97.12.09
04:21

Y'know, sometimes I open my mailbox and find letters from people who've read this site and had a lot to say about it. Some bad, most good - but once in awhile, I recive a letter or two that really just makes me sit back and reflect on what exactly the purpose of this site is.
Sometimes I wonder, and fear, that The Baptism of Stains is just another Marilyn Manson site on the Web. One among the countless. I often wonder what makes our site worth having around. Well, when I start to get questions like these in my head, I just read back through some of the great letters that have come through our mailboxes.
When I first had the idea for The Baptism of Stains, I just was going to have a little collection of Marilyn Manson links for myself. But it grew, and grew - and is now the site you see before you. It's easy to make a Marilyn Manson page, but I wanted one to stand out. So I took a chance. I decided to let all spooks out there to have a part in making this site, to give it the punch it has.
Your thoughts, your dreams, your creativity...everything here. It's here for a reason. Not because we (or you) were bored. There's more to it. Maybe it's just me, but I seem to feel there's a reason things come through to us. Catharsis for the sender? A little blatant self-promtion? Maybe, a way to reach out to other spooks and let them know they're not alone out there in what they feel.
Marilyn Manson brings out alot in people. Love, hate, bile...and although there are a lot of common threads running through what's going on here, each piece taken away from Marilyn Manson is as real and as personal as the person who recived it - a piece no matter how big or how small, and for whatever reason. Sometimes, what people get from Marilyn Manson is very confusing, or just plain odd feeling. Or things are released that the person hasn't felt in too long - or ever. Sometimes, these things bring about a lot of loneliness.
We all get lonley - even in a roomful of people we can be an island unto ourselves. But when someone out there does something, or says something, that for the briefest of moments makes you sit up and feel like someone out there really understands what you feel/think...sometimes that's all that's needed. Marilyn Manson does this for many people. They inspire people to think and feel - no more nations of mindless puppets and zombies. They encourages us to be alive, and be everything we can be. Why? Becuase if a skinny white boy from Ohio can do it, why can't you?
TBOS gets a lot of mail. And we love it all. The good, the bad...and the downright weird. Without it, we wouldn't be here. Your thoughts, you submissions...everything is put into this site and a piece to a large puzzle that is never really finished. We are fans, just like you, who obviously have a great deal of thought about Marilyn Manson (and maybe a little too much time on our hands). Even if no one shared with us, we'd still have our own materials up. Why? Maybe we just feel like venting or just feel like talking. Agree with what we say, disagree, love it, hate it - we just want you to think a bit. About Marilyn Manson, yes. But about yourself, too.
We put what we do up here because we want to. We're pretty ego-centric around here, so we do things for our own sh'iggles pretty much. But when we recieve letters from you that say how much a certain piece of writing affected you, inspired you, or made you so angry you had to respond - that's when we realize why we keep this site up. Not just to help ourselves along, but maybe - just maybe - we're hoping that someone out there leaves this site knowing that they aren't alone on this mudball. That no matter how fucked-up and deranged you feel, chances are there is someone out there just as fucked-up as you are. Or maybe, more. And you can comfort yourself in the thought that you weren't as bugfuck looney as you'd thought.