Posted on 11/16/2013 10:29:11 AM PST by ReformationFan
It’s been 35 years since 918 people, including 257 children, died on Nov. 18, 1978, at the Peoples Temple massacre in Jonestown. The mass murder inside the South American jungle commune in Guyana was engineered by Jim Jones, a murderous cult leader, and was the only time in American history a member of Congress, Leo Ryan, D-Calif., was killed in the line of official duty.
Most of the victims were forced to commit suicide by drinking a fatal cocktail of poisoned punch spiked with a Valium tranquilizer. In the days that followed the slaughter of the innocents, Jonestown became a widely reported global event whose media coverage rivaled that of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
As a result of the massacre, “drinking the Kool-Aid” entered the popular lexicon to describe blind acceptance of a belief without critical analysis. Some of the Jonestown dead were not suicides; they were killed against their will, and the actual drink of death was, in fact, something called Flavor Aid.
The charismatic Jones, an ordained Indiana minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), established the “Peoples Temple” in San Francisco in 1956. His primary recruitment targets were the poor, mostly people of color, and idealists who sought an egalitarian community of economic justice and spiritual fulfillment.
Jones promised a utopian society that provided for the common welfare of its members. But like most cult leaders, he became a tyrannical leader, and he exercised that power in a dangerous megalomaniacal way.
In 1973, an increasingly paranoid Jones moved Temple members to Guyana and named the Peoples Temple compound in honor of himself. Once free of U.S. law, Jones became a brutal dictator in his isolated and heavily guarded compound, where he controlled his devotees’ lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at charismanews.com ...
Guyana Punch=Liberalism.
The world has learned nothing from Jim Jones and the cultists. We have Obama as evidence.
And he knew how to provide free healthcare people could afford baby!
This guy probably still has supporters out there.
I think there was a professor at San Diego State University who was one of them.
Jim Jones and current governor Jerry Brown
Lesson to be learned....
Don’t look to man. Look to God and follow Scripture.
It was a Marxist/Lenninist cult.
Jim jones - big time Democrat.
That's why he went in the memory hole.
Same with the Brashear High School shooting that happened a few days ago.
Avoid Commies from San Fransisco who hang out with queers?
Or just stay away from Liberals?
“The world has learned nothing from Jim Jones and the cultists. We have Obama as evidence.”
Yep. Always a sucker for someone else to lead their lives and make decisions for them.
Yep. Always a sucker for someone else to lead their lives and make decisions for them.
Juan Williams reminded me of Jim Jones this morning defending Obozocare.
CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
CITY HALL, SAN FRANCISCO 94102
SUPERVISOR HARVEY MILK
February 19, 1978
President Jimmy Carter
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Carter:
I am the Supervisor for District Five in the City of San Francisco. ...There are some facts I feel you should be informed of:
Rev. Jones is widely known in the minority communities here and elsewhere as a man of the highest character, who has undertaken constructive remedies for social problems which have been amazing in their scope and effectiveness. He is also highly regarded amongst church, labor, and civic leaders of a wide range of political persuasions. Our own Board of Supervisors has presented Rev. Jones with a Certificate of Honor, unanimously passed by all members, praising the church for its many projects “which have been so beneficial to all the citizens of the Bay Area.” On the same occasion, he was also presented with a unanimously passed resolution by a Republican State Senator, Milton Marks representing that legislative body.
....
Not only is the life of a child at stake , who presently has loving protective parents in Rev. and Mrs. Jones, but our official relations with Guyana could stand to be jeopardized, to the potentially great embarassment of our State Department.
Mr. President, the actions of Mr. Stoen need to be brought to a halt. It is offensive to most in the San Francisco community, and all those who know Rev. Jones to see this kind of an outrage taking place.
Respectfully,
(Signed, ‘Harvey Milk’)
Harvey Milk
Powers Booth in the 1980 made-for-TV movie “The Guyana Story” was absolutely, fabulously great. It is well worth the watch if only for his performance, but I am also pretty sure that as a docu-drama, it’s pretty accurate with regard to Jim Jones. It’s a damned good thing he isn’t alive now!!
Make that “The Guyana Tragedy,” that was the official title.
Hope and Change
Carter, Jones, Brown and Milk: 4 characters any sane individual would stay a million miles away from.
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