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Humanizing the original kool-aide drinkers


Cleopatra7

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Given how often references to "drinking the kool-aide" are used on this site, I thought it might be helpful to provide some information on the original kool-aide drinkers in People's Temple/Jonestown:

 

http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/

 

(link, not broken because it's a scholarly site that would welcome more attention)

 

A part that might be of particular interest to FJers is the memorial page list of those who died, complete with stats and memories by those who knew them:

 

http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=690

 

There are also primary documents, articles, and other essays about Jonestown/People's Temple. Why am I posting this? Although we talk a lot about how religious fundementalism robs people of their independent thought, it can happen in any movement. I think that everyone has a weakness that a criminal personality can use for his/her own ends. For many people, this is just sex, money, or power but it can be patriotism, anti-racism, or other forms of idealism. Many of the people in People's Temple were attracted to it because it seemed to be tackling racism, classism, and sexism head on. Unlike VF or Gothardism, which condemns most followers to a joyless, impoverished existence, People's Temple provided followers with actual material benefits (including housing, medical care, food, and clothing) and a supportive social circle. I see a lot of myself in the idealistic young people who went to Jonestown thinking they were going to build a new society free of the prejudices of American society. Lots of people were taken in by Jim Jones, including Roselyn Carter and Harvey Milk, honestly, if I was alive then and living in California, I probably would have joined People's Temple because it was saying all the things that appeal to my progressive sensibilities.

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I think this thread is an awesome idea. I've struggled a long time with how I use the term casually versus the seriousness of its history. Extreme belief is dangerous, and the consequences can be more permanent than the marriage and babies we see everyday. I think if anything though, bringing it all to that level highlights the fact that the lack of frequent deaths doesn't mean it isn't causing permanent damage.

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So many children, so sad. It makes me livid that fundies care so much about fetuses, but give fuck all about living, breathing children.

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Thanks for the links. I remember watching the tragedy unfold from the very first news break, and to this day, I still can't wrap my brain around the enormity of it all, nor can I forget the horrific photos of the aftermath. I do occasionally slip and use the term drinking the kool aid, then I stop and remember the nearly 1000 people who lost their lives and I'm ashamed of myself for trivializing their deaths.

I do find it hard to understand how people get sucked into cults, even when they know the dangers and the damage they can do--as Leo Ryan's own daughter could tell you.

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This is a wonderful site. One of the people involved with it is the sister of two people who were members of the PT's hierarchy, and former members provided many of the documents. The individual photographs are extremely moving, and many include reminiscences from friends and family. The primary documents help show how PT evolved from a church in Indiana to an isolated cult in Guyana. Many of the people involved were truly committed to the social mission of the group, and, of course, the children who died at Jonestown had no say in their involvement in the group.

Cleopatra, thanks for alerting others to this website.

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This is a wonderful site. One of the people involved with it is the sister of two people who were members of the PT's hierarchy, and former members provided many of the documents. The individual photographs are extremely moving, and many include reminiscences from friends and family. The primary documents help show how PT evolved from a church in Indiana to an isolated cult in Guyana. Many of the people involved were truly committed to the social mission of the group, and, of course, the children who died at Jonestown had no say in their involvement in the group.

Cleopatra, thanks for alerting others to this website.

About a third of the membership of Jonestown consisted of senior citizens and another third was minors under the age of 18. This means that most of the Jonestown residents couldn't have resisted being poisoned, even if they wanted to.

FJers will find the saga of the the Moore sisters, Carolyn and Annie to be of particular interest. They came from a liberal home and were active in the anti-war and civil rights movements, which made them very idealistic and ripe for Jim Jones pickings. Literally, in the case of Carolyn, who not only became Jones' favorite mistress and top aide, but even had a child by him. Annie initalially resented how Jones' isolated Carolyn from the family, but eventually joined PT because she was impressed by the social justice work, and eventually became Jones' personal nurse. It is even believed that she helped Jones commit suicide by shooting him, since she and him were the only people who were shot rather than poisoned. And where did all this devotion lead the Moore sisters? As “true believers†and members of the inner circle they certainly would have helped formulate the mass suicides and Carolyn was probably the one who poisoned her own child, if not others. They thought they were being revolutionaries, but ended up being written off as a bunch of crazy people dying in the jungle. The other Moore sister, Rebecca, who was never in PT, has devoted her life to researching Jonestown and runs the “Alternative Considerations of Jonestown†site.

