Control: Charles Manson
Charles Manson spent half his first thirty-two years in prison, jail, and the like. His mom was a prostitute and drug addict. He grew up with petty crime to pay the bills. Eventually he became a persuasive and iconic cult leader who made a strong impression on people, especially teen girls. Why do teen girls listen to men like Charles Manson? I don’t understand. Some girls just do whatever a bad boy says. It reminds me of the scene in Dracula when Mina ignores the proper men and listens to Dracula — precisely because they ignore and demean her, and Dracula listens to her. That’s the sort of attention teenagers need and don’t get — they just get lied to or looked down to.
Why did no one help this guy? Or these girls? He was in and out of scary prisons. People said he was dangerous or trouble or a freak. People hated him for being a criminal. He gathered followers and told them that he was important and that they were important. He hated the director Roman Polanski because Polanski was an important director, and Charles Manson hated him for his success. The nasty part here was that Roman Polanski wasn’t innocent, either — he would later rape a thirteen year-old girl. Nevertheless, Manson had his followers kill four people at Polanski’s home, including his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate. Innocents died because of a feud between two guilty people — total unbelievable bullshit. That’s what I call that.
The killers snuck into the house and cut the phone line. They stopped a driver going through the neighborhood and menaced him. The killers wanted to punish everyone at that house because the previous tennant had turned down Charles Manson for a music recording contract. Manson had listed a number of celebrities for his followers to kill. They may have even killed a lawyer who sold them out. Authorities believed that Manson’s cult may have killed other people but didn’t have any details. They focused on convicting Manson of the one mass killing.
The killers buried their bloody clothes and weapons in the desert. Apparently a number of the victims tried to get away. The killers, led by a man, Tex Watson, chased down the victims and killed them before confronting Tate in the house. Tate pleaded for the life of her unborn baby. Tex or the girls ignored her and killed her. They wrote pig on the ground in blood. This played out much like a scene from a horror movie.
They did it to become famous. They wanted to rock the world, and they succeeded. They became legends — their wish was granted. Everyone knows Charles Manson and his murders. Everyone listens to the Beatles and mentions the Manson connection to the song “Helter Skelter.” People do strange things for strange reasons. They should be good people and eat well and do good deeds and act with kindness for their fellow humankind. They don’t. They drink liquor, listen to bad people, and sell their metaphorical soul to the metaphorical demon.
The problems with life are numerous: lack of money, lack of food, lack of room at the top of life. Ninety-nine percent of us won’t get to the one percent, and the competition to get up to the top is brutal and often ridiculously unfair. When people fail to make it to the top they do strange and disturbing things to rebel. Usually I agree with the rebels — I like a good social rebellion every few years. I just don’t understand hurting people because they succeed and you don’t.
I am mentally ill, a crazy person, a member of the outsider fringe. I don’t understand why some disturbed people try to hurt others because of their own low self-esteem. It seems counter-intuitive. It sounds like something that will hurt you and not help you, the crazy person. I just hope that I don’t turn out like Charles Manson, desperate to impress the people who hate and fear me. I hope that I am better than that.
Thanks, and take care, friends.
