The Kool-Aid Man
The Kool-Aid Man
-Jim Jones and The Jonestown Massacre
The 18th day of November in the year 1978 would
go down in history as one of the largest massacre in history that involved
American citizens. Jim Jones established the Peoples Temple a Christian Sect, in
Indianapolis before relocating to Jonestown, Guyana. Jones’ Temple preached
against racism thus attracting many minority groups to follow him. Jones was no
ordinary man, in fact he was a paranoid man, and from that he built a
socialists utopia in Jonestown.
Congressman Leo Ryan, ands others were first to witness the
actual settlement in Jonestown. Jones and the Congressman were getting along
great until Jones’ paranoia got the best of him. Jones ordered an attack and assassination
attempt on Congressman Ryan while he was at the settlement. The Congressman
escaped the initial attack at the settlement. Jones, a leader and mentor of his
people, convinced everyone that followed him to drink a Kool-Aid like mixture.
The mixture consisted of cyanide and sedatives, that were given to the youngest
members of the group first and then the rest of his followers.
Jones and other members tracked the Congressman back to the
local airstrip, where they begin shooting, and ultimately killing everyone
there, including the Congressman. There was only one main survivor from this massacre,
a police man that played “dead” until Jones and his men left the scene of
bloodshed.
This was no evidence, that would have stopped this terrible even
from happening. Jones proved to everyone that one man can convince hundreds of
people to do what he tells them too, to the point of committing suicide. The government
had no involvement in this mass suicide, and there were no conspiracy theories
evolved from this tragic event.
The Huffington Post released an article explaining this
event. If you would like to view this click below: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/adst/the-jonestown-massacre_b_8592338.html
Feel free to leave a comment below and your thoughts on The
Jonestown Massacre.
-Tim Mitchell
This was very interesting to read about. I have never heard about this massacre before reading this post and the article. Why was this group after the congressman, there had to be something that started up Jones' paranoia. Did Jones tell all of his followers that the kool-aid would kill them all before they drank it? Also, if the group was after the congressman, why did they kill so many more people?
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