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Thanks for the links. I remember watching the tragedy unfold from the very first news break, and to this day, I still can't wrap my brain around the enormity of it all, nor can I forget the horrific photos of the aftermath. I do occasionally slip and use the term drinking the kool aid, then I stop and remember the nearly 1000 people who lost their lives and I'm ashamed of myself for trivializing their deaths.

I do find it hard to understand how people get sucked into cults, even when they know the dangers and the damage they can do--as Leo Ryan's own daughter could tell you.

Same for me. I was in college, and I read everything I could get my hands on about it at the time and every once is a while (when a movie or documentary about it catches my eye) I'll sort of binge on research about it online, etc. I always wonder about the level of charisma and need that combined to make people follow Jones, how many realized they were trapped before that day and how many were still true believers even as they drank poison.

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Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for bringing this up.

I cringe inside every time I hear that phrase (mis)used. I have spent a lot of hours reading and studying Jonestown out of a personal interest related to my own near-miss experience into fundamentalism. The similarities of Jim Jones and Peoples Temple to many fundamentalist branches of Christianity disturb and alarm me. In my opinion, it ought to be a cautionary tale that a study of the members of Peoples Temple reveals that the majority of the congregation weren't mindless robots or crazy cultists, but ordinary, hurting people just trying the best they knew how to meet their own spiritual needs and make the world a better place.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." -attributed to Philo

"Question Authority" -a bumper sticker, circa 1970

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." -John the Apostle

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Wish I weren't too cheap for cable -that particular documentary is hard to find online. There are a few that are easy to find via youtube. The one PBS produced ("Jonestown -The Life and Death of Peoples Temple") is probably the best I've seen, and it's easy to find via youtube. Well worth watching.

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About a third of the membership of Jonestown consisted of senior citizens and another third was minors under the age of 18. This means that most of the Jonestown residents couldn't have resisted being poisoned, even if they wanted to.

I'd heard that much of the Fruit Aid was administered via hypodermic syringe, and many broken needles were found in people's arms, suggesting it wasn't the consensual mass suicide that was once believed.

I remember Jonestown capturing my interest in ninth grade. Those White Night audio recordings are chilling. Looking back it was my first fundie/alternative religion exposure. (Perhaps helping me to view those who claim to have all the spiritual answers with a healthy dose of skepticism!)

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I read a very good book on Jonestown called Raven, by one of the journalists who was on the plane and got shot.

It does make it easier to understand what was initially attractive about the cult. I highly recommend it

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Thank you, Cleopatra7, for posting this. It made for some very educational reading.

edited for missing comma

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The Church of Wells is headed this direction. They scare the hell out of me.

Another cult that I think could head in this direction is the FLDS. They're brainwashed enough that if Warren ever gave the order from his prison cell, they would go through with it.

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Another cult that I think could head in this direction is the FLDS. They're brainwashed enough that if Warren ever gave the order from his prison cell, they would go through with it.

That's a big part of why authorities are trying to monitor his communications.

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That's a big part of why authorities are trying to monitor his communications.

I worry about The Church of Wells, as well. It seems they just keep ascending into paranoia . I believe they have literally put tin foil over the windows of the church.

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I worry about The Church of Wells, as well. It seems they just keep ascending into paranoia . I believe they have literally put tin foil over the windows of the church.

Wow. I didn't know much about these people, but I can see the tone they are setting even on the front page of their website.

....

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I am curious about people who spend their entire life on Earth preparing for life after death. It seems like they are squandering their lives for something that might not even exist. The fear mongering that goes on in these cults masquerading as religion is sad. I've seen several specials on Jonestown and as Jones got more and more paranoid (fueled by his drug use I'm sure), he became more and more controlling. Whatever good intentions he started with went out the window as he treated his 'children' as his property. Once in there was no getting out.

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