Althouse: "I’m special."

April 12, 2012

"I’m special."

"I’m not like the average inmate... I have spent my life in prison. I have put five people in the grave. I am a very dangerous man."

Everyone thinks they're special.

Song lyric: I wish I was special... What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here.

21 comments:

Moose said...: Umm, I think we could safely say Manson is special.

Yup.; 4/12/12, 10:22 AM
Pastafarian said...: What a waste of time, food, electricity, and prison fatigues, to have kept that man alive all these years.; 4/12/12, 10:22 AM
Wince said...: ...with the hope of starting an apocalyptic race war dubbed Helter Skelter.

Sounds like the Obama reelection playbook and economic plan.; 4/12/12, 10:31 AM
bagoh20 said...: Half a century of life supported entirely by us in a fashion that was better than many poor, handicapped, or mentally deficient have lived in our society who are entirely innocent of ever hurting anyone. All that time, he read, wrote, made music, watched media, talked to people, had relationships, and enjoyed a celebrity status with the fame and attention he loved. He never had to worry about a job or paycheck, having food, clothing or shelter, medical care, or paying taxes.

We paid for and provided all this at great expense for him, while his victims lie in the grave or rot in prison. This is the injustice of life in prison over the death penalty. It's simply immoral.; 4/12/12, 10:33 AM
YoungHegelian said...: How crazy do you have to be to think "Helter Skelter" was about starting a race war?

Everybody knows it's "Martha My Dear" that's about starting race war.; 4/12/12, 10:35 AM
MadisonMan said...: Isn't I'm Special an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem?

(goes to look)

Oops. (laugh). I was remembering I'm Nobody by Emily Dickinson.

Well, if she were alive today, in today's culture, she would've written

I'm special
How about you?
Are you somebody special
Too?; 4/12/12, 10:36 AM
Chef Mojo said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/12/12, 10:44 AM
Chef Mojo said...: Hopefully, this is the last time he comes up for parole.

I gotta say, that swastika between his eyes just looks silly in his old age. I take great comfort at knowing this self-centered piece of shit will die in prison. Hopefully, they'll cremate him and scatter the ashes in the nearest drainage ditch.; 4/12/12, 10:45 AM
SteveR said...: I'mm Cookoo for Cocoa Puffs; 4/12/12, 10:45 AM
Tibore said...: I don't give a flying f*** about special. If there's a person who epitomizes the "Deserves-To-Be-Locked-Up-For-Life" judgement, it's Manson. No if's, and's, or but's about it.; 4/12/12, 10:49 AM
Wince said...: YoungHegelian said...
Everybody knows it's "Martha My Dear" that's about starting race war.

Actually, McCartney later showed Manson's take on "Blackbird" wasn't entirely off.

...I actually just remembered why I'd written "Blackbird", you know, that I'd been, I was in Scotland playing on my guitar, and I remembered this whole idea of "you were only waiting for this moment to arise" was about, you know, the black people's struggle in the southern states, and I was using the symbolism of a blackbird. It's not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it's a bit more symbolic.; 4/12/12, 10:51 AM
Pastafarian said...: leslyn: "But it's often more expensive to put someone on death row and execute him."

That depends on how many appeals they're allowed, and how long they're allowed to drag a trial on and on. I think they need to use common sense in these things; when someone is slam-dunk guilty of heinous crimes, I don't see the point in taking more than a few days for trial and execution.

In fact, it seems cruel to drag things out for months, let alone years, not just to the victims' survivors, but to the wretched accused.

Even the big production they make of execution seems wasteful and...what's the word? Pretentious? They make it into a grand ceremony, with a big window for a gallery of witnesses, and a complicated procedure with various plungers releasing different poisons into the veins.

Try and convict in a couple of days; sentence the next day; execute the next morning by marching him out into the courtyard and putting one round in the back of his head.

Cost: About 30 billable hours for the judge, bailiff, stenographer (do they still use those?), a couple of prosecuting and a couple of defense attorneys; and $0.50 for one round of .45 ACP.; 4/12/12, 10:58 AM
Dan in Philly said...: Remember Robert Stoud? Unless you saw the movie, you probably don't, and he was a more famous inmate than Manson. Manson is a pretty miserable man and he's lived a pretty miserable life, it does not suprise me he must delude himself to get through the day.; 4/12/12, 11:10 AM
Roman said...: My idea of special and Charles Manson would be a Smith and Wesson 38 Special, placed where the swastika is on his face.; 4/12/12, 11:16 AM
Shawn Levasseur said...: Thank you for the Radiohead reference.

If any song is going to be stuck in my head all day, I much prefer it be that one.

And yes, that is one creepy, weirdo. Narcissistic too.

Charlie certainly has fun with any an all press attention he gets. I guess the press comes to him looking for a freak show, and he doesn't disappoint.; 4/12/12, 11:20 AM
Rusty said...: Yeah. Well. Charley. Everybody on the inmate bus is special.; 4/12/12, 11:38 AM
edutcher said...: Heydrich was special, too.

Same thing should have happened to Charlie.; 4/12/12, 11:39 AM
ndspinelli said...: "I'm special..so special..I got to have some of your affection,,give it to me."

I love folks like Leslyn who have only a tepid no death penalty belief. I worked in a maximum security Federal prison Leslyn. There are no choir boys in there. I don't believe in the death penalty and I KNEW..up close and personal, these sociopaths. Maybe you have the wisdom of Thomas Acquinas, Augustine, and Leslyn.; 4/12/12, 12:16 PM
Amartel said...: Blah blah blah blah me.
Not special. The only thing "special" about the life of manson was that he happened to drop briefly out of the prison/jail system where he spent most of his life at a time when
delusional, unmoored, sex-obsessed, braindead twits gathered together in large numbers.
(Today we call this "college.")
Put a bullseye over the swastika and pull the trigger. Barring that, die in prison of a wretched, painful, wasting disease that isn't discovered until "too late."; 4/12/12, 12:50 PM
Indigo Red said...: I don't think I'm special. However, if everyone thinks they're special, thinking myself not special would make me special. Funny how the mind can rationalize anything.; 4/12/12, 5:14 PM
wyo sis said...: Yeah, he's "special" the way a dog turd is "special."; 4/12/12, 9:45 PM