What Qualifies a Person as a Genius? In fourth grade, I chose Florence Nightingale as my “inspirational role model”. We were tasked with researching and giving a four-minute presentation on any person of our choosing. In my eyes, Florence was the perfect candidate for this presentation. Not only did she write over 200 books and reports, but she reformed sanitization methods in hospitals and was the founder of modern nursing. To 4th grade Sydney, this woman was the coolest person to ever exist. However, all the other kids in my class gave presentations about people like Albert Einstein, Michelangelo, and Ludwig van Beethoven; people who all seemed to have one thing in common that Florence didn’t. All of the people my classmates chose were …show more content…
Bundy had multiple mental disorders, which quite obviously played a role in his psychotic tendencies. Known as a “genius serial killer”, Bundy is infamous for being one of the most prolific serial killers in North America. He often tricked his victims into trusting him, and got away with numerous murders before he was caught in 1978.( ADD CITATION). According to (ADD CITATION), Bundy told his girlfriend that there was an “entity” inside of him that compelled him to kill. No normal person would blame their need to kill on an “entity”; there was obviously another factor at play that led him to become a psychopath. It is possible that his psychosis began with a traumatic event such as the discovery that his mother had been pretending to be his sister his whole life, or his messy breakup with his long-time girlfriend. Lots of other factors might have contributed to his unstable mental state as well: including his abusive grandfather, addictions, and excessive use of drugs (ADD CITATION). If it weren’t for the major mental issues, it is likely that Bundy might have not turned out the way he did. Micheal F. Stone, a psychoanalyst who specializes in personality disorders, argues that the vast majority of serial killers have multiple severe mental disorders (ADD CITATION). As a result of these issues, the killers often cannot feel remorse, guilt or empathy for others. So was Bundy’s genius caused by his mental illnesses? I would argue that in a way, it did. Bundy was known for being smart, and he did very well in school. Without the mental issues, he would have been on track to have a bright future. (ADD TRANSITION) Bundy’s IQ was above average, but not at genius level. His genius came from his cunning behavior that allowed him to isolate and torment his victims. Without the mental disorders, Bundy likely would have lived a normal life, being known as ‘intelligent’, but not ‘genius’. As explained previously, the title of genius