Charles Manson - "nutjob" or something more?

Sorry if this was already posted. I only read the first few pages and couldn't continue... too disturbing.

Charles Manson is a psychopath who is also psychotic ... he suffers from psychosis ... he's delusional.

Psychosis/psychotics is basically 'a complete break with reality' ('reality' as us 'non-psychotics' know it).

As far as him being a genius, IMO describing him this way is surely a major insult to all of the families and friends of the victims. If someone murdered one of my family members, I surely wouldn't appreciate their murderer being referred to as a genius. Where's the compassion in that ridiculous conclusion?

Any individual who is BOTH emotionally behind bars AND and physically behind bars, meaning BOTH emotionally and physically imprisoned for their entire adult life, at least in my book, is far from genius.

Manson talks about 'nothingness as it relates to otherness'... not quite genius material, at least IMO.

He contributed absolutely nothing to humanity. He caused pain and suffering to many. He caused the brutal end of an almost full-term infant. He stole future relationships from the families of those murdered. They lost their entire future with all of Manson's (and his followers) victims.

I do not think brutally murdering innocent people, and being locked up like a caged animal for life qualifies one for the status of 'genius'.

One of the biggest problems with society today is the glorifying of narcissism and sociopathy/psychopathy ... 'mastermind', 'brilliant', 'genius', inspires the wrong people and glorifying them clearly sends the wrong message to our youth.

Anyone see Charles Manson: The Final Words on Reelz network? It paints a vastly different possible scenario of the WHY.

The State of California could not place Manson at the scene of any of the murders. By all accounts, he had not been directly involved in the killing of the seven people he was being charged with murdering. This is why the state needed that conspiracy charge (Helter Skelter - my edit here) to stick. They needed to show that the other members of the family were working under his direction and that he was the mastermind behind the entire ordeal. Through his supposed vicarious responsibility, they were able to charge Manson with seven counts of first-degree murder and keep the death penalty on the table. Manson has repeatedly repudiated this theory and has always claimed that it was completely made up by Bugliosi to play on the racial tensions in Los Angeles in the late 1960’s. Reelz’s new documentary, narrated by Rob Zombie, not only showed the holes in the prosecution’s theory of Helter Skelter, but also offered an alternate theory that explains the motives behind the brutal killing spree.

The alternate theory posed by the documentary isn’t nearly as sexy as the one Manson has become famous for. It may be convoluted, but it does explain the killing spree in a way that makes a lot more sense than the thought that Manson was able to brainwash and control the minds of his followers. Manson, by his own admission, killed a drug dealer named Bernard Crowe over a dispute involving a member of his family, Bobby Beausoleil. Manson believed that Crowe was a member of the Black Panthers, and he became concerned about retribution from the group. To ensure the safety of the family, Manson enlisted the help of a biker gang called the Straight Satans. He purchased their protection with the women he supposedly loved and cared so much about. Beausoleil and Manson, now owing money to the gang for giving them bad mescaline, ended up in yet another drug altercation, leading Bobby to kill his dealer Gary Hinman. Everything could have stopped right there, except Bobby was arrested driving Hinman’s car and Manson was left wondering what exactly his family member would talk to the authorities about while locked up.

He had to get Bobby out of prison. To ensure his release, Manson wanted to make the authorities think that they had the wrong man behind bars. He enlisted his other family members to commit copycat murders to make sure that the police would let Bobby out. Instead of selecting random people to kill, he sent his family to the home where he believed Terry Melcher lived. Melcher, a record producer, once promised to record Manson but never followed through. As you already know, he no longer lived in the home. It had been was to director Roman Polanski and his pregnant wife Sharon Tate.

His innocence in his crimes is not being disputed. What is being disputed, however, is the way in which he was convicted of his crimes. If we claim to care about one person being wrongfully convicted, then it would be hypocritical of us to not care about Charles Manson.

It's rather interesting and seems to make a whole lot more sense than the Helter Skelter theory which seems rather absurd. There's also a book from the Director/Producer James Buddy Day called Hippie Cult Leader: The Last Words of Charles Manson that goes into more detail. I don't have it so don't know what more info is in there.

Probably could have started another thread but this one was good enough as it's got a decent discussion.

nofspodcast.com...

I didn't find a link to the doc to watch for free but here's one where you can buy/rent it.

www.fandangonow.com...

It's a heck of an intriguing watch. I think I can buy this theory more than the Helter Skelter idea which I've thought for a while doesn't make much sense. A race war and he's going to rise up from the ashes and lead the world? Pretty far-fetched but what do I know.

Tesla said we should know the difference between thinking deeply and thinking clearly because it’s possible to think very deeply and still be quite insane.

a reply to: Guiltyguitarist

So are you buying the Helter Skelter theory or the one in the doc?