Don’t Drink the Kool Aid
On November 18, 1978 what has been called the largest mass suicide in modern history occurred in Jonestown, Guyana where 909 members of The Peoples Temple died. Jim Jones was the leader of the Peoples Temple Church and religious movement. The church was looked highly upon by many back in the 1950-1970’s. All races and backgrounds were brought together as one in his congregation. Religion serves as a sanctuary from the harshness of everyday life and oppression by the powerful. Most of Jones’s followers lived lives that they were dissatisfied with and they felt as if the movement gave them a purpose. Many of his followers believed that Jim brought more opportunities into their lives and allowed them to change for the better. The story of Jim Jones and The Life and Death of Peoples Temple is very interesting and brings up many sociological questions and viewpoints.
Jim Jones grew up in Indiana. He was brought up in a very dysfunctional family. His father was an alcoholic, didn’t work, and was strongly racist. His mother had to constantly work to make ends meet and support her family. Many childhood friends of Jim’s remember him as being a very strange boy. One of his childhood friends told a story of Jim killing a cat with a knife at the age of 5. Jim spoke strongly of religion and death as a child. These things today are taken much more seriously and would have been considered huge red flags that would lead to Jim’s tragic future. As Jim grew up it was obvious he wanted to be everything his father was not. He lacked a reliable “leader” in his life that he could count on. Jim Jones began learning the ropes of becoming a preacher because he saw that preachers were father figures for their congregation. In 1955, Jones became the leader of a religious movement called the Peoples Temple. Jim eventually moved from Indiana to California due to Indiana being too racist of a place.
As a result Jim moved to California to implement racial equality. He took on the position of preacher at The Peoples Temple Church in Ukiah. His church brought together blacks, whites, and people of all ages. He accepted all into his church even though that was rare back in the 1960’s. His church was mostly functioned as a black church. Even though Jim was white, the black members of his church looked past the color of his skin and saw him as their preacher. Jim would play whatever role was needed by his members. If they saw him as a friend, father, or God he would fulfill that role. He even said that people saw God in him. Jim Jones was their symbol of religion. He was the illusion of God to most. During his sermons he would heal those who were suffering or had a disability or illness. This made his followers beliefs in him even stronger. They believed that Jones had a special power, viewing him as a sacred person. Jim was all about gaining followers and making his movement bigger, he would say and do whatever it took, whether it was true or not. He said and did things exactly how he thought people would want them. Many members of his congregation had never heard a man speak the way Jim did. In a short amount of time, through manipulation, control, and false belief, Jim obtained a great power of leadership among his congregation. Soon, The Peoples Temple gained a large amount of members and Jones led them to believe they were setting out to change the world. Eventually Jim Jones and all the members of The Peoples Temple were traveling to many communities and sharing the word of Jim Jones. Along the way they were acquiring more and more followers, using grey hound buses to transport new members of the movement. Members of Jim Jones congregation gave up their rights to Jim because they believed he had a better plan. His followers began to allow Jim to think and make decisions for them. They no longer thought for themselves, they trusted and relied on Jones, without question, to lead them down the right path. This is exactly what he was trying to do, it allowed him to take control, and it was almost as if Jones was able to brainwash thousands of people. Jim would provide clothing, medical care, food, and anything else that his followers needed. They deprived themselves of sleep to work and support Jim Jones and the movement. Jim Jones believed, “sell all things and have things in common.” Religion, especially Jones’s, binds members and allows them to have common values and beliefs. His followers sold everything they had and gave all of their money to the church, including their pay checks. His followers trusted in him, so they did and acted however he said. Jim began to take complete control over every aspect of these people’s lives. His followers were idolizing him and putting him before family, work, and everything else in their lives.
