Jonestown

middle-age American living in New Jersey near the Lincoln Tunnel «« The fortieth anniversary of the Jonestown mass death was reason for my attention to return to what I only knew from childhood, and it kept my attention until last night when I watched a vid characterizing Jim Jones as a predator before the mass move to Guyana. Reasons to terminate People’s Temple membership prior to the mass move to Guyana were abundant yet more than a thousand members stayed loyal. New to me: ONE: Jonestown was jail-like in many ways and the very remote location and armed guards made defecting comparable to a prison escape. On the final day Jim Jones sent gunmen to kill defectors, and the murders by ambush were completed TWO: there is a recording of the final ceremony of mass murder suicide. The recording is easily found online THREE: many of the dead were black FOUR: the cult’s core diverted from religion (Jim was a known sexual predator and polygamous, and Jim denied a supreme being) yet People’s Temple sustained a God-like attraction to the cause FIVE: in San Francisco before the mass move People’s Temple members beat members as punishment ordered by Jim as part of their church service SIX: People’s Temple very actively encouraged ¿Forced? members to sever ties with family and friends SEVEN: Jim preached as a teenager to anyone who would listen including pet funerals for kid’s dead pets EIGHT: The final day in Jonestown was as much mass murder as it was mass suicide. For me following the break of my first marriage, death of my first-born son, David, and crashed food-science career I felt like I lost everything. If I imagine my loss in reverse I would have the process that lead people to a cult. A waywardness with key relationships soiled replaced with People’s Temple can give membership, community, and belonging to new members. Add a dangerous drunk-on-power leader like Jim Jones to the cocktail, and you have poisonous Kool Aid. »» about me 302-990-2346 contact us