“Forward” on the Wings of “Generosity” – Folha de S. Paulo, December 14, 1969

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

The trauma from the gruesome massacre in Los Angeles may still be preventing the better parts of public opinion from analyzing the facts clearly.

However, such an analysis is urgently needed because surprise was the first and most intense impression those sectors experienced. I wasn’t surprised by the event, but I was surprised that so many good people were taken aback by it. They must be living on a higher plane to be so shocked by the actions of “Satan” and his followers. Now, the fact that the sectors most capable of positively influencing the course of events are so marginalized from them poses a serious threat to the common good of humanity. Therefore, I invite you to briefly reflect on that grim occurrence.

* * *

Let’s review the events based on daily press reports.

1. Charles Manson, 34, son of a convicted prostitute and a former criminal known for various petty crimes, with some charm and musical talent, became involved with several “forward-thinking” young people and formed a group with them. In the past, societal norms caused young people, especially young women, to keep their distance from such individuals. After clear proof of reform, a colleague would only offer friendship in very special circumstances. However, “generous ideas” removed this overly “strict” caution in many environments. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Manson could get close to those he wanted.

2. Manson clearly entertained his companions as he was a powerful hypnotist, magically spreading well-being around and “singing like an angel,” according to press reports. Extravagance was undoubtedly an ingredient of this entertaining power. Living happily on the margins of all principles of common sense, hygiene, and propriety, his group of hippies adopted nomadism and began wandering from place to place. All this would shock “yesteryear” principles. Giving a group’s leadership to a former convict was a disgrace; accepting his hypnotic power was madness. Expatriating oneself from the circles of clean, proper, and decent people shows insanity. Adopting nomadism was a foolish and ignoble pact with vagrancy. Yet, many “generous” spectators of the phenomenon smiled: Why restrict youth’s characteristic whims? The old taboos of yesteryear lacked generosity. They prohibited, vetoed, and repressed, thereby creating complexes. Kindness consists of tolerating, allowing, and agreeing. Long live Manson’s merry band. In time, its members will spontaneously return to their senses… That’s what many people said about Manson and his clique, creating a comfortable and “generous” environment for the expansion of their follies.

3. But, someone “out of the loop” might object, what could come out of the sexual promiscuity among the neo-nomads? The immense mental family of the generous has a ready answer to this question: “Come on, why look at things so closely? What will come from promiscuity? Love, pleasure. Let young people have fun. It’s their age. Thanks to the pill, there’s no need to worry that they will have children. As for the rest, who cares? We are at the dawn of a permissive society that accepts everything thanks to broad ideas. And it works. In London, a sexual act was performed on stage in a packed theater, and the house didn’t collapse. In Sweden, they opened the gates to homosexual relationships, and Sweden is still there, stable, organized, and prosperous. So what use are the taboos of the old civilization if everything goes well without them? This is how the “generous” argue.

4. Seen by a whole sector of “decent-permissive” people with “understanding,” Manson and his gang boldly “pushed forward,” allowing themselves to become more and more reckless. Feel like having intense sensations? There’s hashish or LSD. Craving violent orgies? Just plunge into them. Want adventurous mental experiences? Manson is on hand to open the gates to the dark regions of hypnotism. The taste for extravagance is insatiable. From stupid and shocking originality, he invites you to move on to disheveled filth. From there, he urges you to roll into corruption. By its own dynamism, corruption explodes into an orgy. Having turned everything upside down in earthly existence, the onslaught of extravagance sets off toward the extraterrestrial. Always moving “forward,” the next step is blasphemy. One enters Satanist mysticism, insults God, worships the devil, etc.

5. One day, the urge to do something even more forbidden arises—something very new and very taboo. For instance, a crime. In “permissive” thinking, there’s no real reason to avoid breaking this “taboo,” so the crime is carried out. But, to truly be ‘progressive’ within its genre, it must be extremely sadistic, cruel, and horrifying. The more, the better. That’s why they kill Sharon Tate and her “entourage,’ along with the elderly LaBianca couple—all for minor reasons, with aggravating factors like stabbings, beatings, tattoos, and bloody rituals to worship the devil.

Is everything clear, coherent, and logical?

Poor scoundrels, Manson and his ilk. They are undeniably guilty. Under US law, they deserve the electric chair.

But are they the guiltiest?

* * *

No, a thousand times no.

Had they encountered a strong and united public opinion among decent people that promoted respect for moral law, propriety, good manners, and cleanliness, they probably would have stopped or retreated at the very first step.

However, on the brink of the wrong path, they faced the complicity—sometimes foolish, sometimes slyly demagogic—of “generous” people. They felt understood and even secretly encouraged by “generous” circles and believed they could escape with impunity.

These “generous” people deserve to have their story fully told someday. They are kind to the bad but tormentors of the good. They know how to intimidate and persecute those who disagree with their “generosity” with a thousand sarcastic remarks. They do not shy away from the most aggressive slogans: “You are backward, reactionary, stifled, despotic, uncharitable,” and so forth.

But they smile at all kinds of recklessness, extravagance, and folly. And so, “generosity” toward evil becomes a one-way street where young people see a clear path to crime.

* * *

Have the best segments of public opinion woken up to this role of the “generous”? They are not surprised by crime, which is tragically inevitable in this climate increasingly dominated by “generous,” “permissive,” and “open-minded” people.

“Generous” people are always consistent in other areas, too. They open the gates to atheism while calling themselves Catholics. They support communists in some way while claiming to be moderate. They always devise an outrageous “slogan” for anyone who points out the flaw in their foolish or false generosity by calling themselves friendly to all.