselves as speaking for all of Mensa as a whole.
Side note-- I didn't find anything that says "Mensa has no opinions."
3 comments:
The "group of Mensans" in this case is only those individuals who actually chose to march. Whatever else the rule says, it's not right to speak for a bunch of other people who haven't agreed to be spoken for. Which is kind of the point at all scales, from international to local.
A bunch of you marched. Great. But by marching under the CAM banner, you spoke on behalf of a whole lot of people who were not present and who did not choose to speak. That was inappropriate, and disrespectful of other members.
"I didn't find anything that says 'Mensa has no opinions.'"
Did you miss:
"Mensa as an organization shall not express an opinion as being that of Mensa"?
Groups of member of a society often represent the larger set. That's what elections are for. The CAM decision-makers were elected by the general membership.
As for your question of did I miss... no, I didn't. But what you quoted is not "has no opinions." In fact, the bit you quoted does not contain the words "has," "no," or "opinions." You quoted what the constitution says. I quoted what it does NOT say, and yet everyone claims it says.
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