London Mayor Boris Johnson Claims More Poor People Have Low IQ

The sad part is he’s not alone in his beliefs.

Via The UK Guardian reports:

Boris Johnson was on Thursday accused of revealing his “unpleasant elitism” and insulting the low-paid of London after he controversially suggested some people will struggle to get on in life because of their low IQs.

The London mayor was met with outrage from political rivals and silence from his own party after he gave a speech embracing the philosophies of Margaret Thatcher that appeared to mock the 16% “of our species” with an IQ below 85 and called for more to be done to help the 2% of the population who have an IQ above 130.

During the speech, Johnson declared that inequality was essential to foster the spirit of envy and hailed greed as a valuable spur to economic activity, as he claimed that shaking a cornflake packet hard was the best way of getting some to rise to the top.

The fiercest criticism came from Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, who attacked the senior Tory’s “unpleasant, careless elitism” and accused him of talking about people as if they were dogs.

“I don’t agree with Boris Johnson on this. Much as he is a funny and engaging guy, I have to say these comments reveal a fairly unpleasant, careless elitism that somehow suggests we should give up on a whole swath of fellow citizens,” Clegg told LBC 97.3 radio.

“To talk about us as if we are a sort of breed of dogs, a species I think he calls it … the danger is if you start taking such a deterministic view of people because they have got a number attached to them, in this case an IQ number, they are not going to rise to the top of the cornflake packet, that is complete anathema to everything I’ve always stood for in politics.”

Sorry but we can’t find any virtue in greed, from our experience it just keeps the “have nots” at the bottom of the barrel and it’s ludicrous to suggest that they deserve as much because of “low IQ”.

You can watch his speech below:

WENN