Jonestown mass suicide

billzhao

; |' ]7 O: q7 `* \' x
2 b+ O8 z! a$ W, ^0 Khttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HTtLHgU9tY

3 i2 l) c; i& f/ K
CNN documentary
& P1 J4 k4 s  y& k# M
, H( B: J9 Z/ o: m: g3 {8 |6 H: iNew documentary explores Jonestown mass suicide

Twenty-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.

% N" B  \9 o  {" L' Q' z5 {What more could there be to the story? Plenty, it turns out.
# C3 \0 L+ I: \8 [- vI 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.
$ Z: [7 O! ~9 g% I- f4 [4 t# r
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.

5 d( z) A& G! ZThe 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.
3 i, N1 m0 _$ M' E7 b5 j+ R
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.
" _4 a' S1 |! L6 x
  F. q, z4 v7 q% p: U; xWhat'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.