Mar 19, 2009

Ol' Crazy Eyes, A.K.A. Charles Manson


The California penal system regularly photographs it's inmate population to update it's records. This afforded another opportunity to see what Charles Manson looks like these days. Here is the wire copy released by the Associated Press, complete with bullshit.

LOS ANGELES — California corrections officials have released a new photograph of convicted mass murderer Charles Manson, who is now bald with a thick gray beard.
The photo of the 74-year-old Manson was taken Wednesday as part of a routine update of files on inmates at Corcoran State Prison, where he is serving a life sentence for conspiring to murder seven people, said Seth Unger, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The cult leader was first sentenced to death for the 1969 murders of movie star Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and three others stabbed and shot to death at Tate's home in Los Angeles. The next night, two others were stabbed to death at their homes.
The image — complete with a swastika carved into Manson's forehead — was released to the Los Angeles Times because the newspaper requested a copy the next time it was taken. - ( AP )

Let's take a closer look at this bullshit. First, the claim that Charles Manson is a "convicted mass murderer." That is an outright lie. Read through all the reports and all the stories about this tragic case and you will never find any mention of Charles Manson actually killing anyone. Of course, that does not deter the dissemination of falsehoods. Later in the press release it is stated correctly that Manson was convicted of "conspiracy to murder." Planning a murder is definitely a crime, but it does not qualify anyone as a mass murderer. Notice the erroneous aside describing the swastika he has on his forehead, which is obviously a prison tattoo, and not "carved into his forehead." Of course it sounds much scarier and evil to say it is "carved."
Much has been said and written about Charles Manson's horrible upbringing, ranging from sadistic beatings as a young child, to brutal rapes in the juvenile detention system, sometimes overseen by the guards for their "entertainment." It is an amazing thing that Charles Manson did not actually go out himself and kill dozens. He ended up becoming the face of terror, the name and face used by the media and the government to scare the shit out of the populace, and to truly destroy and undermine the counter-culture at the time. Strange how obsessed the USA became with this man and his Family's murders, when the United States was busy killing hundreds of thousands in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, etc.
Charles Manson is now 74 years old and will spend the rest of his days in the same cell he has been in for the last 40 years. He is a frail, elderly, insane man, yet the fear-mongering around him continues. Is he the United States' official boogey-man?

Here is some Manson crazy inspired tunage.

SONIC YOUTH - Death Valley '69

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