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The Jonestown Enigma

I picked up a PBS DVD about Jonestown and The People's Temple from the library last week. I had no idea that November 18th marked the 30th anniversary of the tragedy where over 900 people died. Though I knew Jonestown was a notoriously significant event in the cultural history of United States, I knew little of the details. It happened about 4 months after I was born.

After watching the documentary I was surprised how little mention there was of the 30th anniversary, although I later found some articles on CNN's web site and by chance recorded a 2 hour television special with Jonestown survivors interviewed Soledad O'Brien (which I haven't watched yet).

Most of the dead associated with Jonestown People's Temple members lead by Jim Jones into what he termed "revolutionary suicide." Other deaths included journalists and California Congressmen Leo Ryan, who were murdered after visiting the People's Temple compound in Guyana to investigate and subsequently help a few defectors escape the compound. Ironically, Congressman Ryan considered Jonestown "a beautiful place" despite the fact that several members implored his help to escape. This video footage of his visit underscores the enigma of the entire situation.

According to Wikipedia, the "events in Jonestown constituted the greatest single losses of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the events of September 11th."

The deaths at Jonestown are commonly referred to as the "Jonestown Massacre", which I think is more appropriate than labeling it a mass suicide, although the semantics are admittedly complex given the opaqueness of the details. While most members "voluntarily" ingested the cyanide-infused concoction that lead to their demise, they were surrounded by armed security guards prior to doing so. Most disturbingly, the PBS documentary replays audio of the initiation of the mass deaths that features Jones hysterically encouraging the adults to begin by poisoning their own children.

The phrase "Drinking the Kool-Aid" is derived from incidents at Jonestown in reference to one of the ingredients of the poison concoction, though the Kool-Aid brand itself was likely not involved. I used to find that phrase somewhat amusing when it was used flippantly in business meetings or other contexts, but now it's just disturbing.

For anyone not familiar with the rise and fall of Jim Jones and the People's Temple, I highly recommend checking out the DVD below. It's highly fascinating and profoundly sad, but it's also a uniquely compelling narrative in that it relies on former members of the People's Temple and Jonestown survivors to tell the story of what happened.