Is it possible? Have twenty-five years really gone by? There was something about it on the NBC Nightly News tonight.

Jonestown began here

I think something about that event when I was 8 years old has led to a lifetime infatuation with cults and mass suicide--not wanting to join one, but wanting to know everything I can about them and what led those people to where they were. Without even seeing the images last night, I could still recall the pictures from the newspaper way back then.

Let's see what one sick man can do in the name of God.

1.

Let's see what one sick man can do in the name of God.

1. Convince a thousand people to leave their homes and country and move to a primitive country.

2. Pick the pockets of all of his followers by convincing them to give hime everything they have -- all of their material possessions.

3. Entice a fair number of his "followers" to have sex with him.

4. Tell people to stand in line, drink a potion and kill themselves.

All in the name of God. Go figure.

As Tom Brokaw observed, it makes no more sense today than it did when it happened.

For information on the congressman killed, Google for {leo ryan jonestown}. Here's a link:

The Assassination of Representative Leo J. Ryan and the Jonestown, Guyana Tragedy

and another, from the same site

[ November 19, 2003, 11:46 AM: Message edited by: twin58 ]

Well, I think there was just slightly more to it than that. As I understand it there were political and sociological components to the tragedy as well. This knee-jerk contempt for religion is a bit tedious and simplistic.

But since we've blamed enemy #1, it's undoubtedly time for the next step. Have any of you lefties figured out how President Bush, the Bush Family, neoconservatives, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Fox News, etc. were involved with and/or responsible for Jonestown? Come on, I'm sure you can think of something...

[ November 19, 2003, 12:14 PM: Message edited by: William1865 ]

And let's not forget that other shock to San Francisco that happened 8 days later, the assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk by noted Twinkie eater Dan White.

I remember at the time thinking that world had gone completely insane.

There was a made-for-TV movie made about Jim Jones.

Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones