**WARNING** GRAPHIC IMAGES AND CONTENT AHEAD!!
I watched the movie Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple. It provides an accurate history of the events, personal stories from survivors of Jonestown, and a look into why these events were allowed to transpire.
On November 18th, 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana, the deadliest mass suicide in modern history occurred. 909 people died that day by the orders of one man: Jim Jones. Jones started a congregation called the Peoples Temple, and in the mid 1950s opened his first church in Indianapolis. His church focused on the acceptance and inclusion of all people regardless of their race or socioeconomic class.
Cult leader Jim Jones with Peoples Temple member Rachel Dolezal: Members of all backgrounds felt accepted by Jones.
The size of the church grew, and Jones decided to relocate to California with his followers. The Peoples Temple continued to grow here, until he decided to relocate again to Jonestown, Guyana. It is amazing to think that one man persuaded people to leave their families, their homes, and follow him wherever he wanted to go; eventually to their death. Jim Jones convinced many members of the Peoples Temple to poison themselves and their children by drinking a mixture of cyanide, sedatives, and Kool-Aid.
Jim Jones was described by many as a very charismatic man. People liked him. They liked being around him. Jones would pretend to heal people of illness and handicap. He acted as though he was God. He convinced people that the government was after the church and promised he would save them. He recruited young people into his church who were usually uneducated and/or emotionally vulnerable. One survivor disclosed that he was an alcoholic and felt hopeless until he met Jim Jones. The Peoples Temple provided people with what many described as a large family. Jones used the foot in the door compliance technique by asking members small requests such as selling their homes and moving, which escalated and eventually led to requests of suicide.
Many factors contributed to the conformity of the members of the Peoples Temple. There were people throughout the existence of the Peoples Temple that stood up against the actions of Jim Jones. However, they were completely shunned and dismissed by the rest of the church, and were often asked to leave. The fear of being ostracized by the group led many people to suppress their feelings. The members of the Peoples Temple were not allowed to talk to their family members outside of the church or other members of the church about their opinions on Jones. People would turn in their fellow members if they spoke ill about the church. For this reason, many people who had doubts about Jones believed that everyone except for them thought his actions were normal, and they themselves were wrong about him.
I believe that it is important to be aware of these tactics in order to resist manipulation in similar situations.
The members of the Peoples Temple truly did believe they were doing the right thing when they committed suicide on that dark day in November. They did it for a man they had praised for years, and for their family. It is so terrible that one man had so much power over all of them, they couldn't tell right from wrong.
Bodies of Peoples Temple Members/Victims of the Jonestown Massacre
If you are interested in reading more about Jim Jones and The Jonestown Massacre, the Encyclopedia Britannica is an excellent source of information.
I would also recommend watching the movie Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. There are also many other movies created which explore the events of the Jonestown massacre.
Works Cited
- Nelson, S., Smith, M. A., Walker, W. N., Chin, M., Phillips, T., In Erskine, L., Firelight Media., ... Paramount Home Entertainment (Firm),. (2007). Jonestown: The life and death of Peoples Temple. Alexandria, Va.: PBS Home Video.
- The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (2017, November 09). Jonestown massacre. Retrieved March 05, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/event/Jonestown-massacre
- Images
- https://www.voanews.com/a/this-day-in-history-jonestown-massacre/3602889.html
- https://www.laprogressive.com/jim-jones-and-rachel-dolezal/
Nice post! Great example of the extremes of conformity. I actually just listened to a podcast called "Last Podcast on the Left" and they had a 5 part series on Jonestown. One thing to note is that they estimate nearly 1/3 of those people were actually involuntarily forced to drink the mix. Still, that leaves over 600 people doing it voluntarily. It's amazing how intelligent these cult leaders really are and all of the skills they must possess to get people to do this kind of stuff. And I do agree that it's important people are aware of this and recognize techniques to prevent manipulation. Unfortunately, like with many members of the Peoples Temple, it comes down to education and being uneducated can make people an easier target.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good point that a good chunk of members were forced to drink the poison. Many of those cases were actually mothers feeding it to their babies and young children. And yes, being uneducated generally makes people more vulnerable.
DeleteOne of the phrases you used really stood out to me: "Jones used the foot in the door compliance technique by asking members small requests such as selling their homes and moving...". Even this request seems outrageous when you are on the outside of such an atrocity. I think this sort of thing is the scariest part of Social Psychology. You see it with members of the Nazi party: charismatic, cunning, and powerful leadership can turn masses of people to take actions that they would normally never consider.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what steps we could take as societies and individuals to help protect ourselves and others from this sort of conformity.
That's a good point! I failed to mention that many of the people who sold their homes were elderly and were promised a place where they would be cared for within the church. Eventually all of the Peoples Temple members left their homes for the church but it began with the elderly. And yes, I agree that Jones' personality can be compared to that of Hitler.
DeleteI think that as a society we can be more skeptical, or scientifically minded regarding requests that seem outrageous. For example, if a person offers you a safe place to say, regardless of your situation you should skeptically consider why they are offering you this and maybe consider the opinions of others outside of the request on whether you should accept or not.
DeleteI find it so interesting that such a large group of people actually listened to Jones and followed through with his demand to drink the substance. I think that they were so captivated by his friendly personality and his in depth messages that many of the people actually came to believe that he was a trustworthy man with honest intentions. What puzzles me is why so many people still chose to follow his ultimate request despite the fact that many people know that suicide is not the answer.
ReplyDeleteAfter Jones had established trust within the group, he could convince them of just about anything. He grew very paranoid, and his members grew paranoid with him. He ultimately convinced them that if they took their lives, the government couldn't take them. So he really had them convinced that suicide was the answer.
DeleteThis is an interesting post because it is crazy that he was able to manipulate all those people to eventually commit suicide. I like when you talked about how he used the foot in the door technique because I never really thought about that technique being used over that long of a period of time. He was able to get people to conform to his group and then they listened and obeyed his requests because people truly thought that they were doing the right thing. Even though a lot of people know suicide isn't the answer, they still followed through with it, and that is what amazes (and scares) me the most.
ReplyDeleteIt is a very scary thought that most of them had no idea they were being manipulated, and it was able to escalate to that extent.
DeleteIt's fascinating how at so many points at history, people become too afraid to stand up, and deviate from what they feel is the norm. Just like in Nazi Germany, people were cowed into submission by what they believed would happen if they stood against the Nazis. It's scary to think that we have so many examples of this happening, and still have no great solution to preventing it. We can't just assume that people will always be good, because it seems like the every day man is completely capable of going along with the flow, and letting something like the Nazis, or the Jonestown Massacre to occur.
ReplyDeleteVery true! I think the worst part is that in both of these situations, the people who were manipulated were seemingly normal/average members of society, and these behaviors would never be expected.
DeleteIn a really dark way, it is kind of impressive how much this man got people to do things. The fact that someone with a certain amount of charisma can utilize certain techniques to get them to do basically anything is incredible. It's really eye opening, and really reinforces the need to think about all the decisions you are making, and WHY you are making them.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is impressive and unfortunate that his power was used for such evil. It think this kind of "talent" can be really useful if used for positive results.
DeleteNice post Emilia! I remembered this being re-enacted on family guy and glad to finally get the reference. It is crazy how the influence of others change what we do. I think the group did a great job at scary people, like you said, they ostracized those who did not conform and asked them to leave. Additionally, the idea of creating a family within the church is a huge hook for people like the alcoholic you mention. Do you think any churches today are asking obscene request or using a similar tactic and taking advantage of people?
ReplyDelete