Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

In defense of Charles Manson

The web is his liberation

From Manson site. The stated purpose of Access Manson is “to lift the shroud of lies and distortions."
From Manson site. The stated purpose of Access Manson is “to lift the shroud of lies and distortions."

William Carlos Williams wrote, “The pure products of America go crazy.” Charles Manson is a fine example. At the Access Manson Web site (www.atwa.com) one can measure the depths of the killer’s deviant soul. Collected here are numerous Manson interviews, parole-hearing statements, general reflections, and paintings (terrifying abstracts populated by ghoulish figures and sprinkled with swastikas). Together these documents and images paint an intimate portrait of Manson, who is scary not just because he’s insane, but because he articulates his visions of the most elemental human instincts and behaviors unflinchingly.

Not to say that his larger philosophy is at all decipherable — ATWA, which stands for air, trees, water, animals, is a kind of subversive environmentalism based on extreme Darwinism — but smaller pieces of Manson’s writings are exhilarating, downright revolutionary and Dylanesque: “Ain’t nobody there, man. Just the air we breathe. It’s the trees, it’s the water, and the animals. If we don’t save the air, water, trees, and animals we can’t have this love anymore. If our love is real and our love is true and our love is right, (why) do we want to run after someone and put it on somebody for? I don’t want to put anything on anyone that don’t want it. If you don’t want it then fuck you. I’m not gonna run after you or chase you. If you’re here, that’s cool. I’ll serve you. I’ll be your best friend. I’ll never lie to you. I’ll give you all the food I got. I’ll go hungry for you. I’ll work for you. I’ll serve you. I’ll shine you, I’ll comb your hair — anything I can help you with. I’ll look out for everybody that you want me to look out for. I’ll do anything you want me to do for you. I’ll fight for you. I’ll go to war for you. I’m in your will completely and if you can’t love me that’s on you. I’m already in the heart, but I’m not no weak motherfuckin’ punk that's gonna laydown and do what I don’t have to do.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The stated purpose of Access Manson is “to lift the shroud of lies and distortions that have for 27 years been used by self-serving individuals, the mass media, and certain California state departments and offices to cover the reality that is Charles Manson.” George Stimson, the site’s creator, is nothing more than a loser disciple, however; he can barely reiterate Manson’s ideology. In an interview with Richard Metzger, Stimson said, “Well, he [Manson] has said that 50 million people have to go, but I don’t see where that would be enough. As to how they go, we’ve had some discussions on that, but not real specific planning. We haven’t started figuring logistics or anything.” Not exactly a convincing mission statement.

The site’s defense of Manson hinges on one fact: that he was denied the constitutional right to defend himself during his trial. Manson himself made the most convincing plea for justice on this matter. On December 17, 1969, Manson made a formal request in the courtroom of Judge William Keene. “Your Honor,” Manson said, “there is no way I can give up my voice in this matter. If I can’t speak, then our whole thing is done. If I can’t speak in my own defense and converse freely in this courtroom, then it ties my hands behind my back, and if I have no voice, then there is no sense in having a defense. Lawyers play with people, and I am a person and I don’t want to be played with in this matter. The news media has already executed and buried me.... If anyone is hypnotized, the people are being hypnotized by the lies being told them.... There is no attorney in the world who can represent me as a person. I have to do it myself.”

Metzger, who is the editor of Disinformation (www.disinfo.com), gets at Manson’s endurance as a cultural icon: “...Underneath it all, beyond the hype of the most evil man alive,’ Charles Manson has a pivotal role...as a teller of unpleasant truths...a warped witch doctor, a hillbilly exorcist, a white trash shaman.” Again, in pieces Manson’s thought shines — “Your society is so distorted,” he says, “that a sane person would appear like a madman." But he cannot maintain such rhetoric at length; his mind is prone to quick deviation and his crimes remain unexplained.

At his 1997 parole hearing, for instance, Manson mused, “I’ve been raised in the stomach of this beast. And I’ve been living and I’ve been doing whatever I have to do. If I can live in peace I’ll run. If I can get along with people. I’ll get along. I’ll do my best to do everything I can. But when they mess with my music, they fuck with my family, bother my dogs, steal my cows, mistreat my horses — I’ll do whatever I feel is necessary to do whatever I feel is necessary. I believe in George Washington, I believe in the Constitution of George Washington, I believe in the United States Government. I don’t believe in Abraham Lincoln. I never did. I don’t like him at all. That’s the truth.”

We hate Manson because he is sure of himself, because he follows his instincts and is happier than we are. “Prison’s in the mind...can’t you see I’m free?” he asked at his November 19, 1970, sentencing. The Web, according to Manson, Is just another liberating medium: “...The Web is my mind...the Web is my church.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trump names local supporter new Border Czar

Another Brick (Suit) in the Wall
From Manson site. The stated purpose of Access Manson is “to lift the shroud of lies and distortions."
From Manson site. The stated purpose of Access Manson is “to lift the shroud of lies and distortions."

