Many X (Twitter) users were likely confused when they noticed “IQ of 187” was trending in the United States and wondered if some new genius had been identified. However, the trend arose because Scott Greer claimed he had an IQ of 187, and X users quickly called his bluff.
For those unfamiliar with Greer, he is a far-right journalist who used to write for The Daily Caller. However, he stepped down from his position as editor when The Atlantic uncovered he had written for the white supremacist outlet Radix Journal under the pseudonym Michael McGregor. The racist and antisemitic content he wrote was so horrific he even hid it from The Daily Caller, despite The Daily Caller also publishing racist rhetoric and right-wing propaganda.
Additionally, when he was caught, he refused to apologize for what he wrote, though he claimed his views had changed since then. After his ties to white nationalists were uncovered, that should’ve been the end of his career, but he turned to podcasting and has unfortunately maintained a following.
Recently, he had a viral post on X when he took the ridiculous stance that Lauren Boebert was the right’s Taylor Swift. Apparently, young right-wing women wanted a figure like Swift to look up to, leading Greer to make the absurd claim that Boebert is that woman. Even Fox News wanted nothing to do with Boebert after her Beetlejuice debacle, but here Greer is saying this woman who encouraged her restaurant employees to carry firearms openly and couldn’t even behave for the length of a Beetlejuice show is a role model for young women. What made the post even more absurd to users was that the person who posted it claimed on their social media handle to have an IQ of 187.
X users aren’t buying Scott Greer’s claims
Although the absurdity of the IQ claim combined with the Boebert post caused it to go viral, Greer has actually had this claim in his X title for years. In a 2021 interview with Jesse Lee Peterson, Greer claimed he made the decision because he noticed people he argued with on social media would sometimes have their education and other qualifications listed in their bio. Hence, he decided to put his height and IQ in his title, hoping that it would make people mad to see it. While many have suspected, or hoped, that the IQ claim was just him trolling, he insinuated in the interview that it was his true IQ.
It’s perfectly normal for someone using social media professionally to include their education or to highlight that they have an MA or PhD What’s not normal is to put your height and fake IQ not just in your bio but literally in your social media username. It wouldn’t be the only lie in his X profile, though, as he also claims in his bio to be a “respected Daily Caller alum.” “Respected alum” is an odd way to describe how you stepped down from your former employer in disgrace when they caught you writing for a white supremacist website.
Users are absolutely certain that Greer’s IQ is not 187. For context, Stephen Hawking’s and Albert Einstein’s estimated IQs aren’t even that high. Hawking and Einstein were estimated to have IQs of around 160, which is still highly exceptional. Greer is essentially claiming to be among the top 0.1% of the most intelligent people on the planet. If his goal is to make people mad with that claim, it’s not working. Instead, he has just made people laugh—a lot.
Greer’s claim should hardly be surprising when there’s no lack of unexceptional conservative men making absurd statements to inflate their egos further and get attention. Ben Shapiro’s X bio currently claims he’s “America’s #1 rapper,” while Donald Trump once Tweeted that he was god. We always like to think that they’re trolling, but unfortunately, they usually are unhinged enough to believe what they’re saying and then to have to plaster it to their bios and social media handles to prove how great they are. Whatever Greer was trying to do with that absurd claim has seemingly backfired now that the entire internet has banded together to tell him that he’s no genius, and all this negative attention he’s getting is only bound to raise further scrutiny of his white supremacist past.
(featured image: TV Globo)