As time passed, Jim Jones and the movement began to change. Some say that Jones began to lose control. He began drinking and using drugs and started to go crazy. Jim Jones became extremely paranoid and thought the whole world was against him and his movement. Jones was so paranoid that he even started to fear for his own life. He compared himself and his movement to Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr., which were both assassinated, so he was afraid the same would happen to him. Jones was desperate to get his followers away from the negative influences of the public. As the officials, public, and family members started to ask questions and wonder about things, Jones felt as if he was starting to lose all the control that he had gained and he did not want to risk that. He did not want his members to start thinking for themselves and asking questions too, so he knew he had to get away. In 1975, Jones began constructing a refuge in Guyana which is what he would call Jonestown. He created the refuge to provide a type of isolation for his followers from the negative world around them. Jones wanted to be the only influence and power among his people. A sign shown hanging up at Jonestown, but not mentioned, read: “Those who do not remember the past, are not condemned to repeat it.” This continues to prove that Jones was to be the only influence on their lives now, they are to forget their pasts. During this time an article was in the making from ex members of the movement and concerned relatives of the members still involved. This brought about questions and led to Congressmen Leo Ryan going to visit Jonestown and investigate. He arrived on November 17, 1978. Overall, Congressmen Ryan was very impressed by Jonestown. All the members were enthusiastic and seemed to be very happy there. What Ryan soon found out was that all was not as well as displayed. Before too long, all the enthusiasm and happiness would soon take a turn for the worse. When Congressmen Ryan spoke with the followers on November 18, 1978 he asked if they wanted to leave Jonestown. Many answered that they never wanted to leave but there were some individuals that spoke up and admitted they wanted to get out of Jonestown. The members felt trapped and that there was no way out, they felt tied down. Some of the members finally started to break the hold and power Jones had over them, long enough to start thinking for themselves again. When word got out about members wanting to leave Jonestown more and more individuals came forward and wanted to leave as well. When Jim Jones was asked by a reporter if they were allowed to leave he answered, “of course you are allowed to leave,” which obviously wasn’t the truth. Complete chaos broke out as the followers who wanted to leave began gathering their things. A man even tried to stab Congressmen Ryan with a knife, which was the sign that no one was safe there. Congressmen Ryan along with a couple reporters and those wanting to leave Jonestown departed to the airstrip, at this time Jones made no attempt to stop them from leaving. Upon arriving to the airstrip Congressmen Ryan, the reporters, and the members who were leaving Jonestown were greeted with a pickup truck full of Jones’s armed guards. They began firing on the entire group of people as they were boarding the plane leaving five people, including Congressmen Ryan, dead on the airstrip. As all that madness was going on back at Jonestown, Jones called for a meeting with the remaining members of The Peoples Temple. Jones came over the loud speaker and announced that the congressman had been killed and that they were going to be attacked. He said that they and their children would all be tortured, “If we can’t live in peace, we will die in peace” is what he continued to say. Jones gave the chance for anyone to speak against this plan, a woman arose and said that she did now want to die there. She was then shot down for voicing her opinion. He then called for the infants and children to start drinking the “Kool aid.” Jones exclaimed “die with respect, die with a degree of dignity.” The adults then proceeded to drink the poison as well, the members then laid down and died. Jim Jones explained “We did not commit suicide, it’s an act of revolutionary suicide, we are protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.”
Jones was dying slowly, losing his sanity, and his movement was about to collapse before his eyes. He knew that it was just a matter of time before he was about to lose complete control of everyone and everything, he knew he had to do something before he lost everything. According to Marx, it’s possible that Jones didn’t understand society, so he looked within his own culturally based norms and values to base his religion off of. It all comes down to Jim Jones being an extremely manipulative and controlling person. It was like Jim Jones was fishing, he put 908 poles in the water with bait, caught a fish on each pole, reeled them in and just left them hanging there and right as the fish were about to break the lines and get free, before he would let that happen, he went around and cut all the lines himself. Jones was damaged and had obvious problems as child as well. He did whatever he could to gain power and control. Jones was such a fake person his whole life, putting on front after front just to gain followers and control over them. Once he gained that control, it was all he had and he was willing to kill himself and 908 other people before he would give up that control and power he had gained. It makes me wonder what Jim Jones would be like if he was born when I was. Would somebody have realized the issues he had as a child and been able to fix him? Religion is essentially an illusion according to Durkheim, Weber, and Marx. Jim Jones created the best illusion he possibly could and when it came down to it, he couldn’t live up to it. The story of Jim Jones and The Life and Death of Peoples Temple is very interesting and brings up many sociological questions and viewpoints.