JFC: Marilyn Manson is an abuser. Before you ask: no, I wasn’t a huge fan of his music, but “Long Hard Road Out of Hell” was one of three songs that got me through the Year of Hell, the other two being “Loud and Clear” by the Cranberries and “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette. So I can’t say that I’m indifferent to this; it stings. But not as badly as some others.
Well, until I read this: “I was emotionally abused, terrorized and scarred,” she wrote. “I was locked in rooms when I was ‘bad’, sometimes forced to listen to him entertaining other women. Kept away from certain friends or if I didn’t he would threaten to come after them. I was told stories of others who tried to tell their story and their pets ended up dead.”
No. Hell no. Fuck NO. You DO NOT DO THIS.
For me, this hits a raw nerve, because this was my mother’s go-to threat; if I didn’t do exactly what she wanted, she would dump my cats, or dog, or whatever, off at the pound. The implication being that they would probably die there because the euthanasia rates were so high.
No, this wasn’t a one-off thing. She did it regularly. I’m still pretty fucked in the head, as you can imagine. I seriously doubt that will ever change. But this was the quickest way she could get me to obey without question: threatening my animals.
It’s a classic trope from the abuser’s handbook. It’s effective because it works so damn well. A number of abusive men use that tactic on their partners’ children to trap them in an abusive relationship. It works very well.
Because the one thing that loves you unconditionally, if it were taken from you, that loss would cause you to go mad. There would be no reason to live.
I ache for his victims. I truly do. The amount of damage done is immeasurable. Healing will take a long time and a lot of effort.
As for him? No sympathy. I don’t care what he went through to make him like this but it’s a reason, not an excuse. Yes, his music helped me during a particularly dark time in my life but that time is over, finished! I have no use for him or his music now. He’s on a path to nowhere and I couldn’t care less.
Iacon East 