home esoterica Original binnallofamerica.com Audio the United States of Esoterica merchandise contact

Lesley

Grey Matter

Lesley is also a columnist for UFO Magazine. Check it out !

Bookmark and Share

8.24.10

Sometimes, There isn't a Good Explanation

I recently posted a photo and link to Adam Gorightly and Shamus McFarland's new book "A Who's Who of the Manson Family." The post received two comments, both negative.

PurrlGurrl said: Yeah . . . everybody's gotta make a living, but . . . the Manson Family . . . really?

Bruce Duensing said: I met the gentleman in question when he was in Denver with the usual entourage sitting in the corner of a bus station, and later encountered Ms "Squeaky" in California.These were not cute pop culture examples of existential irony. These were active psychopaths. They cut a child out of a woman with a butcher knife, That someone would put a cover on a book with a subject matter like this makes my stomach turn in revulsion. I wouldn't take it if it was given to me.

Of course, I totally understand both of those responses. The Manson Family committed horrible crimes and it may seem to be glorifying them by having a book cover that features them. I know Adam and I know that that was not his intent, but I could see how others could feel that way.

To be repelled by such is not a bad thing, quite the opposite.

That being said, many horrible things that have occurred throughout history are written about and studied, such as the crusades, the Inquisition, genocide, wars and on and on. Actually, most of history is pretty damn bloody. How many books and documentaries are there about Hilter? Some may think that Manson isn't important to history, but really he and his little family put one of the final coffin nails into an era. The story is probably not important on the level of WWII, but there are nowhere near as many dead bodies either.

Aside from that, I think that many of us, even if we won't admit it (and sometimes I don't want to admit it) find ourselves interested in such topics. Not because we think they are cool, but because we feel we need an explanation of why people would act that way, other than that they were just bad or evil. Some of these people came from nice families and homes, they could have been a next door neighbor or the nice seeming girl that works at deli. Oh, we can blame it on there being some sort of mental problems below the surface, but that explanation doesn't seem quite adequate either. In fact, there will probably never be an explanation that is adequate, but we still feel like we must try to come up with one.

As far as Manson himself, having watched interviews with him and read interviews and stories, I can never quite decide if he is totally bonkers or if it is all a show put on to make it seem like he is. Some blame a life of abuse as the reason for the way he turned out, but we all know there are people that have had equally horrible lives and haven't ended up being murderers. So again, we are always looking for some explanation that we will probably never get.

There just isn't a good explanation for everything, is there? The lack of explanation and the mystery is also what draws most of us to the esoteric and it is also what makes certain horrible crimes, like the ones the Manson family committed, somehow fit into the realm of the esoteric.

  • Check out Lesley's Blog HERE

    As well as her Beyond the Dial blog