FabianFinalEssay

IS MARILYN MANSON AFFECTING PEOPLE'S YOUNG MINDS?

Important note from the author:

This is an essay that will analyze the controversy that has caused this rock band named Marilyn Manson (MM). You'll have to read a lot of information (that I'll provide for you, and that I have already revised) about this band in order to understand the view point of both sides, the first one that dislikes Marilyn Manson, and the second one, that likes him very much.

I want to advise you about the content that you are going to read is for analyzing purposes only. We will find a lot of disagreement and fascination on both sides, in one side, fascination for Christ and disapprove of the guy that has called himself the Antichrist. On the other side, people who thinks just the opposite, they love Manson and disapprove Christ.

I have lready been part of both sides, and I got very involved on each one. I know what we are going to deal with, so please when reading this essay, follow my instructions. I want all the people that read this essay to be able to view both perspectives and get to a new place. It has never been my intention to leave any one of you on the way back. Please read this objectively and be careful.

We are going to take a long tour though the waves of Christianity and Satanism. We are going to explore the Nihilism, the Nietzche philosophy. We are going to revise the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, and we are going to hear what fans and opponents have to say about this topic. My intention is to analyze very objectively what both sides have to say, and to be able to criticize both.

Honestly

Fabian Saavedra

Introduction:

Music is in the middle of a big controversy because there's a lot of people and organizations that are talking about regulating the explicit material in music. But on the other hand, there's people who say that it is all part of living on a free country (USA) where they can express the way they want, about any subject they want.

Specifically, I'm going to analyze the case of a rock band called Marilyn Manson. Marilyn Manson is a band native from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They have always been a controversial band, since it was formed in 1989. The band wanted that their name explained the whole concept of the band, so they decided to go for a two word name. The first word should be of an important person in the media, a diva for example, and who could be better than Marilyn Monroe? The second word should be very powerful, evil, cruel and they decided for an important serial killer, evidently they picked: Charles Manson. So they just combined the words, and the result was impressive: "Marilyn Manson". To view more history about the band, click on the following links:

http://www.wickedland.com/manson/

http://www.spookhouse.net/history.htm

http://www.freenet.carleton.ca/~cd100/chorno.htm

Their music is an industrial, heavy rock, liked by lots of people, but also disliked my most of them. But his music is not the problem, after all, music is just about sounds, chords and notes that you may like or dislike. I want you to understand that this essay is not in favor or against music, we are not analyzing that. What we are going to focus on, will be on the message that Manson is sending to us, the philosophy that he's screaming, and what his fans and opponents have to say about it. That takes us to the principal question of this essay: Is Marilyn Manson affecting poeple's young minds?

There are several groups of people that agree with the position that Marilyn Manson affects our minds, but there are different arguments: the first one says that it isn't Manson but his fans what is the big problem, because they are the ones that cause all the riots. There's another position from the Christians that says that Manson is affecting our kids, because he's evil and because he works for Satan, and that is taking away all our children from the love of Christ. And there's a third position from the American Family Association and supported by several members of the US Congress and explains that Manson's behavior and message is influencing our youth very badly, and that they should stop him by the censorship or something.

There are several groups of people that disagree with the position that Marilyn Manson affects our minds, but there are different arguments: the first one says that Manson is just a musician that has the courage to express what he believes, even he doesn't agree with everyone else. The second one is from a fan and he explains us the Manson message (basically the Nihilism) he says that he have to kill ourselves in a mental way, by killing all our rules, prejudices, traumas, believes, religions, etc., and construct a whole new way of thinking, understanding that we are our only gods, and that no one is there to tell us what to do with our lives. The last argument in favor of Manson says that we are rational human beings that can think for ourselves, and that we know what is good or bad for us.

In the following paragraphs, we are going to analyze these positions in favor and against Marilyn Manson one by one.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST MANSON

Christians against Manson:

The first reason of why Marilyn Manson is affecting people's young minds is expressed by the Christian Church. The Christian Church is in charge of a great movement against Marilyn Manson in the United States. They stand for the position that Marilyn Manson works for Satan and is an evil human being, which is trying to seduce and corrupt our youth. They say that as we live in a very difficult world. A world in which the Lord is being disobeyed in every corner, where the Bible is not being followed and is not even red.

