This American cult leader and his commune gave us the expression "drinking the Kool-Aid", and yet more than 30 years later we still don't fully understand the events of Jonestown, Guyana. What blows my mind is that nobody saw the sinister acts of Jones coming; in fact, many otherwise legitimate and trustworthy individuals considered him to be "a man of the highest character" (Harvey Milk). I feel like I would have at LEAST gotten a bit of a creepy vibe from the guy. Come on, the sunglasses? The creepy stares? The...ewww? Maybe hindsight is 20/20.
Highlights: Interesting how signs of being a sick psychopath manifest themselves in a person early on; apparently Jim stabbed a cat to death as a kid. I find it so creepy that the American hub of the People's Temple church was in Northern California! As a sociological experiment, at least it shows that communism is ineffective even on a tiny scale. The same issues pop up: manipulation, deception, isolation, and megalomaniacal, sadistic leaders.
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