Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Jim Jones - Jonestown Massacre - Final Report - Full Documentary

Published on Jun 22, 2014
"Jonestown" was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project formed by the Peoples Temple, an American religious organization under the leadership of Jim Jones, in northwestern Guyana. It became internationally notorious when on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and in Georgetown, Guyana's capital city. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations.
A total of 909 Temple members died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in an event termed "revolutionary suicide" by Jones and some members on an audio tape of the event and in prior discussions. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others by Temple members at Port Kaituma, including United States Congressman Leo Ryan. Four other Temple members died in Georgetown at Jones' command.
To a certain extent, the actions in Jonestown were viewed as a mass suicide; some sources, including Jonestown survivors, regard the event as a mass murder.[1][2] It was the largest such event in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the events of September 11, 2001.



 


Questions for discussion:
How does this video illustrate the concepts from the chapter on religious communities? Charismatic leaders? Founded religions? Why do you think people would be attracted to join a suicide cult?

28 comments:

  1. I think people would be attracted to join a suicide cult because it allows them to think they have a purpose for life. The cult becomes their purpose for their life and once it goes away they commit suicide. This story of the Jonestown Massacre is crazy and this is the first time I hear of it.

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  2. That's insane! There is no way someone will ever convince me to kill myself unless it's Jesus Christ himself -.-

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  3. This is totally insane. I cannot even imagine how an entire population can commit suicide by getting convinced by a "man". I think all of this also has to do with illiteracy. Illiterate people are easy to convince, they can be brain washed easily.

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  4. It is so terrifying to see how such a large group of people can be so influenced by the opinions of one person. According to Criminal Minds, most people join and stay in cults because they grow a sense of 'us against the world', or feel insecure without the identity that the cult provides them.

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  5. It really is insane how a single man can control and basically brainwash so many individuals. But the leaders in very intuitive and uses his charisma to almost seduce his followers into carrying out his will. Of course this trust and community of his took time to build and fortify, but once he had both Jones exploited his power. It shows how scary a leader can become if he has no higher authority to keep him in check.

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  6. The Jonestown Massacre is absolutely horrifying. It's almost hard to believe that this actually happened. Jim Jones was a charismatic leader because he had the ability to influence people to become committed followers. Unfortunately, he used his charisma in a negative way in order to manipulate his followers to commit mass suicide. I think people would be attracted to join a suicide in order to feel like a part of something bigger than themselves or to feel accepted by others.

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  7. The Jonestown Massacre is absolutely horrifying. It's almost hard to believe that this actually happened. Jim Jones was a charismatic leader because he had the ability to influence people to become committed followers. Unfortunately, he used his charisma in a negative way in order to manipulate his followers to commit mass suicide. I think people would be attracted to join a suicide in order to feel like a part of something bigger than themselves or to feel accepted by others.

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    1. The Jonestown Massacre can be summarized as a horrific morbid suicide. The malignant narcissist Jim Jones was able to control people with no self-identity to be manipulated in his suicidal community tactics. I recall one episode from Family Guy where Meg is admitted into a cult and similarly was offered a poisonous concoction that before drinking it killed the other surrounding members. I think people would join a suicide cult in order to feel that their life problems would be resolved through death.

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  8. I had heard of the Jamestown Massacre and of Jim Jones but this video made me know more about it, more in depth. It is very hard to swallow that such things can occur. Thanks for sharing professor, the course does not necessarily talk about the negative consequences of religion so it is good to look at both sides

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  9. I can't believe people willingly followed his beliefs. Individuals with charisma should be influencing others towards good actions, not suicidal sacrifices.

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  10. this is a prime example of a charismatic leader misleading a group of people through the promise of salvation. he preyed on the weak and those who were seeking interpersonal salvation. something that many founded religions promise to its followers. but this man was a heretic and a hypocrite allowing them to follow in a very horrific and permanent resolution to his own paranoia and sadness.

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  11. It's so sad to think about how Jim Jones successfully brainwashed so many people into committing what was really mass suicide. Jones was charismatic, manipulative, and deceitful, which unfortunately was more than enough to get a huge group of people to blindly follow to their deaths for the promise of salvation and belonging, something they believe they otherwise wouldn't have found.

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  12. It is so sad to see how one man can influence so many human beings into committing such a horrible act. A man with Jim Jones charisma should had influence people to do good things, instead he used his gift for something horrible.

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  13. This event caught my attention since the day we started watching in class. It reminds me of what have been going on in Venezuela since 2000. Venezuela's actual president has convince people that shortage and misery is the right way to live. It is amazing how one person with a lot of charisma can move masses. Sadly, most of them use that charisma to do badly.

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  14. This video was absolutely shocking and hard to believe for me. It really does go to show the influence a person can have over a society and how important it is for their actions to be filtered, because if gone unacknowledged, it could lead to tragedies such as these. Jim Jones was obviously a charismatic leader but he was one that influenced his people negatively. I classify this as a classic case of brainwash by a mentally unstable leader.

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  15. Beyond the shock of learning that so many people could be induced to commit suicide, I am intrigued by what the final moments before these people decided to go through with ending their lives were like. Also the fact that the bodies were found almost in two different layers make this incident all the stranger.

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  16. It's shocking to think that over hundreds innocent people lost their lives because of one person. It is sickening how much effort and time was put into this massacre by Jones.

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  17. It's insane how many people followed him. I wonder what it is that makes us fall into the trap of a charismatic leader versus what helps us see their true colors. How can someone have this much power of so many just because of "good" personality traits?

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  18. It's insane how many people followed him. I wonder what it is that makes us fall into the trap of a charismatic leader versus what helps us see their true colors. How can someone have this much power of so many just because of "good" personality traits?

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  20. I can't even begin to understand how people can act this way. There is no way anyone could ever convince me to do such a terrible thing.

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  21. It's insane and shocking that so many people would follow him and just kill themselves. This shows you how much one person could influence and have an affect on people's lives in the world or in this case the people in this village. It's crazy how people can act this way and be so influenced under one person.

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  22. Me personally, no one can convince me to kill myself. It's against my religion as well.

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  23. This is a perfect example of succeeding in being a persuasive leader and having others being submissive and believe that what their leader is doing okay. And in this case THIS IS NOT OKAY. It's all completely horrific.

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  24. While learning about the Jonestown Massacre in class I remember thinking how crazy it was that someone can become so influential and powerful over the lives of others when they promise salvation.

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  25. I've never heard about the Jonestown Massacre but found myself very frustrated in class watching the short film. Although it is hard to understand WHY people would follow in this suicide cult, I don't think they realize the possibility or are actually willing to commit suicide at the loss of their leader. I still think that Jones was the one responsible for the death of everyone at the camp- which goes against the entire idea of what is deemed a suicide cult.

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  26. I feel that the people did not initially realize what they had gotten themselves into. But the same can be said for many people who joined the early Nazi party. Charismatic leaders have great impacts and I believe that their decisions depend on the strength of will in the people around them and their opportunities.

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  27. This is totally insane. I never kill myself just because someone tell me too. This is crazy I can't understand why people do that.

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