Someone Needs To Say It: Jim Jones Was A Bad Dude

Image result for jim jones
I love myself a good cult story, I've talked about that before, and so I found myself watching a documentary series on the Jonestown Massacre.

I've read and watched a lot of material on Jonestown over the years and I've come to a formal conclusion: Jim Jones was an unsavory character.

As controversial an opinion as that may be, it's the truth.

Like all good cult leaders, Jim Jones started out as a creepy kid. He held elaborate funerals for roadkill. I know that this was in like the 30s, but a red flag should have been raised right then and there. Sane people don't do anything with roadkill except scoop it up with a shovel and fling it into their neighbor's yard. Still, no one said anything and that lead to ol' Jonesy starting one of the first integrated churches in Indiana, before moving to California.

I've heard California referred to as "The Land Of Fruit And Nuts" so maybe Jim Jones drank the Kool-Aid with which he has become synonymous, and got crazier.

Those sunglasses he wore all the time were;t just a totally bitchin' fashion statement, but we're used to hide the fact that he was completely hopped up on goofballs. He made church members fight each other in lop-sided boxing matches. That's not cool, but I'll admit if the fights were somewhat even I'd be at church every Sunday, to the point that I'd earn the nickname "Captain Front-Pew."

Jones would earn an invitation to the inauguration of everyone's favorite peanut-farming president, Jimmy Carter, after bussing in crowds of people for a Rosalynne Carter campaign stop in San Francisco. Don't believe me? Here's a picture of Mrs. Carter and Jim Jones:
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And here's an unrelated photo of Mrs. Carter and part-time birthday party clown/full-time serial killer, John Wayne Gacy:

Image result for rosalynn carter jim jones

But I digress...

Jones even faked an assassination attempt on him, but his followers were so brainwashed (not their fault, the man could spin quite a yarn) that they believed it and moved to Guyana to start a commune known as Jonestown.

Jonestown ultimately became fairly self-sufficient, but Jones overlooked the fact that the people he brought with him to Guyana had relatives back in the States who weren't buying what he was selling, and asked the government, specifically Congressman Leo Ryan to get involved.

The tragic events that unfolded during Congressman Ryan's visit to Jonestown are well documented (due to an NBC News camera crew being along for the ride) and it's a bit of along story so I'm not going to get into it here. GO hop on your internet machine to learn more or look for the fantastic documentary, Jonestown: Terror In The Jungle (produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, ladies).

On a related note, I recently saw an article that talked about how after Jonestown, things would never be the same again for, not the families of the victims, but for Kool-Aid.

Never mind the 900+ people that died, the fat-ass pitcher of juice that forces you to repair your dry-wall when he runs through it with a hearty, "Oh Yeah!' is going to need quite a few rounds of therapy before he's ready to get back on his feet.


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