See, I'm not easily offended, as you know, and that remark doesn't bother me in the least. But I'm absolutely certain that if someone else stated on this board that they watched a love one die of brain cancer, and I retorted with a wise-ass remark along those lines, I'd get scorned to shit, as I usually do in those instances. A little fucked?

And again, how fucking spiteful can one person be? What's done is done. Tate is dead, and Atkins is on her way out. If she is really in the final stages of brain cancer, she probably can't talk, and if she does, it's very incoherent. She probably doesn't leave bed all day, which after a while would make her quite weak and frail. She probably needs help eating and going to the bathroom. And to boot, it's probably very difficult to look at her, because she probably has one hell of a tumor coming off her head... Or, even worse, it has been operated on, and now it is covered in scabs and bloody muck.

The idea that Atkins would enjoy herself too much to be remorseful outside of prison is ridiculous. She may not even know where the fuck she is, she could be so fucked up. She's probably on liquid morphine, which basically means she has no clue what god damn year it is. For all we know, she is locked in a super introspective re-evaluation of her life right now. But, at least her family, who had absolutely nothing to do with the murders, could feel a little more closure by bringing her home. Imagine if you were in the same scenerio as the Atkins family. Wouldn't you want the same, and wouldn't your intentions be pure?

And about the crimes; are we forgetting Manson basically brain-washed a bunch of kids to begin with? All it takes is one very powerful mind, and a few weaker ones, and you've got the potential for a fucking mess. Politicians do it everyday. Like it or not, Manson was a very smart man; you have to be pretty intelligent to pull off the kind of mind game he did. I contest the same of Hitler. I could never brainwash someone like that if I wanted to, and I highly doubt any of you could. I'm not insinuating that Atkins is not responsible for the crimes, but hey.

Bottom line is, we claim to be better than all sorts of sadistic figures, but it would appear we're just as obsessed with the suffering as they are.