They say that this is the world in which their kids are growing, a place in which they face to many temptations of the devil, a place where they are very far from the word of the Lord. This is a very confusing world for them because they don't know who can they trust, and can give them love. They look for attention and love in the wrong places, like in the streets, in their rock music idols, in the Internet, etc. And they don't realize that the only way they can find love is by approaching to God. Our kids are confused, and there's people out there that want to corrupt them by selling them false expectatives and by telling them lies full of blasphemy. This is what Marilyn Manson is doing, he's corrupting our children. He's aparting them from us and in consequence, he's aparting them from Jesus. He's filling their brains with satanic ideas, and he's just promoting wrong values. Marilyn Manson is destroying our youth.

In order to understand what Manson represents, we need to know more about him. Manson's real name is Brian Warner. When he was young, he studied in a Christian school where had many good influences. However, he didn't like anything in that school and he decided to quit it. He became a very difficult teenager. He committed plenty of illegal actions, he started consuming drugs, and he started writing depressive poetry and horror stories. As they analyze him, they figured out that since he was a teenager, he had a very sad and depressive view of the world.

Then he started looking for new ways to express his believes, like reading loud in malls and streets, but he wasn't receiving enough attention from the public. He wanted that the world listened what he had to say, and he found out that music provided a very big market of possibilities, which he could use to express his believes. He has expressed all this, and the way he started with music bands in many different interviews. This is also mentioned in his autobiography named "The long hard road out of hell".

After a while, he started a rock band with his friends. He started writing very explicit songs that contained topics like sex, rape, suicide, murder, drugs, etc. He started obtaining fame in Florida and a time later, he signed with a music company and recorded his first record "Portrait of an American family". That was the moment in which he got heard for the first time by plenty of Americans, and started promoting his evil message. It's also very important to know that by this time, Brian Warner had many personal encounters with the Satanic Church leader, Anton La Vey. Actually, he was named with the title of "Reverend" of the Satanic Church.

That was the moment in which he started to fight against Christianity and to promote his message of hate and destruction. Then, he recorded two more albums, "Smells like children" and "Anti Christ Superstar". At this point, would be very good for you to take a look to his lyrics and see for yourself what the Christians are talking about. "We reluctantly present the censored files to enlighten you on the demonic character of the man/group Marilyn Manson. Please proceed, only if you're prepared to confront Satan himself." (http://www.cfnweb.com/manson/). This is a fragment that I obtained from a Christian site in which they show Manson's lyrics.

Later, he tried to make Christians believe that he had changed and that he had a reencounter with God by changing his image. He even went to live to Hollywood and recorded a new record named "Mechanical Animals". In this album, I have to admit that his image and music changed, however his message was still the same and his lyrics talked about the same issues. "After dispelling the rumors, his anti Christian message remained. He was promoting self worship, drugs, sex, disrespect, and some say suicide, to an audience of vulnerable kids as young as 12 as under." (http://www.cfnweb.com/manson/) (When the page opens, look for a spinning image and click it to view this document) Just to name an example, there's one song named: "I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like me", obviously a song promoting the drug consumption and the soul corruption.

Manson has made several acts of blasphemy. For example, he has ripped the sheets of a Bible, and has thrown the pieces of it to his audience in his live performances. "The rest of the concert was filled with blasphemous acts such as: tearing a Bible in half and yelling out that we shall not be suppressed by the fasciousness of Christianism any longer." (http://www.waoy.com/gulfcoastafa/manson/teenrpt.htm) This quotation clearly shows the way he acts in his concerts, and the kind of influence that he is for the youth.

Chistians say their kids are hearing this guy everyday. They memorize all his words, lyrics and messages, and they are being corrupt. That's why they are trying to stop this campaign of evil that Marilyn Manson is making. They say they have to save their kids from the Satan claws and they have to make an effort to take them back to the Christian community in order to save their souls.

