Wasn't the uni-bomber a genius (and a leftist)? What the hell does that do for you? I score very high on intelligence tests, even the math parts where in reality, I'm sadly lacking. My husband doesn't do so well but the equations he works with as an engineer look like Greek to me? The difference? I, like a lot of people, test well. It's probably one of those right brain/left brain things.
Cindie
There was this other guy who was a Mensa member and really proud of his high IQ. He had some dispute with his neighbors and left a six pack or something of poisoned soda on the door step. The family, being rather large, just assumed they had bought it and someone got distracted on the way to putting it away. The mom drank one of the sodas and died.
They got him to confess by sending an agent who was also a Mensa member to this guys meetings, she befriended him and he was so proud that his IQ was so high he could get away with murder he let enough details slip to this undercover agent.
I think I saw this some years ago on The New Detectives or some other Discovery Channel show.
Oh here, this appears to be the case:
Mensa's George Trepal Was a Clever Plotter of Imaginary Murders, but His 'Perfect Crime' Was Fatally FlawedI remember watching the show wondering if a high IQ could be some form of birth defect because as intelligent as this guy seemed, there still seemed to be something missing from his makeup. This Trepal guy doesn't appear to have a political ideology so it would probably depend on whatever set the individual off. The Una-bomber was in a heavily left wing environment when his illness manifested. If he had been under some other ideological or religious influence then he may have acted out in that way although there is little doubt that violence for a cause is usually celebrated when the cause is leftist. Even after he was caught, the Una-bomber was treated with kid gloves. But I digress.
I think it is the idea of being apart and above the masses that give such personalities the internal justification for their crimes and the arrogance to think they are smart enough to get away with it.