Review: Was Charles Manson Carrying Out a CIA Experiment? (opinion)
In a new Netflix feature documentary exploring O'Neill's theories and findings, Morris shows his work, and we hear him telling O'Neill on camera he isn't quite buying the story O'Neill is selling.
Partly because of his connections to the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic, which was haunted by CIA-associated mind control researcher Louis Jolyon West, and partly because of the mysterious leniency in how the legal system treated Manson before he was eventually arrested for the murders, O'Neill thinks it likely Manson was either a confidential informant and thus under the law's protection to some extent, or carrying out a CIA-planned experiment using something like West's techniques to turn his "Family" into mind-controlled murderers.
O'Neill certainly provides fodder for both theses, the first seeming more likely if only because it's less baroquely sinister. But alternate explanations require a differently cynical view about government than O'Neill's evil one: that perhaps California law enforcement was lazy and incompetent, or that West's claims about his experimental brainwashing powers were exaggerated to keep the CIA money flowing.
The facts that Manson did eventually face justice and life in prison and never hinted at any of this, and that the world does not seem crawling with people with this brainwash-to-murder power, indicates that some skepticism about O'Neill's thesis is warranted. But he presents it with dogged research powers—and a fair assessment of what he has and has not proven.
The post Review: Was Charles Manson Carrying Out a CIA Experiment? appeared first on Reason.com.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Squid Game Slays Nielsen Streaming Top 10 With Season 3 Release, Ironheart Does What Daredevil Never Did
Netflix's Squid Game with the release of its third and final season dominated Nielsen's latest U.S. ranking of streaming originals. For the week of June 23, Squid Game amassed 3.2 billion minutes viewed across 22 total episodes, marking the chart's second-largest tally of the year — trailing only the 4.6 billion minutes that Squid Game racked up during the Dec. 30, 2024-Jan. 5, 2025 measurement period. More from TVLine KPop Demon Hunters Delivers a Netflix First While Repeating at No. 1 on English Films Chart Marvel Chief Talks Young Avengers Team-Up Potential, Affirms Daredevil Will Ignore Events of Thunderbolts* Blindspot Claims No. 1 on Nielsen Streaming Top 10, Ginny & Georgia Again Tops Originals Nielsen notes that Squid Game drew considerable viewership from Hispanic audiences (who accounted for 44% of the watch time). Adults 18-49 made up the bulk of the total (58%), though it was weighted a bit toward the Under 35 crowd (32%). Placing a distant second on the originals chart was Peacock's Love Island USA (with 1.8 billion minutes/235 episodes), followed by Netflix's The Waterfront (1.5 billion minutes/eight episodes), Netflix's Ginny & Georgia (980 million minutes/30 episodes) and the chart return of Hulu's The Bear (920 million minutes/38 episodes). Rounding out the Top 10 streaming originals for the week of June 23 were Disney+'s Ironheart (526 million minutes/three available episodes) — landing on the Top 10 chart whereas Marvel Television predecessor Daredevil: Born Again never did during its entire Season 1 run — Netflix's Trainwreck: Poop Cruise docu (512 million minutes), Netflix's America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (488 million minutes/14 episodes), Prime Video's We Were Liars (420 million minutes/eight episodes) and Netflix's Stranger Things (380 million minutes/34 episodes). Want scoop on any of the shows above? Shoot an email to InsideLine@ and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line!
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Watch: 'Train Dreams' teaser brings Denis Johnson novella to life
July 24 (UPI) -- Time moves fast in a preview for Train Dreams, a film starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones. The movie finds Edgerton's Robert building a railroad in the Pacific Northwest in the early 1900s. "I don't know where the years go," he says in the trailer released Thursday. Jones portrays his wife Gladys, who lives with him as "life takes an unexpected turn," per the official synopsis. "Train Dreams captures a time and place that are now long gone, and the people who built a bridge to a future they could only dream of," the description continues. Denis Johnson's novella serves as the inspiration for the film, which is directed by Clint Bentley. Kerry Condon, William H. Macy, Nathaniel Arcand, Alfred Hsing and Will Patton also star. The film will arrive on Netflix Nov. 21 after a limited theater run. Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
‘The Dragon Prince' Sequel ‘The Dragon King' Revealed At SDCC, But Is It Coming To Netflix?
The Dragon King During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con Thursday, Wonderstorm dropped some very big news. The creators of the hit Netflix animated series The Dragon Prince revealed the show's next arc: The Dragon King. The story picks up seven years after the events of The Dragon Prince series finale, with the threat of the Starsong Titan Aaravos's return looming over Xadia. Young Zym, the Dragon King, has grown considerably. King Ezran has also grown into a young man. Ezran and Zym You can certainly see his resemblance to his father, Harrow, whose fate was teased at the end of Season 7. This is just one reason we really need a sequel to The Dragon Prince. The series ended with a lot of things resolved but some very big, very important threads still dangling. Harrow's fate (was he switched into the body of Pip the bird?) along with Claudia's dark quest, the return of Aaravos, what happens to Xadia with the Archdragons all dead (except for young Zym) and so on and so forth. Besides, this is just a really fun, magical universe that has a lot more room for great stories. King Harrow Critical Role's Liam O'Brien has joined the cast of The Dragon King in a role that's still very hush-hush. Jack De Sena (who played Sokka in Avatar: The Last Airbender) has also been announced as returning to voice Callum, and Dante Basco – who played Rufio in Hook and voiced Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender – will expand his role as the voice of Zym. 'Our community has grown up with the Dragon Prince characters, so we wanted to create a more mature series that reflects that evolution,' said Aaron Ehasz, CEO and co-founder of Wonderstorm, in a press release. 'We're bringing back the incredible voice work of Jack and Dante to reprise their roles, and thrilled to be adding Liam to the cast, in what we see as a creative collaboration of the talent and a coming together of three powerful fandoms.' At this point, it's unclear if Netflix will even pick up The Dragon King or not, though the streaming service would be crazy not to, especially given how passionate the built-in fanbase is and the popularity of animated fantasy. To that end, Wonderstorm has announced a Kickstarter for The Dragon King which you can check out right here. The actual crowdfunding campaign hasn't started yet, but you can sign up to be notified and show interest in the project. 'The Dragon Prince enjoys the unusual privilege of being a completely independent original property, and the fans have always played an important role in driving the franchise,' chief creative officer and Wonderstorm co-founder Justin Richmond said in a press release. 'We need the community's help to bring this new series to life, and have come up with some special campaign rewards that will give fans several opportunities to help shape the project and join us on the journey.' The Kickstarter is as much about showing support for potential partners (like Netflix or its rivals Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and so forth) as anything. 'A strong demonstration of support here on Kickstarter will give us the ability to find the right partners who can meet all the funding needs to bring a world-class series to life,' the Kickstarter page reads. 'Proving the series this way will allow us to create the series we all want, with an uncompromised creative vision.' I definitely hope that Netflix or possibly Amazon (where Critical Role's Legend Of Vox Machina streams) will pick up The Dragon King for as many more seasons as we can get. While The Dragon Prince struggled a bit around Seasons 4 and 5, I really thought it ended on a high note, and its first arc remains some of my favorite animated fantasy since Avatar. Here's the teaser for The Dragon King: Beyond this teaser trailer, a 'First Look' trailer is coming soon. Follow The Dragon King Kickstarter to stay up-to-date on all the show's upcoming news and announcements.
