UNTITLED

The music of Marilyn Manson does not denote violence, suicide, or the usage of drugs. During the past
several years many tragic events have occurred and the blame has been forced upon Brian Warner, or
popularly known as Marilyn Manson. While he believes the main reasons to be hatred, ignorance and
access to guns, angry parents and other various petitioners continue to believe that he is brainwashing
their kids. In all reality, he is only exercising his free right to express his views on life, society, religion
and himself. Instead of trying to reach out to America’s violent youth, Manson’s opponents decide to
fight him off with their own fascist ways in the hopes of eliminating this all-out rocker.

Children today are being treated like a consumer, instead of reasonable human beings. Where you are
virtually useless if you are not able to vote, which most of these homicidal and suicidal teens are not. As
“Reverend Manson” puts it, “if you feel like you’re worthless, then you’re gonna treat other people like
they’re worthless too.” The CPRC (Crime Prevention Resource Center) of FT. Worth, Texas has reached
a new low in crime prevention. With seminars and frequently distributed pamphlets, this organization is
on a mission to monitor the behavior of “Gothic” or “Death Metal” type kids, who wear black and listen
to Marilyn Manson. Besides the fact that Manson isn’t Goth or Death Metal, doesn’t this seem a little
biased? Parents are reading flyers that say things like, “What to do if your Child is listening to Marilyn
Manson”, with such ideas as searching their lockers, examining their artwork and even tracing what
books they have checked out at the Library! And if, as a result, your child has been listening to Manson
songs the CPRC suggest immediate hospitalization of your child for a psychological evaluation. Despite
the discrimination and generalization aspects of this idea, the creators feel the need to preach such things
as “just listening to the music makes your children violent and rebellious.” Officer Buddy Evans, from
the Arlington Police Department, makes a pretty labeled remark stating, “these kids are on medication,
most of them are mentally instable and most are drug users.” I, for one, am not on medication, I am very
much a mentally stable person and I have been sober for 2 years. These are the people that are in charge
of protecting us.

Some of the reasons for the recent outburst of teen violence are ignorance, for one, hatred, and access to
guns and other weapons. As everyone suspected, after the 1999 shooting of Columbine High School in
Littleton, Colorado, media and others blamed Manson as soon as they could. Manson says “people are
growing up today pissed off because no one’s listening to what they’re saying, so sometimes they have to
say things in an ugly way, and it should be a reminder to listen to what your children are saying.” But of
course this statement was a waste of breath, because after the shooting, “concerned” parents were
posting flyers all around the venues where the band Marilyn Manson was scheduled to play. These flyers
read “Please realize as you descend the stairs and rows to your seats, that you are descending into great
spiritual darkness… Counselors will be available after the show…” Whatever happened to freedom of
religion? And not having someone else’s religion forced upon you? Maybe it died silently along with the
first amendment and equal treatment issues long ago. Mr. Manson explains, “I think that everyone
growing up knows that jocks pretty much ruled the school… the nerds, the throwaways, the day
dreamers, these are the beaten. These are the kids that can’t drink out of the water fountain today. I
don’t see anyone sticking up for their civil rights. And then are we surprised why they’re mad, why they
end up dead?! ‘Why the violence?’-You made them America.” This quote is very similar to the points
that Eric Harris (the second shooter from the Columbine incident) made in his suicide note to the police.
“Your children who have ridiculed me, who have chosen not to accept me… are dead… surely you’ll try
to blame it on my clothes or the music I listen to… this comes as a result of YOUR choices. Parents and
teachers, you fucked up. You have taught these kids to think and act like those who have came before
them, to not accept what is different.” Does this mean Manson brainwashed him? It turns out that Eric
and Dylan weren’t even fans of Marilyn Manson to begin with. Even a conscientious mother and
journalist for FW Weekly agrees, “America is neglectful, scornful and afraid of its own children and
they’re not gonna take it anymore…” She continues, “Maybe parents are the ones who should be
listening to what [Manson] has to say.”

Entertainment is just that. It’s diverting, it’s interesting and it’s a way of doing your own thing in a
forcefully conforming world. The worthy entertainment is usually, intellectually stimulating. Describing
his music, Marilyn Manson says, “There is a message of rebirth and transformation and rather than trying
to fit into other people’s standards-creating your own.” Off the 1992 album release of Portrait of an
American Family, the song “Get Your Gunn” metaphorically backs Manson’s description of questioning
the norm, authority and conformity: “Pseudo-Morals work real well on the talk shows for the weak, but
your selective judgment and good guy badges don’t meant a fuck to me. So I throw a little fit, I slit my
teenage wrists, the most I can learn is in the records that you burn.” The Parents that complain about this
are the ones that can’t get passed what these lyrics say and step into what they mean. It’s actually a little
sarcastic, like a lot of his songs are. Yet they have an obvious representation of the trouble of conforming
to society’s ritualistic and narrow-minded ways.

Children and other people who commit murderous crimes have their own personal problems to begin
with. It is not Manson’s fault that his music happens to be popular with some these kinds of people. We
find music to fit our lifestyle, and opinions we can relate with. Most don’t go out looking for music they
want to change for. Why alter the way you are to partake in something that doesn’t even interest you? If
parents would pay more attention to the way their children would prefer to live, instead of the way their
parents would like them to be, everyone would feel more at home and welcomed to live here. As Brian
“Marilyn Manson” Warner puts it, “We are what you have made us… This is your world in which we
grow, and we will grow to hate you.”

...and they all lived happily ever after!
the end.

-by Alisha Ragland

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