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- Messiah or Madman?
Charles Manson was capable of articulation and understanding.
Yet, his attitudes revealed stark contradictions - he
respected nature but thought nothing of human life. Charles
Manson is unique among mass murderers. There have been
many such killers in the United States. but none like
Manson for Manson murdered by proxy.
The power of his personality made others wanl to do his
killing for him. But how could this happen? Interviews
with Manson himself and with people who knew or followed
him. bring out very different pictures. To some, he is
a racist, misogynist, ill-educated bigot, to others he
is the most dangerous man alive: or even God or the Devil.
To himself, he is a small-time pimp and thief. And yet.
something in his personality allowed Manson to dominate
and manipulate a large group of people. Any study of Manson
and Ins personality yields two overriding images.
One is of the chameleon, the other is the dog. Manson
frequently characterized himself as a mirror to humanity,
a reflection of the sickness inherent in the society of
his time, family members attest that he was a changeling,
he could be whatever the other people wanted him to be.
he could reflect their views.
For example, in conversation with Vincent Bugliosi. the
prosecuting attorney, he could be rational and quick willed
- bringing out his prison lawyer skills. Yet Bugliosi
could see the mesmerizing effect Manson had on Lynette
Fromme and Sandra Good.
Many people, including himself, describe Manson as the
man with a thousand masks, ready to be whatever ingratiated
him with companions, lor a physically small man i Manson
is 5ft 2in who spent half his life in prison, the ability
to agree with all men is obviously a powerful survival
strategy.
When it is coupled with the mind control techniques of
scientology. and fuelled by a paranoid anger at the world,
the result is a powerful persona indeed. The linage of
Manson as a dog. and all that that entails, is his favourite
metaphor for himself.
Loyal friend, rejected puppy-coyote pariah are all repeated
Manson images. At the same time, when he came across other
dominant males the biker gangs Juan Flynn who had survived
Vietnam - Manson felt it necessary to establish his position
by boasting of the killing he had done.
Like an unsocialized dog. Manson led on other's fear.
People who showed fear were punished, assigned to a lowly
position in the pack hierarchy. People who could outstare
or out threaten, or showed that they were not frightened
were left alone, or fawned upon.
Even his strategies were dog-like. In contrast to the
communal values he talked about, there was no doubt that
Manson had to be leader of the pack, and everyone did
what he said. Manson emerged in the 1960s when authority
was being questioned on all levels, and young people were
looking for an alternative way to live.
He offered a way. and certainly inspired. great love and
loyalty in many of his followers. Even when Linda Kasabian
was testifying against him. she still claimed that she
loved him. Manson did not force people to kill for him.
He made it possible for those with a mind to murder to
allow themselves to do it. Has the myth outgrown the man?
Prison psychologists diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic.
There is still no satisfactory explanation as to how he
turned into "the most dangerous man in the world".
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