In lots of interviews Manson has said that he is his own god and that he just obeys to himself. "Satan, through Marilyn Manson, is devouring our young people by convincing them it's better to love themselves (claiming no one else loves them), rather than love and trust God. We can defeat Satan with God's help, but we must do it God's way, by opening ourselves to be used by Him. Read the Bible and learn how God expects us to act and respond to rebellion." (http://www.cfnweb.com/manson/wcid.htm). You can see that Chistians want the youth to stop hearing Manson and to start reading the Bible because they say that that is the only place where they will really find love.

Families and Government against Manson:

The second reason of why Manson is affecting young people's minds is because a lot of American Families are very worried about the social influence that Marilyn Manson is having over their children. They say that his behavior is not morally acceptable. This is the biggest problem that this group of people has against Manson, the moral. This is because there's a whole idea of how a society has to be and how each member has to act, in order to live in harmony, but when someone tries to be different, that someone do not fit in this society.

Manson has a lot of fans that are kids that like the way he sings and writes, but they also like the way he speaks and acts. They have an idol and they like imitating him, and when they do it, they do not fit in the society too. That's why they need to stop Marilyn Manson, or at least to regulate his behavior and lyrics.

This group has to take care of the things that their children are hearing. Just as they don't like them to watch TV after midnight because of the adult movies, they should also take care of what they hear, although it isn't pornography, it's bad for them anyway.

There are many members of the government that have families and children that are Manson fans, and they agree with them n saying that Manson should be legally regulated because they cannot have their 10 year old children hearing all that blasphemy. Manson's message is against all the values that they are trying to teach, and that's why he must be stopped.

The behavior reported from Manson fans is a very bad symptom of what is causing the Manson fever in their youth. Manson is an American cancer that should be removed, before he keeps growing until the moment that he becomes unstoppable. Manson fans have acted very bad in several occasions by starting riots, fights and disasters. For example, "An autograph session for Florida shock-rockers Marilyn Manson turned quickly from joyous to near-dangerous last night at a Vancouver record store." (http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicMarilynManson/15jan97_riot.html). We can find hundreds of this kind of actoins in every place where Manson presents. A Los Angeles writer described his concert as "not basically music but a sex show," and compared the spectacle to "one of those screeching, uninhibited party rallies which the Nazis used to hold for Hitler." (http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicMarilynManson/97july_ott2.html). And this is because ;Manson fans say that they would give their live for him and they mean it.

Another basic point in controversy is that some people say that Manson's message and behavior, make his fans act weird and crazy. This group of people argues that Manson behavior has occasioned a lot of problems in the minds of their youth, and that he's indirectly responsible for the death of 25 students in the state of Denver. In that state, two students started killing their classmates inside the school with guns and bombs in a total insane act. It has been proved that the assassins were very dedicated to be Manson fans. They heard his music all day, they dressed like him, etc. Manson has been asked about this incident, but he has argued that it's not his problem, because he had nothing to do with the murders and that all the guilt is of those two boys because they misunderstood his message. "Manson offers condolences but takes no responsibility." (http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicMarilynManson/apr24_manson.html). Obviously this argument really make that this gr of people went mad.

Lots of concerts of Manson have been cancelled because of the social problems that they cause. There's a lot of people in the US Congress trying to stop Marilyn Manson performances because what used to be "Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll" has turned into "Sex, Drugs, Self Mutilation, Hate, Anger, Self Worship, and Sympathy for the Devil" and that's not good at all. "Citing Marilyn Manson's history of violence, drug abuse and civil disorder, Congressman Dick Armey (R-Tx.) has asked promoters to reconsider allowing the musician to perform in Dallas's Reunion Arena on March 23." (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/armey1.shtml). They don't want Manson to make any more concerts because of the social conflicts that he starts.

The only thing left to say is that this people will try to put an end to Marilyn Manson carrier as far as he keeps making music and causing social disorders.

