Image by Susanne Jutzeler from Pixabay
In a world of unrelenting gloom and incompetence, much of which I blame on socialism and all things left, may I be allowed to offer a few words of optimism. During my three quarters of a century on this planet I have come to one positive conclusion and that is that everybody is good at something.
Not everyone finds out what they are good at and many are square pegs in round holes their entire lives. For those fortunate enough to firstly discover what they are good at and secondly to pursue a profession that allows them to excel then the world is their lobster to quote one Arthur Daley.
This article was prompted by a tweet I saw recently about the IQ level at which people are determined to be retarded. I checked with Grok and sure enough back in the 1950s and 1960s retarded was an IQ of about 85 or below. In the more enlightened days of 1973 this was changed and the cutoff was determined to be about 70 or below. The allegation is that the change was made to stop over 50% of African Americans being designated as retarded. The tweeter was complaining that since this change was made those same African Americans and Africans in general are now claiming they invented everything and built everything. Complete stuff and nonsense but truth and logic doesn’t hold them back.
My premise should be somewhat modified so that we use slightly different criteria for many of African descent. I remember a report on idiots-savant(s ?) though they are now called savant syndrome people. Back in the day many of these people were in asylums. One example was a man who could tell you the day of the week for any date you cared to mention. I believe he had a bit of a stutter but if you asked what day of the week was the 18th January 1819 he would immediately tell you it was Monday or Tuesday or whatever. There is a formula for calculating this but it takes a while to work out for the rest of us and nobody ever figured out how he did it.
There was another one, a boy of about 9 years old. You could show him a picture of a complex gothic style building and he would draw a highly detailed and accurate picture of it. In fact I believe he could draw just about anything from memory. Just to mock my observation of IQ levels and race, he was of the suntan persuasion. There is another one who is blind with severe mental difficulties who can hear a piece of music once and then play it on a piano.
In fact the one who had the calendar trick knew all US area codes, zip codes and highway routes between cities and had memorised an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 books. He was the inspiration for Raymond in the film Rain Man.
There was also a story that the Australian SAS competed with a couple of aboriginal men in trekking across the outback. The SAS chaps came second and the aboriginals in general have quite challenging IQs.
In my own case I was rubbish at maths but very good at logic and made a pretty penny out of programming for most of my life. In fact I was in my mid thirties before I could really think, the catalyst was being pushed in my professional life.
I remain fairly optimistic about the future of mankind. If predictions about AI come true then we will all have plenty of time to follow a path not dictated by having to earn enough to buy a crust or two. Maybe many people will then be able to develop their potential. I would love to be able to paint but alas I’m not even much cop at painting walls.
Sadly I fear this option will not be available to much of Africa and even more so the lefties in our midst. The left runs on envy, greed and hatred while pretending they are really nice people. I refuse to believe they are only good at those negative aspects. Maybe they could excel in telling whoppers.
I do hope you will all search for your own gift and make use of it whatever it may be.
© well_chuffed 2026
