Charles Manson

Agreed. Like trying to categorize Hitler on the left/right scale, categorizng Manson in any category other than psychotic is impossible as he pretty much just told everyone what they wanted to hear.

 

Precisely. He was a conman who wanted to be famous; well he got his wish.

 

I've just finished reading four books about Charles Manson, all bought second hand off Amazon.com. He was basically a crook. He spent half his life in prisons before he was let out in the middle of the sixties. Prison is where he got his racism from and where he learned how to be a pimp and control women, from a certain inmate. He also read intensively books about subliminal suggestion while locked up, say prison guards.

His friends were the Straight Satans and other biker groups like the Hell's Angels, he wasn't a hippy. Younger, lost, impressionable teenagers/twenty somethings with a yearning to belong gave him their trust and he took advantage of them.

He used the predominant hippy culture and ideals at the time such as Beatles albums, which were far removed from his own attitudes, to collect and mould his cult. Manson was more the Door's 'The End' than the Beatles 'Helter Skelter' IMO.
And let's make no bones (excuse my french) about it, the manson family was a cult, just as the Branch Davidians and Heaven's Gate were.


Manson IS the bad guy of the story. The family is just another case of kids getting into trouble just by hanging around with the wrong people. My impression after reading about the saga is that Manson was a crooked midget pimp, who used the predominate good-natured culture of the time, blah blah blah, ad infinitum


You can check out The Manson Family Sings the Songs of Charles Manson album on this website (scroll down): http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Cabaret/4359/


I was nearly picked up by a Californian religious 'hippy' cult when I lived in Nottingham who were driving around the world in an old converted coach (and believe you me they had 'daddy', 'mummy', 'little brother' and 'big brother', the whole nine yards).

If you meet such people and you start getting 'religious' vibes, GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! If you get the feeling someone is 'coming down on you' (and it ain't your dad or SGT. Pepper). GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! If you feel creepy, IT IS CREEPY! Make your excuses and GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!

Get the hip on cults, check out this ---> http://www.howcultswork.com/

Excerpt from howcultswork.com: "if the leader of Heavens Gate cult was open and honest about the group and had said to new recruits, "Join us, wear strange clothes, get castrated and then drink poison!" he would not have had many takers."

 

The Mansons and Hitlers of the world aren't what scare me. It's the large number of people weak enough to follow them and do their bidding.

 

Very well put. I couldnt agree more.

 

I watched that movie (Helter Skelter) he was a nut! I feel bad for the little kids they drug into the cult they didn't even get a choice!

 

I read the book Helter Skelter, a couple of times and I've seen the movie a few times.

It's amazing what weak minds can be convinced of.

But, not everyone can be a leader and all leader's need follower's. So, there has to be some of both, in this world. Not everyone is capable of going their own way. Some people need (and want) to be led. There's really nothing wrong with that, until it's exploited....

 

Almost. They were given the death penalty, but California outlawed the death penalty after the convictions. Their sentences were reduced to life with poss. of parole. I read that the girls all pretty much turned their lives around in prison.

 

Charles Manson is as crazy as they come, i get the creeps just watching him on tv whenever they show him for an interview or something, he doesn't deserve to get out..and what he did was way fucked up!

 

Yes, I also feel that way about Jim Jones... assholes. But I don't believe in hell.

 

Ya, I read some of what he had to say for himself. It's posted on various websites. He sounded quite reasonable, basically admitting, "yeah, I was a small time ex-con con-artist crook runnin' my little games, but you know, those kids believed what I said and I came to love them." I bought into what he said, almost. He was putting it like the kids were out of control behaving childishly and he couldn't keep up with cleaning up the messes they kept making, ripping people off on dope deals and stuff. He said that Susan Atkins and Tex Watkins were real bad apples. Things really went downhill when they showed up. Yeah, they were the bad ones. Yeah, that's it! It was their fault. He almost had me, but what I noticed was that he took a little responsibility for everything that went wrong, thus buying credibility, but the main part of it was always someone else's fault. His fault was always an error in judgement that he made, you know, like loving too much, but never something truly evil.

Main thing I noticed was that at least in these interviews he spoke perfectly sanely.

 

On the other hand the tapes of his parole hearings are comedy gold.

 

A follower I suspect. Creepy you are.

He had interesting ideas, but you can't deny he was a nutjob. He isn't scary anymore; now he'd old and is just a plain joke. I saw an interview with him recently on TV (yes I watch TV, nimh, I'm a lemming, whatever), and he wasn't scary, he was very comical.

He never actually killed anyone, but he did con people into killing, and that's murder enough.

 

I watched "Helter Skelter" on CBS whenever it was on not long ago.
Charles Manson was a complete lunatic, and so were all of his followers.

In the movie, he proclaimed that he wasn't a "hippy" and that he hated them. Is that how he felt/feels in real life? He very much seemed to be one, and he definitely puts them to shame..

As you said though, his thoughts were definitely interesting. He was kind of funny, too. And despite the fact that he didn't kill anyone, as you said he conned the others into doing so and that was just as bad. He just didn't want to get his hands dirty.

 

Yeah i watched it too.. it was a good movie but its sad that things like that actually go on in the Real World... they should make a reality tv show on something to do with serial killers or something, like the "Next Survivor" and see who can stay alive the longest ha now that would be a reality show

 

No! (covers tinkerbella's mouth and looks around in fright) No (whispers) last thing we need is another reality show. A TV exec may have read your post. Shh!

 

LOL DONT WORRY IM JUST MESSIN!!! :-D

 

I know but... still, I'm scared Tinkerbella, I think I...you hear that? It's another reality show being made! Run for the hill! Aaaaah! (Runs off thread)

 

i dont think anyone would ever call *me* a follower. LOL i question just about everything and am ever cynical and jaded.

i didnt watch the cbs special. if i'm going to watch something about manson, i'd rather watch one of his interviews, not some made for tv pap. the guy was a freakshow.

 

I agree. Good point.

I thought you were a supporter of his or something lol.