RIP Jonestown (PEOPLE'S TEMPLE) Massacre - 11-18-19-1978

[Valerie5555]

Next week is the 25 year anniversary of the Jonestown Cult Suicides, I barely remembered where I was when I heard when the cult suicides happened in Guyana as I was in grade 2 at the time and was hardly one for paying attention to such things, so I wonder if anyone remembered where they were when they heard about that.


Maybe in memoriam for the People's Temple cult massacre, we should resist any attempt on Bush's part to give us, or our families and friends any political or other "kool aid" or "flavor aid," that may contain "cyanide" in it before it was too late.

[KG]

1. that was some freaky shit.

hard to imagine hundreds of folks just offing themselves like that.

then, i heard of freerepublic.com and found that kool-aid drinking is isn't so rare at all!

[Valerie5555]

2. Holy Moly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wonder if the freepers are the next to pull off some sort of cult suicide.

[KG]

5. one can only hope!

:)

[Valerie5555]

8. Sorry , but I can't really see Jim Rob or Rim Job

handing out koolaid or flavoraide and cyanide to anyone.

[sybylla]

3. In highschool

I remember hearing about it and the shock people seemed to feel over the ability of one man to cause such willing and willful destruction of human life.

It was scary for many and it seemed to me to be the trigger of the cult scares of the late 70's and early 80's. Perhaps we were witnessing the beginning of fearmongering in the media.

[Valerie5555]

7. Remembered the whole Waco thing more clearly and

yes I also remembered the bad Waco jokes like "How many Branch Davidians can you fit into a Volkswagen? 2 in the front, 2 more in the back and 86 more in the ashtray."


Wonder if Waco was also a true cult suicide , and a shocker in its own way , since everyone at that compound actually burnt or burned themselves and their children alive.

[soleft]

4. Hey Valerie

Long Time No See

There's a movie about Jonestown starring Powers Boothe you could probably rent. It was a made for TV movie but you could probably get it on video.

[Valerie5555]

6. Remembered acutally just reading some 2nd hand book about

the Jonestown massacre, think it was called Massacre In Guyana or something, but I eventually sold that one to a different used bookstore.

[cjm2222]

9. My brother had to help clean up the bodies at Jonestown

He had some photos of the bodies (as evidence, not for his own viewing pleasure). When he got home, his wife--having no idea of the details, had made grape kool-aid. He immediately dumped it all down the drain. He was in the army, stationed in Panama, at the time. It really freaked him out for awhile.

[Valerie5555]

10. Couldn't blame him for that and for insisting that his kids, if he had any

have a lemon aid selling stand rather than a koolaid one.

[cjm2222]

11. True

I still don't know if he drinks kool-aid. I've never seen him drink it, nor have I seen it in his house. I don't really blame him, though.

[Valerie5555]

12. And holy doo doo the bodies of the victims must have been too

bloated from the sun and hard to identify.

[mitchum]

22. It was FLAVOR ADE!

Seriously, the Kool Aid company (General Mills?) spent a lot of money and time trying to set the record straight about the actual "people's choice" It didn't work.

[Valerie5555]

25. At least I couldn't be blamed for saying it was kool aid for

some probably did say that a LONG time ago.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. I can still remember hearing about Jonestown

I was watching Saturday Night Live with my boyfriend, and right after the show ended, the special news bulletin about the mass suicide came on. We were bewildered, because at first we suspected that it might be one of SNL's fake news items. But alas, it wasn't.

[Valerie5555]

16. Remembered seeing a commemorative special about that about 5 years ago

commemorating the 20 year anniversary and I wonder if there will be any 25 year anniversary commemorative specials

[fortyfeetunder]

14. A chilling day indeed

I remember the cover story of Newsweek, just littered with swollen corpses. I will never forget that.

The dark humor that prevailed is be wary of anyone who offers you a grilled cheese sandwich with grape Kool-aid for a meal!

[Valerie5555]

15. Holy moly I remembered seeing something on the Internet or somewhere about

a song called "Jonestown" to the tune of "Down Town" by Petula Clark, with lyrics like something about "Congressman Ryan was on a mission of spyin'" and couldn't really remember the rest.

On edit: Oh my god, I also remembered reading how during the Iranian hostage incident the Americans actually made up a song called "BOMB IRAN" to the tune of "Babara Ann" by the Beach Boys.

[alwynsw]

17. I was stationed at Luke AFB, AZ

We got the news on the day room TV.

Sounds cruel, but I feel now as I did then. It was a horrendous act perpetrated by horrendous people. The vast majority of victims did not deserve what they got, but they certainly asked for it. To blindly follow anyone to the lengths those people did to end up in Jonestown is sheer folly. Darwinism in action.

