Originally Posted by Matt 26z

Manson has always maintained that he was a musician with groupie friends that acted on their own. The stories about the murders are similar to what would later go on in the hip hop music industry culture. We just don't see modern artists being arrested for the actions of their crew.

If you shift Manson's life forward 30 years and make him a "fringe conspiracy" webmaster instead of a central figure of a musical social circle during the 1960's, he doesn't go to prison. He was essencially an Alex Jones type character long before there was an internet. 1971 didn't know how to process that, so they labeled him as being nuts and a cult leader.

Was he really? We may never know for sure.