Kids vs. Marilyn Manson Fans:

The third reason of why Marilyn Manson is affecting people's young minds is that the problem has reached so big proportions that now, a sector of our youth is trying to tell the confused kids (Manson fans) that they are in a wrong way and that they are following a person with strange ideas, not a god or a superhero. These kids argue that Marilyn Manson is not the problem, and that the real problem is all the people that follow him and that do every single thing Manson says. For example, when Manson says kill yourself and they do it. This is the kind of behavior that they are trying to stop.

They recognize that Manson is nothing but a very clever businessman, just as Bill Gates (obviously in less proportions) because he has found a way to make money by acting weird and saying nonsense. This appears to be liked by thousands of people who call themselves Manson's fans and obey every single word that Manson says, and that is the real problem. "I have realized that Brian Warner is not really all that bad of a guy, just an entertainer out making a buck by acting freaky (even though I can't stand his damn "music").. The problem are the fans." (http://www.shadows.com/mortado/manson/rant.htm) The problem with these fans is that they are all the same. They try to be different to the rest of the society, but they don't realize that they are only creating a smaller group where all of them are exactly the same. They don't even understand their idol message about being their own gods' which means to act by themselves, and not by doing what others tell them or by imitating others.

They say that Manson was innovative because he was the first to act weird, so he follows his words, but the people who call themselves "fans" are not getting the point. They just keep dressing all the same, and saying the same nonsense. They are sure that they don't even read all the literature that Manson has read in order to try to understand him. They don't read, they don't investigate and they don't really hear Manson, they just love to act the same as Manson would (just the kind of things that Brian Warner hates). "But then you get the screaming, raving lunatically who begins to center Manson in their ideology; base their opinions on the opinions of Manson, and alter their thinking, their dress, and their entire mentality to accommodate that. And then these people call themselves individual." (http://www.mansonsucks.8k.com/) (http://www.mansonsucks.8k.com/cgi-bin/framed/2688/fake.htm) (http://www.mansonsucks.8k.com/cgi-bin/framed/2688/published.htm). They are saying that these fans are not original at all, and that they don't realize that that is the biggest thing that Manson, their hero, hates.

These people opposing to Marilyn Manson Fans are just expressing their concerns and they would like something to be done. There's no real point or real movement against Manson or their fans, they are just showing their unconformity against Manson Fans through their web sites that I already linked.

ARGUMENTS SUPPORTING MANSON

Fans that support Manson:

The first reason of why Marilyn Manson does not affect young people's minds is explained in the position of a group of people, Marilyn Manson fans, that say that Manson is just a person with a lot of courage to express what he believes, even he doesn't agrees with the rest of the world. They argue that they live in a free country, United States, where they have all the right to express what they think and believe.

In the United States, there's a document called the Bill of Rights that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens. This document is composed by 27 amendments that you can check by yourself because the fans are just putting attention to the First Amendment that says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/billrights/billrights.html). It's very clear that Congress cannot make any law (while this document remains) about religion, freedom of speech, etc.

As we can see in that amendment is explained the point of view of this group of fans that are just arguing for their rights, and for Manson rights. They explain that Manson is just a musician that has contributed to the art archive with his lyrics and his music, and that there are people that are trying to banish Marilyn Manson just because they don't like him. But they say that he's in his total right of express what he believes because this is a free world, where the law is the only thing that has the power to tell them what to do and what they cannot do, and expressing in a free way is in the First Amendment as we saw, so it's absolutely legal what Manson is doing.

They say that through his music, he expresses feelings and ideas that are often overlooked by other artists. That he expresses his ideas in a very brave and hard voice, without caring of the disapprove of the majority of this society, he's the a rebel trying to express his ideas, and allows to other individuals that share his ideas to feel like they also have a voice that represents them in this world.

The fans are expressing very hard against the United States Government for the attacks that all of them (including Manson) have received. They say that in a true democracy each citizen deserves a voice that can be heard, and that they can be criticized, but never stopped. "They wish to acknowledge Brian Warner for his positive artistic contribution to the musical landscape of America and the world." (http://www.marilyn.manson.com/). In other words, they really appreciate Manson's work and they think he's just a very good musician and writer.

