I've seen a few interviews with the guy, and he's the same in every one of them - insightful, very sincere and deep-thinking.

So you knew them?

Yeah, sorry - I think that we can all agree that it was heinous and if you want to have a civil society you have to hold individuals accountable, but to dismiss Manson's suggestion as somehow soft or apologist is shallow and short sighted. If there is a way to prevent this from happening in the future, shouldn't we pursue that, or is the goal to have someone to blame? The fact that we can hold the killers accountable doesn't make their victims any less dead. Preventing people from becoming killers could. Maybe you can't prevent that, but wouldn't you want to at least look into it? At least consider it? It takes someone intelligent to suggest the pro-active solution, and someone of considerably lesser intelligence to suggest the reactive solution ... point a finger, lock them up and throw away the key, hang 'em high, etc.

That last line might sound set-up, but keep in mind that this is two years after the incident, which apparently had a profound effect on MM. I'm sure that within that span he'd had several interviews and time to formulate a solid response to any question thrown at him.

I agree those two murderers were not the victims.

However.

They were making pipe bombs and "body armor" in the garage of one of their parents' houses. The parent's did nothing about that. If I made a mess in the garage at that age my dad made damn sure I accounted for it.

The "crowd" they were in had nothing to do with it either. I grew up on the north side of Denver; Littleton is on the south side. But one thing that all suburban kids of that era in in that city who wanted to have an image of a "goth" a "skater" a "punk" or whatever when they rejected the preppy or "top 40" look was a long black trenchcoat. Denver gets cold, and trenchcoats are warm and, well, anti-stylish. I still have mine hanging in the closet.

I was in college at the University of Colorado when it happened. My housemate had gone to Littleton High, the archrival of Columbine in sports, but still part of the community. He also had a long black trenchcoat. After the murders, and the way the media blamed an imagined subculture of mass murders who all wore black trenchcoats and listened to music like Marilyn Manson that MADE THEM do it, we were regarded with suspicion. It wasn't a good time.

But I've since learned that the media MUST have an image to sell. Sell it to make money, sell it to create fear and hate, or sell it to build power, it's all about image. Just like highschoolers must have an image to define themselves. It's a pity that the ethics, morals, and persona of the American media has regressed to that of an insecure teenager.