Mass Suicide In Jonestown

The mass suicide in Jonestown is easily one of the most infamous events in modern history. The saying “Drink the Kool-Aid” is from this event and still used to this day. The mass suicide happened in 1978, yet people still have so many questions. They cannot wrap their minds on why people would just follow a man to another country and kill themselves. I believe they do not understand what being in a group can cause and what some would do just because of being in that group. To begin with, this actually happens to us but we just do not see it that manner. If your group of friends starts saying a new slang, you will most likely start using the new slang too, even if you think it is the dumbest word to ever be created. Groupthink, a term first

His congregation was interracial which broke the social norm in the Mid-West. It was new and they favored interracial institutions, as the Civil Rights era was occurring at the time of his first church. Also moving to another country to start a new society just because your religious leader told you to do so; is breaking the social norm. Leaving your family to follow a man to another state because of your religion is breaking the social norm. Jim Jones threw a bible at the floor and asked his congregation whether if they saw him get struck by lightning. This breaks the social norm because the bible is highly respected; it is used to be sworn in office and in court. Also he is a Reverend you would assume that he would not throw the

Racial issues were still high at the time with the Civil Rights occurring just a few years before his first church. Increasing the popularity of his church, he was the progressive church. But people told him to leave Indiana because the population is still mostly racist. So he tells his members that they must move to California, as he saw it as a progressive state. But he chose a certain city in Northern California because in a magazine he read that the city is one of the places where people would survive if a nuclear attack happened to the United States. It sounds a little far-fetched but this was during The Cold War; nuclear tension was at an all-time high between the world’s most powerful