Does anybody here know the book Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties? I haven’t finished yet, so please no spoilers, but I want to mention that it’s a very typical example of conspiracy theory thinking.

The author suspects that there must be a massive conspiracy behind the Manson murders because the motive for the murders, as it was presented at trial, is ridiculous. It doesn’t cross his mind that the murderers were skanky, stupid, drug-addled losers. They weren’t sitting there composing complex life strategies for themselves. They didn’t need a motive. They got high and started running around murdering people.

A bunch of stinky, whoreish women used like human toilets by anybody who would bother to ejaculate into them murdered a beautiful pregnant Hollywood star. Yes, why on earth would they do that? Where’s the motive? It must have been the CIA.

Of course, the stupid stinkpots didn’t know that Sharon Tate was being used as a human toilet by men as well. There’s irony in that. But the obsession with motive is the purview of stupid people. Very often, criminals commit criminal acts because they feel like it, because they can, because they are bored, angry, or upset, because the crime seems like a good idea to their primitive brains.

The book is addictive because observing the author spin increasingly deranged tales about the murders is quite fascinating.

7 responses to “They Don’t Need a Motive”

  1. cliff arroyo Avatar

    “suspects that there must be a massive conspiracy behind the Manson murders”

    It’s a secular way of dealing with the terrible uncertainty of the universe. Something that horrific couldn’t just be blind chance and terrible people acting out… there must be some deeper reason.

    A lot of the time conspiracy people are trying invent a god that makes the universe an orderly place (even if it’s order in service of awful things).

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    1. Clarissa Avatar

      I think you should definitely reconsider your vacation plans in Spain because the regularly scheduled programming is now coming to Mallorca.

      https://x.com/jcamposasensi/status/2095942502284984434

      What an absolute shame.

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      1. cliff arroyo Avatar

        “regularly scheduled programming is now coming to Mallorca”

        Was just looking at hotels in Mallorca a few minutes ago… any news about Menorca?

        Otherwise it’s looking like Croatian coast might be a safer bet (was looking to Greece too but very expensive which offends my inner Scrooge).

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        1. Clarissa Avatar

          I wrote a long response to this, and WordPress ate it. It’s unbelievably annoying how glitchy this app sometimes gets.

          The gist is that, yes, it’s probably better to go to Croatia at this point, but what a pity for Spain, which is such a wonderful country and was an oasis in comparison with, for example, London until this started happening.

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          1. cliff arroyo Avatar

            ” Spain, which is such a wonderful country”

            A wonderful country that is entering a very dark phase… things will get much worse before they get better.

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  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    I noticed something like this when I read Helter Skelter years ago. The book pus forth an elaborate theory of the murders, in which Manson and his followers are an apocalyptic cults obsessed with starting a race war. And yet the inciting incident that sets the murders in motion is a surprisingly mundane argument over money and drugs. The author mentions it so briefly and casually that you could almost miss it.

    (commenter formerly known as AcademicLurker)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Clarissa Avatar

      The author of the book I’m reading hates Vince Bugliosi and condemns him for coming up with this admittedly ridiculous motive during the trial. The problem for the prosecutor is that juries expect a motive that they can understand in order to convict, but much of violence doesn’t have a clear, logical motive that normal people can comprehend. “They killed because they felt like it” doesn’t sound convincing to regular people. But it’s more often the true reason than not. This gives rise to all sorts of conspiracy theories as people struggle to comprehend what to them is incomprehensible.

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