Hagfish, I am certainly no Manson satanic expert, nor do I want to be, but I believe the “satanic” thing that Manson is involved with is not the same as the Judeo-Christian concept of what “satanic” means. They are 2 different things, as far as what I know. To you, Christians and most other folks, Satanist are worshipers of an entity that stand for and perpetuates evil. Satan is a living entity whose followers do his evil bidding. To Manson and the Satanist group he belongs to, atheism is their belief. The only “entity” is humanity. There is no God, no Devil. Anyway, Manson fans correct me if I’m wrong. To me, I see a difference between Devil worship and atheism. This group choose to call themselves Satanist; likely to attract attention and be attractive to younger people who don’t fall within the “norms” of acceptable beliefs and behaviors.
As far as the brainwashing concept is concerned, yeah, I think young people are very susceptible to music, movies, videos, games, friends, popular heros, popular anti-heros, etc. That is why it is so important for PARENTS to play a significant role in raising their kids, instilling values, listening to them and caring about what interest them, teaching them, setting an example.