Yes, I understand that some people are so desperate for meaning in their lives that they will go to any lengths to fill the void. Truly sad. Truly appalling. Utter foolishness.

My feelings about their actions in no way diminishes my grief and horror at their fate, nor does it diminish my compassion for their surviving friends and families.

My mom always said she should have made my middle name either Cynical or Pragmatic.

[Valerie5555]

18. The same could be said of the Branch Davidians who some may have

referred to as "Those Whackos of Waco," or "Those Whackos In Waco"

[alwynsw]

19. Agreed. also Heaven's Gate

Drink up! Let's ride the comet home!

I'm looking for some losers with some money
Who would like to follow me
I'll be the leader of their flock
And they can follow me.

In Baja I will make some calls
And have a vet cut off their balls
The girls and I have sex till dawn
Cause the other guys, their balls are gone!

OOH! AHH!

Drink this kool-aid have no fear.
I've called the bank your check has cleared.
I'm looking for some losers with some money who would like to follow me.

(refrain)
Follow, morons,
Follow me.

Sorry, I forget the original author.

[Valerie5555]

20. Is that about Heaven's Gate or Jonestown since there is a

reference to koolaid in that song.

[alwynsw]

24. I believe it was intended to blend both

[Valerie5555]

26. Wondered if it also mentioned Waco and the Branch Davidians.

eom.

[Snow]

21. Remember it well - my family knew James Jones, he was a guest at our house

a number of times. This was in Indianapolis, before he moved west. My parents had adopted my brother and sister from Korea and started a local support group for Korean adopting families. One such was the Rev James Jones, who was pastor for a church he called "Peoples' Temple". It was in a poor black neighborhood and had things like a free soup kitchen. My mother remembers him as a very charismatic man, although I suspect her memory's biased. I liked their kids, I was 13 or so at the time. Jones always wore those tinted glasses, though - that seemed a little odd in Indianapolis in the early 60's. So, yeah, I remember when it happened. By the way, back then he went by "James" - don't know if he ever became "Jim" or if the media assumed that was what he went by.

[Valerie5555]

28. Wondered if you could imagine either knowing Cong. Ryan or just being

one of his constituients.


Wonder if Jim Jones was a "whacko cult leader" for real.

[mitchum]

23. I was smpking pot and watching Soul Train when the first reports...

about the ambush at the landing strip came across the TV. Later in the day the carnage at the compound was discovered. The 70s...

[Valerie5555]

27. Remembered recently reading how the kids at the compound were allowed to

watch "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" to apparently distract and divert their attention from what was going on.

[CanuckAmok]

29. Jim Jones/Peoples' Temple broadcast, next week:

Saturday night, November 15th, at 11:30pm Pacific Time--The last ever recording of Jim Jones, literally recorded as the members of the Peoples' Temple were dying in the background, will be broadcast on CHLY-FM 101.7 (on the internet at http://www.chly.fm ).

Tune in.

[mitchum]

30. I'm really glad that he is remembered as a wacko religious figure...

rather than a leftist activist. I honestly think that he started his ministry with very good intentions, but drug abuse and megalomania turned everything horrific

[midwest_lurker]

31. i am your age

and i learned of it as a teenager. actually if asked what year i would have guessed earlier, like '74.

scary and fascinating story. the earlier post about freepers completely misses the truth about how this happened (it may work as an interesting metaphor in another context but rightwingactivst b.s. to me represents utter self-interest not suicide-if-leader-says-the-word...but that is merely my opinion)

truly tragic

[kodi]

32. the 1st time i heard his voice i recognized it as the voice of pure evil

i have never felt anything like it before or since, the feeling went right to the bone and i knew that guy was the devil's proxy.

listen, hear, here

http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/jonestown.html

[RandomKoolzip]

33. Back when I was a sicko teenager...

I ordered an audio tape of the Jonestown Suicide from this company in Connecticut, TPOS, who specialized in hardcore punk but also sold tapes of unusual audio events and things, like Charles Manson singing in prison, Alestair Crowley chanting in his own made-up language...


The most unsettling thing about that tape was the opening speech, recorded a few days before the actual mass murder/suicide, where Rev. Jim is just RANTING at the top of his lungs about how he'll "FIGHT!! FIGHT! IIIIIIIIIIII'LLLLLL FFIIIIIIGGGHHTT!!!" I remember hearing it for the first time in the middle of a sunny summer afternoon, and being so freaked out I had to go hang out with my mother for a while to calm my nerves.....a few years later, I'd put on that tape when people were tripping at my house to tweak the hell out of them. I still have it.


Of course one only needs to read a couple of the many conspiracy webpages about Jonestown to get the feeling that something very fishy was going on there, far more sinister than just a mass suicide...