William Carlos Williams wrote, “The pure products of America go crazy.” Charles Manson is a fine example. At the Access Manson Web site (www.atwa.com) one can measure the depths of the killer’s deviant soul. Collected here are numerous Manson interviews, parole-hearing statements, general reflections, and paintings (terrifying abstracts populated by ghoulish figures and sprinkled with swastikas). Together these documents and images paint an intimate portrait of Manson, who is scary not just because he’s insane, but because he articulates his visions of the most elemental human instincts and behaviors unflinchingly.

Not to say that his larger philosophy is at all decipherable — ATWA, which stands for air, trees, water, animals, is a kind of subversive environmentalism based on extreme Darwinism — but smaller pieces of Manson’s writings are exhilarating, downright revolutionary and Dylanesque: “Ain’t nobody there, man. Just the air we breathe. It’s the trees, it’s the water, and the animals. If we don’t save the air, water, trees, and animals we can’t have this love anymore. If our love is real and our love is true and our love is right, (why) do we want to run after someone and put it on somebody for? I don’t want to put anything on anyone that don’t want it. If you don’t want it then fuck you. I’m not gonna run after you or chase you. If you’re here, that’s cool. I’ll serve you. I’ll be your best friend. I’ll never lie to you. I’ll give you all the food I got. I’ll go hungry for you. I’ll work for you. I’ll serve you. I’ll shine you, I’ll comb your hair — anything I can help you with. I’ll look out for everybody that you want me to look out for. I’ll do anything you want me to do for you. I’ll fight for you. I’ll go to war for you. I’m in your will completely and if you can’t love me that’s on you. I’m already in the heart, but I’m not no weak motherfuckin’ punk that's gonna laydown and do what I don’t have to do.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The stated purpose of Access Manson is “to lift the shroud of lies and distortions that have for 27 years been used by self-serving individuals, the mass media, and certain California state departments and offices to cover the reality that is Charles Manson.” George Stimson, the site’s creator, is nothing more than a loser disciple, however; he can barely reiterate Manson’s ideology. In an interview with Richard Metzger, Stimson said, “Well, he [Manson] has said that 50 million people have to go, but I don’t see where that would be enough. As to how they go, we’ve had some discussions on that, but not real specific planning. We haven’t started figuring logistics or anything.” Not exactly a convincing mission statement.

The site’s defense of Manson hinges on one fact: that he was denied the constitutional right to defend himself during his trial. Manson himself made the most convincing plea for justice on this matter. On December 17, 1969, Manson made a formal request in the courtroom of Judge William Keene. “Your Honor,” Manson said, “there is no way I can give up my voice in this matter. If I can’t speak, then our whole thing is done. If I can’t speak in my own defense and converse freely in this courtroom, then it ties my hands behind my back, and if I have no voice, then there is no sense in having a defense. Lawyers play with people, and I am a person and I don’t want to be played with in this matter. The news media has already executed and buried me.... If anyone is hypnotized, the people are being hypnotized by the lies being told them.... There is no attorney in the world who can represent me as a person. I have to do it myself.”

Metzger, who is the editor of Disinformation (www.disinfo.com), gets at Manson’s endurance as a cultural icon: “...Underneath it all, beyond the hype of the most evil man alive,’ Charles Manson has a pivotal role...as a teller of unpleasant truths...a warped witch doctor, a hillbilly exorcist, a white trash shaman.” Again, in pieces Manson’s thought shines — “Your society is so distorted,” he says, “that a sane person would appear like a madman." But he cannot maintain such rhetoric at length; his mind is prone to quick deviation and his crimes remain unexplained.

At his 1997 parole hearing, for instance, Manson mused, “I’ve been raised in the stomach of this beast. And I’ve been living and I’ve been doing whatever I have to do. If I can live in peace I’ll run. If I can get along with people. I’ll get along. I’ll do my best to do everything I can. But when they mess with my music, they fuck with my family, bother my dogs, steal my cows, mistreat my horses — I’ll do whatever I feel is necessary to do whatever I feel is necessary. I believe in George Washington, I believe in the Constitution of George Washington, I believe in the United States Government. I don’t believe in Abraham Lincoln. I never did. I don’t like him at all. That’s the truth.”

We hate Manson because he is sure of himself, because he follows his instincts and is happier than we are. “Prison’s in the mind...can’t you see I’m free?” he asked at his November 19, 1970, sentencing. The Web, according to Manson, Is just another liberating medium: “...The Web is my mind...the Web is my church.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Next Article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader