What is your opinion on the communist man who claimed he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and forced over 900 people to commit mass suicide, and then assassinated an American politician and his committee who tried to prevent the mass suicide? I think he was a bastard who deserved to die, and it's a shame so many people followed him and killed themselves just because he told them to. Read More on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones
Did my leaving cert history project on him, theres a 45 minute sound recording of the whole thing taking place. Mental stuff, just a nutter with a way with words tbh
leo ryan and his delegation were not trying to prevent a mass suicide - they had no idea it was coming, and in fact, probably triggered it my opinion, jones was insane, and his followers were deluded - which is not much different from my opinion of most religious leaders and their congregations 'to me death is not a fearful thing, it's living that's cursed' [pure mainline christian thinking] true, they don't all get so extreme, but the potential for mass unpleasantness is always there . . . [waiting for geriatric delinquent to come and totally ass-fuck this thread ]
Jim Jones knew he couldn't survive the murder of a sitting US congressman, it was after Ryan was shot and killed that they killed themselves. All we have to show for it now is the expression 'drinking the kool-aid', except it was actually flavor aid. Kind of funny that, poor Kool Aid -- sales must have been horrible for years.
glad someone could add something new to my small store of knowledge all this time and i either never learned that - or it didn't stick...
This was actually a good demonstration of the way people's minds work... Tell them you will save their soul, and they will follow you to death... literally... Tell them that their soul is their business and you will help them help themselves... and they run away... I'd laugh, but I dont really find it humorous...
The original idea was probably a good one. They seemed to have a beautiful place there and it looked like it could have been a paradise had Jones not had a messianic complex. I believe I remember that his "followers" were ordered to drink the stuff under threat of guns. People seem to need leaders and when they go bad,crazy stuff happens. Remember the ones that committed suicide to be taken away on that comet that passed by earth? In the 70s,I saw people give up their hard earned land and money to false prophets. Sad.
Yeah, a few people were shot or shot themselves. A few parents shot their children to avoid them dying from the poison too. Totally mental stuff. http://www.archive.org/details/ptc1978-11-18.flac16 The audio of it is there.
