The strange connection of Charlie Manson and Dale Carnegie
The Helter Skelter: An American Myth miniseries was really good. There was lots of great pictures, audio clips, and interviews with people actually present or involved in the different phases of his life.
The most interesting episodes had to be the middle ones that talked about the different pieces that combined to make Manson who he was. His early life was filled with difficult family conditions common to that time. He started with early involvement in petty crimes (especially stealing cars). By all accounts, he was not a smart criminal – he was continually caught from dumb mistakes and was in and out of very rough prisons.
Some of his character was formed during those prison years. He reported being sexually assaulted in prison, and learned that by acting really crazy, he could often avoid assault. People avoided him when he acted truly crazy – and he would use that all his life. He even called it being ‘Crazy Charlie’.
His next major development came from early prison rehabilitation efforts that led him to taking prison classes. He encountered Scientology courses and methods, but really latched on to a course on Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. A lot of analysts have noted he regularly took methods right out of Carnegie’s book to build up his charismatic/mystic persona. If you listen to interviews with him, you’ll inevitably hear him using almost every single Carnegie method – just in twisted and extreme ways to get whatever he wants or exude a persona he wants to create.
He tried to be a pimp – but failed at that because he couldn’t keep his women long enough to live the lifestyle he wanted. He did, however, learn how to spot vulnerable women. Female members of his ‘Family’ said he had an uncanny way of immediately knowing what their weaknesses were and what they were looking for. He would woo them by pretending to be those people and saying what they wanted to hear – using more Carnegie methods. He discovered techniques of isolation and charm that would woo vulnerable, confused, and impressionable young women to doing everything he wanted by preaching free love. Even non-Family members noticed and were amazed at his control over the women in his group.
After many stints in prison, he came out during the counter-cultural years. His heavy fundamentalist upbringing meant he could latch on to the rhetorical way of speaking used by many bay area hippie gurus. Many point out his interviews/talks showed he was no philosopher and certainly didn’t speak nearly as well as the gurus in the hippie groups of California. But he picked up the lingo and combined it with the his charismatic persona in a way that worked well. This combined with being able to spot vulnerable young girls was a deadly combo.
His genuine interest in music connected with the hippie movement and helped woo his followers as well. He wasn’t talentless. He had a unique musical style that really meshed with the counter-cultural sound. His lyrics were keyed to the vulnerabilities of his hippie seeking family members. He did do to some recording sessions – and those recordings are still around. His lack of polish, and the inclusion of family members with no musical talent kept those sessions from going anywhere. But his persona and proximity got him connections with big musical hitters in the Hollywood area. He stayed with the Beach Boys who did steal and modify one of his songs.
He then latched on to anti-war and especially race riots that were using very apocalyptic language. We forget people were publically calling for assassination of whites and blacks. There was a real sense of impending doom as riots spread across the country. This feeling of coming apocalypse perfectly fed into language he learned from his Fundamentalist upbringing.
Yet it was all starting to fall apart. As he became convinced of coming race war – something he called helter skelter. He was assured black people would rise up and kill whites and the destruction of cities – so he decided that starting to kill people would set it off and only he and his followers would survive by living out in the desert. He dragged his family into the desert. He paired up with armed biker gangs, taught his family about using weapons, started breaking into people’s houses to move things and eat their food at first, and turned into drug dealing to make money. Then they turned to actual murders and Mason started talking about doing the devil’s work during the killings. He was teaching his family of love to be killers. His personality became harsh, angry, and violent. He started abusing the women and threatening their lives – even while having sex with them. But by then, it was largely too late for them to get out easily. They had already alienated themselves from family, friends, and everyone else. Their little cultic family was all they had. A few finally escaped and started talking.
While the members of the family were on trial and exuding innocence, singing outside the courthouse, and claiming to be innocent victims being railroaded by an unjust modern system. But behind the scenes they were issuing daily death threats. They killed one of the former attorneys and tried to kill one of the members of the family that was going to testify. They tried to track down and frighten people associated with the case by showing up at their homes.
After conviction, they turned 180 degrees to save Manson. They described in horrific detail about how they killed each of their victims – stories that were completely incongruous to the weeks of smiling faces, denials, and talk of peace. These were some of the most cold blooded killings on record. Happily chasing down and stabbing people up to 50 times until dead – even while begging for their lives and unborn child. It left everyone shaken that kids preaching love and acceptance were capable of such utter butchery and inhumanity.
Manson was a product of both his upbringing and perfect intersection with the cultural movements of his time. In another time or place, he likely would have been dismissed as a low-grade criminal crank.
The series also does a great job of pulling the ‘mystical’ aura off Manson. Most damning of all was that they interviewed his former followers who all confirm what he did. His own followers later realized and say clearly he was just exceptionally good at emotional manipulation and using drugs and brainwashing/isolation techniques under the lingo and trappings of the counter-culture movement. A movement itself that was already based on shakey philosophical grounds that later collapsed.
Manson was not smart nor had mystical powers. It shows how blind idealism can very much be subverted and used to control you – especially with those already alienated from society or a grounding in any values. Some say that Steve Jobs did some of these same sorts of things – using idealism and crafted charisma to charm. Even Steve Jobs acknowledges he adopted certain affectations such as staring at people uncomfortably and other techniques.