About the Massacre of Denver, they argue that musical taste had nothing to do with that situation. They defend Manson of all the critics that point him to be guilty of the massacre. However they are saying that studies have proved that Music can provide a positive outlet for aggression or anti-social feelings. They compare this situation of the Government trying to banish Manson because they don't like him to the situation where Hitler tried to stop the Jazz and Swing musicians, while he was on the power because he didn't like them, however he was a huge fan of Wagner. And they realize that Wagner didn't caused the Holocaust, so they don't understand why the media has been trying to blame Marilyn Manson of an act that he had nothing to do. "Music is a daily part of everyone's life. When something bad happens, it is all too easy to blame music the accused enjoyed, especially if the blamers have already proven to be haters of that particular kind of music." (http://www.marilyn.manson.com/). This is a very valid point because in not music what caused all deaths, the question is, how much effect does the Manson's message have over his fans. And the second question can be if they are understanding perfectly the Manson message.

In conclusion this group of fans are tired of listening that Manson is bad and that he's responsible for almost every illegal act made by his fans. They want to be listened by the US Government and they are simply trying to make people respect their rights.

A fan that supports Manson philosophy:

The second reason of why Marilyn Manson does not affect young people's minds is because they are intelligent enough to understand the Nihilism philosophy and adopt it as a way of life. A fan explains that people live in a world made of rules and restrictions where society tells them how to live, who to associate with, how to dress, what to read, what to hear and what to believe. He explains that since we are born, we must follow these rules in order to be "normal" and if we do not follow those rules, we are declared "evil".

This fan says that he never had a personal opinion, and that we never acted as individuals. He argues that when we grow up, they are punished for every time that we try to be authentic by being different to the rest. "Once upon a time the thought that the Earth is round was considered absurd. The people who believed that were declared sinners and were executed. But over the years, as science progressed, society had no choice but to accept that Earth in fact is round. Just as it is with any other discovery or invention. At first it's considered impossible. It's believed to be a sin, because by learning and creating you are trying to become a god. But eventually, despite all society's efforts to prevent this, someone finds a way to prove this new invention. And, being unable to deny its existence anymore, society has to admit that it is in fact possible." (http://www.lordraven.com/antiworld/yourworld.html). In other words any other belief that is not shared by most part of the society is considered strange and is generally rejected.

This fan explains that there are other ways to see life, like when we were children and we were all day doing what we wanted and asking questions about everything. He says that when we were children, we never followed the rules, but as we grow up, we begin to loose that. We stop asking, and we begin to blindly follow what we are told. As we begin to interact with the people around us, society turns us into sheep. We become its slaves.

"Do you ever wonder if rules can be broken? The society wants you to believe that you can't live without it's rules. They make you believe that those rules can't be bent or broken. They force their morals on you, their ideas of good and evil, and make you think if you cross the line you'll be punished. Have you ever really thought about how ridiculous those rules and morals are? Most of them are impossible or unhealthy. They know you will break those rules. And after you do, you'll donate money to church so you'll be forgiven. And with a clear conscience, you can go out and sin again. But what if you stopped feeling guilty? What if you stopped following the society's rules and morals? What if you started making your own rules, your own ideas about good and evil? What if you made your world into what you want? What if you became god?" (http://www.lordraven.com/antiworld/inside.html). He says (here is Nietzche's Nihilism) that we already are our own gods, but really feel like our own gods, we need to stop following rules, to stop believing what people tell us, and to start thinking by ourselves. By creating our own world, we would be gods in that individual world.

You might wonder what is all this about, and how is this relationated with Marilyn Manson? Well this is Manson basic philosophy because he has expressed several times that he's very influenced by Nietzche philosophy. And all this information is what he expresses in his lyrics.

Non fans support Manson:

The third reason of why Marilyn Manson does not affect young people's minds is because they are capable of hearing what they want and reading what they want. No one is forcing them to go to Manson Concerts and no one forces them to buy and hear Manson music.

People in support with this reason say that there's people who doesn't understand that this is all about freedom. Even these people aren't Manson fans, they say that they live in a free country, and that they don't want to be in a place full of restrictions because they are able enough to make decisions for themselves, and they don't need other people telling them what is good and bad for them.

