Savage Son. Corey Mitchell
did not believe his little brother was tough. He did not believe he was a true man yet. Kevin was no superman.
Bart’s mentality tended to follow that of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Nietzsche’s concept of the “superhuman” first made an appearance in his work Thus Spoke Zarathustra, A Book for All and None (Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen, 1883–85), wherein the famed philosopher described the spiritual development of Zarathustra, a solitary, reflective, exceedingly strong-willed, sage-like, laughing and dancing voice of self-mastery who…envisioned a mode of psychologically healthier being beyond the common human condition. Nietzsche refers to this higher mode of being as “superhuman” (übermenschlich).” He believed it to be a doctrine for only the healthiest who can love life in its entirety—with this spiritual standpoint, in relation to which all-too-often downhearted, all-too-commonly-human attitudes stand as a mere bridge to be crossed and overcome.
Indeed, sometimes it appeared as if Bart and Kevin Whitaker could not be any more different. Bart fashioned himself to be an intellectual who was well-read, worldly, and always impeccably dressed. Bart knew these traits were going to shoot him into the upper stratosphere of success in life.
On the other hand, at least in Bart’s mind, Kevin was beneath him. Kevin was the jock of the family who loved to play baseball. Kevin was more interested in making friends and being sociable than he was about studying his academics. Kevin apparently got along with his parents better than Bart did. He would willingly and eagerly participate in family events with his parents, while Bart usually made up some type of excuse to get out of such gatherings.
Another way the two brothers were distinct could best be described using Texas colleges as an analogy. Rice University is considered to be upper-crust, on par with a private Ivy League school in the state; while Texas A&M is the everyman college that focuses on blue jeans, pickup trucks, and sports. Without a doubt, Bart was Rice, and Kevin was Texas A&M.
Kevin enjoyed hunting and fishing. Bart could not stand them. Kevin was a blue-jeans-and-cowboy-boots kind of guy. Bart was the preppy. Kevin was destined to become an Aggie, the mascot for Texas A&M. Bart considered himself to be more of a Princeton guy, or a Stanford guy.
Though the two brothers professed their love for one another, Bart often complained about Kevin, saying that his younger brother was a “lazy, good-for-nothing bum,” who always had everything handed to him.
Despite Bart and Kevin’s differences, Adam always felt comfortable in the Whitaker household. He believed theirs was a warm and loving home, and that any problems that they may have had existed behind closed doors and were no worse than any other typical American family.
It was apparent to many that Bart believed he was truly better than most people, and he did not suffer fools lightly. In a later counseling session with Dr. Lynne Ayres, he informed her that he truly did not care about having relationships with other human beings. Yes, he had a girlfriend—yes, he loved his family—but he did not want to be bothered with other people’s trivialities. As a result, most of the people who came into contact with Bart viewed him as “cold.”
Bart did, however, believe he was a fixer. According to Ayres, he told her that if people wanted something done, they would often turn to him. “If they wanted anything done,” Bart surmised, “they would come to me, because they would know the job would be done well.” Ayres was not exactly sure what “jobs” people would hit Bart up for.
The young man also informed the doctor that he struggled with the responsibility that others placed on him. Since he was so reliable, he believed others leaned on him to fix their problems, but he could handle it. He referred to himself as “Atlas,” because he was able to “hold the whole world” on his shoulders. Indeed, according to Greek mythology, Atlas personified the quality of endurance and was condemned to bear the heavens upon his shoulders. In addition, Atlas had been appointed the guardian of the pillars that held the Earth and the sky asunder. These roles were often combined, and Atlas became the god who turned the heavens on its axis, causing the stars to revolve.
Bart also assured Ayres that he was a master manipulator. He bragged about how he could charm his high-school teachers into giving him an A in their classes, even if he did not deserve such a grade.
Bart also spoke about his future aspirations. He claimed he wanted to join the FBI, and believed he would be an ideal candidate, as he assumed they would want agents “who can think like criminals.”
After Ayres’s single session with Bart, she was appalled by what she felt existed within the young man. She remarked that his “profile does not seem consistent with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), but more consistent with irritability, intolerance for incompetence of others, and social disconnects.”
In just one meeting, Ayres determined that Bart was egomaniacal, extremely narcissistic, and removed emotionally from everyone around him, including his girlfriend, brother, and parents. She felt he believed he was better than everyone else around him, including her. She described their encounter as a “very disturbing interview, especially social disconnections.”
In 1924, two young men, Nathan Leopold Jr., nineteen, and Richard Loeb, eighteen, who subscribed to the Nietzschean “superman” philosophy distorted its meaning to fit their own wicked scheme. Leopold and Loeb, who met as teenagers at the University of Chicago, came from Chicago aristocracy, such as it was, and were basically bored out of their skulls. Each young man believed he was far superior to his peers. They were constantly seeking new thrills to plumb themselves out of the boredom that their families, their neighborhood, and their friends afforded them. These seemingly well-bred, well-mannered pinnacles of upstanding youth were anything but.
From all outward appearances, Leopold and Loeb were the type of young men that mothers wanted their daughters to marry, and fathers wanted their sons to grow up to emulate. Unbeknownst to everyone around them, the two young men’s ennui led to a life of lies, deceit, and petty crime. The young men would occasionally lift belongings from their fellow college mates out of the others’ fraternity houses. Having been bestowed with great financial wealth due to their families, neither young man was wanting for material possessions. Indeed, the majority of the goods they pilfered were almost always well below a value they were customarily used to. Leopold and Loeb stole from others because they wanted to experience a thrill they never had, and hoped it would spark a fire within them.
As with any junkie, however, the initial rush would soon wear off for the college students, and they needed an even greater fix. Not soon after they began their minor thievery spree, Leopold and Loeb decided they wanted to experience what they believed would be the ultimate thrill: the taking of a human life.
Leopold, definitely the more dominant of the two young men, convinced Loeb that the act of murder of an innocent human being would fall perfectly in line with what Nietzsche allegedly preached. According to Leopold, total dominance over another person could only come from the complete desecration and annihilation of that individual. Until you actually snuff the last breath out from another soul, you were never in complete control of that person, no matter how much power you may have seemingly exerted over them. In a correspondence with Loeb, Leopold wrote, A superman…is, on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him, exempted from the ordinary laws which govern men. He is not liable for anything he may do.
Leopold and Loeb took their twisted misinterpretation of Nietzsche’s “superman” philosophy to the ultimate, horrifying conclusion when they picked out a so-called “inferior” human being to slaughter, fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks.
The stalking, abduction, and subsequent murder of Franks was all too easy for the misanthropes, and only served to reinforce their beliefs that they were above and beyond their fellow humans.
Eventually, however, Leopold and Loeb were discovered, arrested, and paraded in front of the national media for what was then considered to be the first “Trial of the Century.” Though the phrase has now been overused, as this occurred before the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping trials and the O.J. Simpson/Nicole Brown Simpson murder trial, it was an apt description.
Indeed,