by When new photos of Charles Manson were released to the press last week, they quickly became one of the most popular items being searched online.
New mugshots of the 77-year-old prisoner were taken recently, just before his parole hearing scheduled for next week (his 12th), and requested by CNN for release.
My question is WHY are his new photos so popular? The last pics of him were
taken just three years ago. There have been no real updates on the case, no recent developments to warrant a top news story. The clamor for the new pics is simply another example of the public’s morbid fascination with the man who has transcended to the level of “epitome of evil.”
During the summer of 1969, members of Manson’s hippie commune, calling themselves “The Family,” committed a series of murders in the Los Angeles area, including the killing of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and her unborn child. The high profile victims, the bizarre lifestyle and philosophy of the cult and its leader, and the public’s obsession with finding a rational motive for the murders set alight a fire of controversy and publicity that has yet to be extinguished.
Over the course of the last 40-plus years, Manson has become an iconic cult figure, forever fixed and indelible in the consciousness of the American psyche. Long after memories of Jim Jones, John Wayne Gacy, and the BTK killer fade, you will be hard pressed to find anyone over the age of 10 or 12 who does not know the name Charles Manson. Thanks to a tremendous amount of publicity during and after the trials of his cult, Manson quickly transcended beyond just another cult leader or murderer, and just the utterance of his name sent chills across not only California, but the country and, in fact, the world.
One of his former followers, Catherine Share, accurately described the media’s portrayal of Manson as “everyone’s bogeyman; a devil of the worst kind.” For decades, that analysis has been frighteningly accurate, as the myth quickly outgrew the man…and Manson, a charismatic con man, has eaten up the attention and mythos.
The media is not the only guilty culprit in keeping Manson a hot topic and giving him more attention than he deserves. Former Family prosecutor Steven Kay and current Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Attorney Patrick Sequeira have played upon irrational fears during every parole hearing held for any of the former members, distorting facts of the case and portraying the Family as a still-united group who would immediately go on a killing spree should any of those still in prison ever be released.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Should Manson remain behind bars? Definitely. Considering the carnage, destruction of life and the loss of innocence of an entire nation that he instigated, he should never again see freedom. But the man is never going to be paroled…is it really necessary for him to continue to be a top news story every few months?
