Don’t Drink the Kool Aid

I think the Jonestown Massacre is one of the most fascinating examples of modern day cults, mass suicide / murder and religious extremism. Why am I talking about this today? Well, I just saw an amazing documentary about it. The film really opened my eyes to a completely new world of information about the events that transpired on November 18, 1978. And, if your school’s history books are anything like mine were, chances are pretty good that you don’t know the whole story either. So, here it is ... (sorry for the long post and the paraphrasing) ... Jim Jones grows up in Indiana with a fascination of death. As a child, he murders random cats and plans elaborate funerals for them. When he grows older, he becomes a minister. It’s the 1960s and most American churches are segregated. (Little has changed, but that’s a topic for another post.) At any rate, Jim Jones founds a church primarily based on the tenets of integration. Everyone can and does go to the church. It’s the people’s church—aptly named, Peoples Temple. Thus, Jonestown has its humble beginnings in Ukiah, Indiana. However, because of his fear of a nuclear attack, Jim Jones moves the church from Indiana to an über-deserted area of California and then, eventually, to San Francisco. (Apparently, no one wants to bomb San Francisco?) The congregation swells from hundreds to several thousands. People sell their homes & all of their belongings, and they give the monies from the sells to the church. In return, the church takes care of the people. But, not everyone is happy. Several people leave the church and expose some of its shady sides. A San Fran-based newspaper prepares to write a scathing article Jim Jones. Almost overnight, Jones convinces his followers that it’s time to leave the US. They journey to jungles of Guyana and create a utopian society called Jonestown. Rumors spread that people are being held in Jonestown against their will. A California congressman flies down there to pay the group a visit—with members of the media and a CIA operative in tow. They arrive at Jonestown. They are surprised that everyone seems so, well, happy. Time passes. Nighttime arrives. Jonestown residents slip the congressman notes. ‘Help,’ they say. ‘We’re being held against our will.’ The congressman confronts Jim Jones; Jones says anyone who wants to leave can leave. So, that’s exactly what the congressman and several of the converted prepare to do. But, gunfire erupts. Someone from Jonestown ambushes and kills the congressman. Everyone becomes really frightened. ‘Where the fuck did all of the guns come from?’ they wonder. Jim Jones tells the group something like, ‘now that a congressman and the others are dead, we have to die. We can kill ourselves and die in peace, or have other people parachute in and murder & torture us for what we’ve done.’ People cry, wail and plead for their lives. ‘Bring out the Kool Aid,’ says Jones. The children are the first to die. The adults are next. In the end, when the officials arrive at Jonestown, they discover over 900 dead bodies. It’s a very very very sad story. The film features never-seen-before footage of Jonestown, heart-wrenching interviews with a few survivors, and detailed descriptions of the events that transpired. When/if a distributor picks up this documentary, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, you simply must see it. In the meantime, if you are so inclined, you can click here to listen to the Jonestown Death Tape—an actual, real-time recording of the final minutes in Jonestown. Be forewarned; it’s extremely harrowing. These are the words of men, women and children just before their deaths. Think hard about your decision to listen to it. Hmmm ... I wonder: what were you told and/or remember about the Jonestown Massacre?