This people talk about Germany after the Second World War. They say a big wall divided it in two parts. On one Side (West Berlin) they could hear what they wanted, they could express in the wall in their side (graffiti), go to night clubs, and do what ever they wanted because that was a free world. The East Side of Germany was a place where there was no music played, just propaganda. Art shown was just the one it was approved, a place with no freedom, a place with any life. These people say that they don't want to live in that world. "What do those who wish to take away freedom really want? Will the teens of other cities like Winnipeg, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa really be depraved because of one Marilyn Manson concert?

Do we really need anybody telling Calgarians what they can and cannot see? Do we really need any more thought control?" (http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicMarilynManson/97july_cal4.html#slobodian). I don't think America is in the same level than Germany after the war, however they have a good point in here, they are saying that they are able enough to decide for themselves what they like or dislike.

In conclusion, these people argue that they live in a free world where they can take decisions for their own because they are intelligent enough for doing it.

MY PERSONAL OPINION

We have already go through the two positions of this polemic, but now it is my turn to express what I believe. I know that not all of you will agree with me, but I will try to answer the points in which you will probably disagree with me.

As we saw, there are two parts in this controversy, the first one that says that Marilyn Manson does affect the people's young minds, and we saw that point from three different perspectives. The first ones were the Christians arguing that Manson works for the devil and that he's corrupting our children. The second one were the US families and the US government, and they said that Manson is not a good example to follow because he has no morality or values, and that we shouldn't allow our kids to hear him. The third one is about a group of young people non-fans arguing that the problem is not Manson himself, but all his followers that call themselves "fans" because they cause a lot of social conflicts, fights, riots, and they don't even understand the message that Manson is trying to tell them. They just like to cause problems.

The other part was the one that said that Marilyn Manson affects people's young minds. And it was also analyzed from three different points, the first one that were his fans trying to say that Manson is the best, that he's a person with the courage to express what he believes even he doesn't agrees with the rest of the world. They say that they have all the right to hear Manson because they live in a free country where they are protected by the Bill of Rights. The second reason was from a Manson fan that explains very well the Manson message (or the Nietzche philosophy), what makes us conclude that the fact of being a fan doesn't necessarily mean that they are stupid. The third reason is from a group of people that are not Marilyn Manson fans but that argue that they have the right to choose for themselves what they want or what they don't want to hear, and that they don't want any government to be choosing for them because they are intelligent enough to do it.

In my opinion this whole problem has to do with the same thing that most wars are caused for, and that is the ideology. We have here two groups with a similar ideology that are the church, the American families and the people that dislike Manson fans forming one group. The fans and the non-fans that want to be free to hear whatever they want. I see that the first group has a conception of the world of how it must work in order to be a peaceful place, with their rules, their morality, their prejudices, etc., and whatever that opposes to that is braking their harmony and they would do whatever to stop it. We have to highlight that the religions are very strict, very close mind and they will never accept any idea that is against their believes and that's why they'll never agree with other's ideas.

However the people that oppose to the church believes and feel they have taken a different path by following a different philosophy, like the one Manson promotes, don't realize that they are changing from one strict system (their religion) into another system that can probably be even more strict like a cult or a group of fanatics in this case, Manson fans.

I think both groups are very strict and have a very closed mind, because they only fight for their own rights, but they are not observing the situation from any other perspective. I believe that both groups, the ones screaming for freedom and the ones fighting for peace and harmony should talk to each other, dialogue, but in a very intelligent, clever, and peaceful way in order to start solving this problem.

I didn't like any of the two sides because they seem to me too radical, but it's understandable because they would do anything in order to be heard. Even I didn't like any of the two positions, I have to admit that both sides are fighting for very good causes such as freedom, liberty, peace, justice and harmony. However I don't like the way they are expressing it to each other It seems that they only want to destroy each other and that's only causing more tension and more problems. If they follow acting like that none of them will achieve anything because I am very sure that fighting in not the way in which problems are solved. Instead of fighting they should open their mind to view the conflict from different perspectives, they have to dialogue, negotiate like the rational human beings they are in order to solve their differences.

