On This Day in History: November 18

The Jonestown Massacre

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We should probably stop using the phrase “drink the Kool-Aid.” First off, it was cyanide-laced Flavor Aid that took the lives of almost a thousand people in Guyana, not Kool-Aid. And second, it wasn’t so much a mass suicide as it was a mass murder. People say drink the Kool-Aid to refer to people who voluntarily embrace their doom. Most of those in Jonestown didn’t want to die.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: November 18, 1978--

Jim Jones was a cult leader, a self-professed faith healer, and an all-around murderous piece of fucking shit. Born in 1931 in Indiana, childhood acquaintances referred to him as a “really weird kid” who obsessed over both God and death.

Jones became a communist in the era of McCarthyism in the 1950s, so of course he took that personally. He decided a way to spread communism was to “infiltrate the church.” Later, he realized that running your own church was a great way to make money to achieve one’s aims, so he studied none other than Adolf Fucking Hitler to learn how to manipulate his cult members.

Anyway, there were a couple of decades of growing influence and media attention due to his stance regarding racial integration of his “church,” because he was for it at a time when that was way unpopular. Aside from that bit of progressiveness, he was the fucking worst. Outwardly he was seen as a humanitarian, but he abused his followers and made them sign over all their possessions to him.

By 1977, people were starting to ask questions and Jones said fuck this we’re moving to another continent, and off to Guyana it was to set up a cult commune. And it was not a good place to be. Member of Congress Leo Ryan was concerned about how American citizens were being treated there and flew down with a delegation to investigate. While there a bunch of people said get us the fuck out of here and he said okay I have an airplane. As they tried to leave, they were ambushed by cult members with guns who killed Ryan and four others, and wounded 11. Side note: One of the wounded, Jackie Speier, was hit five times and almost died. She has served as a Democrat in Congress since 2008.

Jones knew he was in deep shit and wanted to take everyone down with him, so on November 18, 1978, he called for “revolutionary suicide.” He said the U.S. intelligence services were going to parachute in and torture them all, so drink this poison. A lot of people didn’t want to and were forced to drink or were injected with cyanide. Over 900 people died in the massacre, over 300 of them children. By the way, it was not an easy death. It took several minutes and was horrifyingly painful.

Jones, that cowardly piece of shit, shot himself in the head.

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