This week’s lib-quote is provided by a response posted on a recent Liberty Tree comment. In response to my post, Mr. Tim Soderlund writes:
If you want anyone besides the kool-aid drinkers to find you credible you really should cite sources.
I find it amusing how many times the use of “kool-aid drinkers” shows up in comments, letters, etc. Whenever those speaking from the left use it, I am even more amused and bemused at their detachment from historical reality.
The reference is, of course, to the mass murder-suicide in 1978 of more than 900 followers of Jim Jones at Jonestown, Guyana. And that is probably the extent of what most folks know.
That would be my extent except when we subscribed to Netflix a few years ago, my wife saw that a History Channel documentary of the Jonestown tragedy was available. I didn’t know why she wanted to see that, but we got it anyway.
Turns out to be a fascinating series of events. Frightening, tragic, sad, but fascinating. And what is most fascinating is that even though members of the left today love to depict every theologically conservative Christian as blind, unthinking followers of a crazy cult leader somewhere, the historical reality is that Mr. Jones resonated with and developed political allies with the Democrat party and liberal activists during the 1970s. Those who were solidly grounded in Biblical Christian faith were not fooled; those who were floating free from those moorings were susceptible to the deceit of egomaniacs like Mr. Jones.
If Mr. Jones was ever sincere about his faith in Christ, he left it behind somewhere along the way as he developed and nurtured a following. Included in the documentary were testimonies of survivors of the Peoples Temple, men and women, who told of the “privilege” of engaging in Mr. Jones’ sexual debauchery. According to the History Channel:
In San Francisco, Jones became a powerful figure. He curried favor with public officials and the media, donated money to numerous charitable causes and delivered votes for various politicians at election time. Peoples Temple ran social and medical programs for the needy, including a free dining hall, drug rehabilitation and legal aid services. Jones' message of social equality and racial justice attracted a diverse group of followers, including idealistic young people who wanted to do something meaningful with their lives.
Creating a retreat for all of the above-mentioned social programs is great. The racial integration that he accomplished is wonderful. The requirement that he be idolized and worshipped in return is pathological.
According to the documentary, Democrats throughout California only had to make a call to Mr. Jones anytime they needed people to protest in front of the cameras. Among other things, the Peoples Temple was a regular “protestors-r-us.” According to witness testimonies, members of the cult would be given orders to participate, loaded on the bus, provided signs, and put into action. Across the nation, viewers of media news were treated to the large numbers of protestors who turned out for anti-war, feminism, and any of the several liberal-causes-du-jur. The Peoples Temple folks did not know what they were supporting or protesting, but that piece of reality was not worth investigating by most of those highly trained journalists then.
Eventually, though, stories of the travesties occurring within this little paradise began leaking out to the extent that not even the local political machines could contain it. As things began to get too uncomfortable for him, Mr. Jones moved his paradise to Jonestown, Guyana, where eventually everything there fell to pieces, too. The result was the infamous “kool-aid” incident:
The same day as the murders at the airstrip, Jones told his followers that soldiers would come for them and torture them. He ordered everyone to gather in the main pavilion and commit what he termed a "revolutionary act." The youngest members of the Peoples Temple were the first to die, as parents and nurses used syringes to drop a potent mix of cyanide, sedatives and powdered fruit juice into children's throats. (Jones had reportedly obtained a jeweler's license at some earlier point, which enabled him to stockpile cyanide.) Adults then lined up to drink the poison-laced concoction while armed guards surrounded the pavilion.
When Guyanese officials arrived at the Jonestown compound the next day, they found it carpeted with hundreds of bodies. Many people had perished with their arms around each other. Jim Jones, age 47, was found in a chair, dead from a single bullet wound to the head, most likely self-inflicted.
As I indicated, I am particularly bemused and amused whenever liberals use the “kool-aid drinkers” card because anyone with a sense of historical reality recognizes that the application to conservatives is inaccurate. It was liberals who were duped and taken in hook, line, and sinker by Mr. Jim Jones.
At every turn, it continues to be liberals who are concocting the “kool-aid” cocktails. Sadly, they are not satisfied with taking it only themselves; they are bent upon pouring down everyone’s throat.
