November 18, 1978 in Jonestown, Gyuana - James (Jim) Warren Jones, a self-proclaimed reverend, whose hometown was in Randolph County, Indiana, convinced 909 people, almost 200 of them children, to commit suicide by drinking a concoction made of cyanide, pesticides, and traquilizors based on the premises that the world was unpeaceful and they would be saving themselves from a lifetime of pain that they could not control. The "People's Temple," Jones' cult, was visited not long before this date by a senator named Leo Ryan from Texas who was assasinated along with four others at a nearby airstrip. For those over-achievers, you can look up an audio recording of this event taking place; hear people try and speak up against Jones, but he quickly "proves" them wrong and turns the mass against those who are skeptical. Hear him tell the children that "it will hurt less if you be quiet" as they scream in pain...then it just becomes silent.
My friend, Maggie Stoddard and I had discovered this through a thread on Reddit, a popular site which the public posts pictures, stories and questions to create enjoyment or awareness for people or ideas. After briefly reading the thread we had spent about an hour looking up information on multiple websites, listening to parts of the audio that we could handle without tearing up, and browsing through pictures of the man in charge, as well as the horrifying pictures of the site where it "all went down." It was just a village area; there were dirt roads, low-income houses, and it looked as if someone had laid all of the bodies there perfectly...when in reality each person "chose" to lay themselves down after collectively drinking the poisoin, just waiting to die. We read and listened in shock...I have never heard of this before, and it brought me to tears. How could this have ever happened? Why didn't I learn about this at school? Yes, it was some time ago, but so was Martin Luther King, Watergate, and the Korean War. Why is it that this event was neglected in all of my history classes? So once again, I had a random burst for a thirst for knowledge, and decided to do my research and find out more.
During my search, I found that his father may have a part of the Ku Klux Klan, and he studied people like Adolf Hitler while in school. His classmates though, reported him as being a social outcast who was weird, and obsessed with death and religion. Supposedly he held funerals for small animals, and stabbed a small cat to death??? I can see how others would consider him to be "weird." If his parents, teachers, and friends and seen that he was in a downward spiral towards "crazy town," why did no one say anything???
It frustrates me when I learn about events like these completely in my own free-time. Has anything like this happened recently? Well I don't know because nobody taught me! To my knowledge, I would say no, but this still shows that the education in America should be geared towards what we can use in our future, such as helping children with violent tendancies so they don't grow up to be psycho revrends and make everybody kill themselves. Jones should have been given special attention as a child, and geared away from other children who may have seen his differences and bullied him. Luckily, ther are treatments for children like this, but that doesn't keep them away from other children. The playground is a cruel place and there is no one that someone can tell me that Jim Jones grew up without a single person following him around and poking fun at some point in his life.
I guess I am just rambling because I am still flabergasted that this event is complete news to me.
Okay.
Done venting.
Thanks for reading :)
My friend, Maggie Stoddard and I had discovered this through a thread on Reddit, a popular site which the public posts pictures, stories and questions to create enjoyment or awareness for people or ideas. After briefly reading the thread we had spent about an hour looking up information on multiple websites, listening to parts of the audio that we could handle without tearing up, and browsing through pictures of the man in charge, as well as the horrifying pictures of the site where it "all went down." It was just a village area; there were dirt roads, low-income houses, and it looked as if someone had laid all of the bodies there perfectly...when in reality each person "chose" to lay themselves down after collectively drinking the poisoin, just waiting to die. We read and listened in shock...I have never heard of this before, and it brought me to tears. How could this have ever happened? Why didn't I learn about this at school? Yes, it was some time ago, but so was Martin Luther King, Watergate, and the Korean War. Why is it that this event was neglected in all of my history classes? So once again, I had a random burst for a thirst for knowledge, and decided to do my research and find out more.
During my search, I found that his father may have a part of the Ku Klux Klan, and he studied people like Adolf Hitler while in school. His classmates though, reported him as being a social outcast who was weird, and obsessed with death and religion. Supposedly he held funerals for small animals, and stabbed a small cat to death??? I can see how others would consider him to be "weird." If his parents, teachers, and friends and seen that he was in a downward spiral towards "crazy town," why did no one say anything???
It frustrates me when I learn about events like these completely in my own free-time. Has anything like this happened recently? Well I don't know because nobody taught me! To my knowledge, I would say no, but this still shows that the education in America should be geared towards what we can use in our future, such as helping children with violent tendancies so they don't grow up to be psycho revrends and make everybody kill themselves. Jones should have been given special attention as a child, and geared away from other children who may have seen his differences and bullied him. Luckily, ther are treatments for children like this, but that doesn't keep them away from other children. The playground is a cruel place and there is no one that someone can tell me that Jim Jones grew up without a single person following him around and poking fun at some point in his life.
I guess I am just rambling because I am still flabergasted that this event is complete news to me.
Okay.
Done venting.
Thanks for reading :)
