Jonestown mass suicide

billzhao

; U' }+ o# S: uhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HTtLHgU9tY
4 O; k/ i$ j. l+ D3 ]

, t# S& u: S% m* ]' u  b# p0 N/ \; X) xCNN documentary
$ x' J9 C/ _/ q7 d
8 Y2 Y. P& W# w4 GNew documentary explores Jonestown mass suicide

+ ~$ O  p* Y" X2 r1 OTwenty-eight years later, what's left to say about Jonestown? Nine hundred members of a religious cult followed their fanatical leader to Guyana and willingly committed suicide by drinking a Kool-Aid-like mixture laced with cyanide.

1 `6 A. U; C' i( y$ e! i2 R2 b7 |What more could there be to the story? Plenty, it turns out.
I watched an advance copy of the new documentary, "Jonestown," by filmmaker Stanley Nelson on Sunday, and found myself drawn deeply into a macabre tale that I had little prior knowledge of.

( \- K8 e: |9 L: i# s3 C8 p6 b  }Nelson interviewed more than two dozen former members of Jim Jones' controversial Peoples Temple, including some who survived the Jonestown mass suicide -- which, by the way, looks more like mass murder now. And Nelson has unearthed dramatic video and sound recordings -- never seen or heard before that shed new light on the establishment, development and downfall of the Peoples Temple, right up until the moment Jim Jones passes out the cups.
9 N' s/ l7 {/ q/ T8 Y! R. U
The most chilling part of the film is the audio tape of Jones urging his followers to choose death over persecution. I heard, for the first time, the emotionally-pitched debate between Jones and parishioners who would rather live than die in the South American jungle. It was like a scene out of Apocalypse Now, only this time, the killing was real.

I also learned that Jim Jones didn't suddenly take a hard left onto the highway of darkness. He was deeply disturbed from childhood, and is even suspected of abusing animals, something many experts believe is a hallmark of an emerging psychopath.

What's most tragic though is that Jones' followers don't come off as a cult of religious deviants. They were -- for the most part -- earnest people, attracted to the Peoples Temple for the sense of community they couldn't find in their own lives. It gave them a feeling of belonging, though as the years wore on and Jones' insanity escalated, membership came at an ever-increasing, and in the end, ultimate price.
- A1 \! N& I+ Y9 K/ d" m