I just finished reading the book Helter Skelter. For those unfamiliar, it's the story of Charles Manson and his merry gang of murderers. I knew the basic overview of what Manson and his cult did but I had no idea just how insane the whole thing really was. It went against every rule of humanity that we've ever "learned." I had yet to be born when the trial took place.
I guess the most overwhelming part of the story isn't that someone committed murder, it's that Manson could amass a dozen (and more after his arrest) teenagers and young-adults, mostly female, to do anything he asked - including murder in the most gruesome of ways. At the age of thirty Manson had already spent a majority of his life behind bars. He was barely literate, and wasn't a terribly attractive man. How did he do it? It was Hitleresque.
I think I agree with the opinion of the author, who was the prosecuting attorney in the trial(s), that it was partly a result of social circumstance. The Vietnam War was a disaster, the Hippie era had accomplished the important goal (certainly at the time) of revolting against the previous societal norms and political power play...but eventually, and at the time of Manson's strongest influence, had spun a bit out of control, lost its focus, and, possibly, fell into a state of ambivalence - everything it previously had fought against. History has recorded the Manson guilty verdict as the official end of the 60's era.
There was a generation of people lost and wandering - searching for something, anything that felt more real than the disillusioned reality that had taken over the 60's. The ingredients were right for someone like Manson to be taken seriously. I bring this up because I feel like we aren't that far off, as a new global society, from another big revolution by a generation. I feel like the young people of today are in that ambivalent rut and it's only a matter of time and circumstance that makes them truly care...makes them begin to search. My hope is that a movement comes along that lurches society in a corrective direction...and not one that sets someone like Manson on a pedestal. My guess is that one rarely happens without the other.
When you are young and surrounded by enough of the world's comforts, it's tough to be outraged. Eventually, something happens that can override years of turning the other cheek. I can't help but imagine that we are getting closer to that inevitability each day. Does anyone agree or does this just sound like a conspiracy theory?
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2 comments:
Oh, I agree.
Watch the news about Pakistan more often. You'd know what outrage is :)
But then again, I've had too many of life's comforts to be outraged beyond lying on my couch, watching the news and saying "oh my God, thats horrible"...you need a lot of pain before you can actually do something about trying to heal it.
Er...am I making sense?
I agree but I also think that there is a tension that can build in a society and that people (young people in particular) can feed off that tension to revolt against certain things. In some cases I'm not sure the ENTIRE group has to wholeheartedly believe in the cause. There can just be this feeling that things have to change.
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