Now that Charles Manson has finally bitten the big one, it’s only natural that the hot takes start flowing like lava. Here’s the L.A. Times own scorching contribution:

L.A. Times opinion contributor David Ulin writes:

Manson, though, was no devil but a human being, as his death makes clear. I don’t say that to soften or absolve him. But I don’t believe in demons; people are frightening enough. Indeed, to accept Manson as a person, to see him through the filter of his humanity, is to acknowledge what we resist: that he was perhaps not so utterly different from the rest of us.

The rest of us didn’t lead murderous cults, though, did we?

For those who have faith in an afterlife, I suppose there’s some solace in imagining he will get his karmic comeuppance. But it makes more sense to me to see him as an agent of the hells we create on Earth.

Manson was a killer, yes, and he was a psychopath, but he was never otherworldly. The violence and the hatred he embodied may be his most human attribute.

Oh.

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While Manson may have been human in the most technical sense, he didn’t possess a shred of humanity. Humanizing him is … not a good look. Not only was this take wholly unnecessary, but it was just plain stupid.

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Tags: Charles MansonDavid UlinhumanL.A. Times