I'm with you decadent...it's not trolling in my opinion. Old school MM (back when he actually seemingly had something to say) was fantastic. At a certain point though you HAVE to know that MM puts pantyhose on his head, or does something else ridiculous, and will have 249,345 fans automatically think there's some deep, philosophical point he's making, or that there's some backstory, or substance to it.

You're also right about him becoming everything he used to be against. I'd imagine that 1997 Marilyn Manson would see 2012 Marilyn Manson and facepalm for two weeks straight.