Tuesday Newsday – 40th Anniversary of the Manson murders

Picture of Manson released August 2009

That’s right.  40 years ago this week, a relatively unknown hippie and his gang began a killing spree that would change the understanding of murder in America, and throughout the world.  Seven people were dead by the end of it all.  But it was not the number of bodies that troubled the police and eventually the rest of society.  It was the manner in which they were killed.  I will let you Google the details if you would like, but the fact that a woman who was 8 months pregnant was killed with a knife is a enough to make me realize that this was an extremely heinous crime.

The sad part about a crime spree, where several events or several victims are linked by one criminal, is that the criminal is often the one most remembered.  I can’t tell you any of the victims in Milwaukee, but I know that they were killed by Jeffrey Dahmer.  You have probably experienced the same thing.  What is interesting about Charles Manson, is that he did not kill anyone, personally.  He just manipulated others into action.  He was the mastermind.  In his words, as seen in the short video below, he “influenced” the people at that ranch.

Manson takes responsibility for the murders, but in a different part of the interview (not shown) he tries to explain that the perpetrators of the murders are also responsible.  In this web site’s efforts to try to understand what it means to be human, I often look at our actions, and then try to trace back the cause.  This often leads me to question responsibility, which often seems to be a paradox of being everyone’s fault and no one’s fault, in most cases.  In this case, it’s hard to believe that anyone would say that the victims were at fault for what happened to them.

Taking personal responsibility has been and continues to be an integral part of my recent personal renaissance.  I would like to use this as an opportunity to discuss what the education of The Pacific Institute does NOT endorse regarding the results of our lives.  Understanding our thought patterns better will absolutely help us to understand our behavior patterns and habits better.  Believing that everything is out of our control leads to a victim mentality, which is something that I have struggled with throughout my life.  It’s the dark, ugly side of the destiny coin, if you choose to flip it.  But, being a victim is very legitimate in the course of life, with this being an extreme, if not obvious case.

So, it is not a law (looking at you, fans of “The Secret”) as much as it is a principle.  Generally speaking, we move towards and become like, that which we think about.  But not in all cases.

It is concerning to me how much influence Charles Manson had on his followers that eventually led them to take human life in such a gruesome way.  Its even more concerning to me how much he has been revered and celebrated over the last 40 years.  Even Paul from “The Wonder Years” ended up starting a band combining his name with Marilyn Monroe (Just kidding.  I know that is an urban legend.).  It seems that our minds can’t always differentiate between thoughts that are beneficial for us and ones that will ultimately harm us or others.

Whatever it was that Charles Manson was thinking about before that night, it finally manifested itself that night in August, 1969.  It makes me think of the families of the victims who must still wince every time his name is read or spoken, with no mention of their loved ones.  Gary Hinman, Sharon Tate-Polanski, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski, Steven Parent, Leno LaBianca, and Rosemary LaBianca… rest in peace.