I believe that if we open our minds, and if we are able to hear other opinions, even we totally dislike them, and if we are able to reach a point in which both sides are satisfied, in that moment we would be giving an incredible step in the human evolution. Our technology is growing very fast, we are making very good progress in almost any area, and even faster than what we did ever before. However our mind and our communication hasn't move at all. There are social problems that have hundreds of years without solution, and just because we are not able to talk honestly and to negotiate. I believe that if we can talk without interrupting the person that is talking, and really understanding what he or she is saying, we will be much better humans and the relations between us will be incredible. Our differences will reach a point where we will not notice that they exist because we will be able to accept other people believes.

I know that this is not visible in our days, it's not even visible in our dreams, but it's just a social conflict that we all have to solve. I know that it's not possible to do it in one day, however if we try to open our minds and accept (not necessarily share) others opinions, maybe our grand children will live in a world where they will be able to express their opinions of any topic without been chased for what they think.

I'm definitely not creating my personal cult or religion that "looks for peace", and I am not going to tell you what to believe, what to hear, what to think or any similar thing. I just want to share my opinion with you, and tell you this -"don't be so strict with other people, try accepting them the way they are, try to listen and understand them without expressing your point, just try to open your mind to different ways of thinking, by doing it you will be much richer, you will know much more things, and you will have a new friend instead of having another enemy to kill"-.

I know that both sides are going to criticize me because even one of them try to hear what the other side has to say, they will never agree in anything. That's true in part, but you have to try once and again until you agree in something because I don't really see any other way of finding a solution to this problem. I think that Christians will accept some things, not all, but they will eventually find that God is telling them, through the Bible, to love their brothers (the society) as they would liked to be loved. And if the only way to love each other is to accept them the way they are, they will eventually do it. We know that Christ shared his life with any kind of people including prostitutes, assassins, and any other kind of "bad" people, so why can't we share our lives with Jewish, Buddhists, Manson Fans or any other person who has a different way of thinking than us?

About the fans I would say that I'm pretty sure that they are rebels because of the oppression in which they live, and I'm totally sure that any rebel who is accepted the way he or she is, will stop acting so different. So I would recommend to all Manson fans to make it easier to other people to accept you, try to communicate with them, try to open your minds and stop being so selfish with Christians, try to accept that they need to believe in Christ in order to be happy, any just try to live with that because other people's believes do not affect you in any way. I'm sure that's what Brian Warner wants deep inside of him, just to be able to express, to communicate with others, and to live in a better world. He even has expressed this in his own words that I memorized "We need to destroy this world in order to build a new and better one over it's ashes"-. That means we need to stop thinking and acting the way we do in order to star thinking different.

Well, this is a problem that will be solved only when we want and if we don't start now, I'm sure that even we can travel and live in other worlds and that our technology advances even faster that what it does now, we will still have this problem. It's the next step in the human evolution, it's a major step but we have to take it in order to profress. It's impossible to move forward without giving the first step. I would only like to end this essay by saying that it was very fun, and that I enjoyed big time doing it. And I hope that any of you people who have finished reading my essay, can get something good out of it and apply it in your personal lives.

Finally, I would like to share some readings that really inspired me to make my final position, these are kind of thinking that we need to have on each human being in order to make this world better.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." "This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning -My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!-". Martin Luther King (http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/king_b12.htm)

I really like this words because they are so retaliated with the way the Manson and Non-Manson fans feel about having other people deciding for them. And this guys are just screaming for liberty and freedom just as Mr. King did it long time ago.

Another reading I like very much is the lyric of a song made by The Beatles leader, John Lennon. Here I state the part I like the most.

"Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today

Imagine there's no country

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion, too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one"

"Imagine" by John Lennon

(http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~infinit/Beatles/imagine.html)

I really like this song because is so expressive of my opinion, as a matter of fact, if Mr. Lennon was alive he would say that I'm stealing his ideas, however, I know he wouldn't care at all because we have both learned to open our minds and accept other people the way they are. I would like to end saying "I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one".