{PUBLIC} We need more education on cult-religion outcomes
I am almost twenty-five, and I had never heard of Jim Jones, the People's Temple, or the Jonestown Massacre, and I'm sure there are millions others that are ignorant to it as well.
Jones was a fucking psycho that manipulated thousands of people into thinking he was a brilliant, kind, caring man who helped the poor through his churches. It wasn't until he moved a community to Guyana did people see him for who he really was. By that time, it was too late. He wouldn't let them leave. In the end over 900 of them, Jones included, were dead, either as a willing participant in the mass suicide, or unwillingly injected with cyanide.
Between Jonestown and the Waco massacre, I believe the public needs to be more educated on this. Just maybe, maybe, if people realized from the past that following a mass church-cult (or just mass cult in general) could result in painful death, they wouldn't be so eager to jump in the band wagon.
But that's me putting a lot of useless faith in humanity, where in the past it's shown humanity is stupid and blind.
My mum says I'm "fascinated" by the whole thing, but I'm not. I'm horrified that something like this can happen, and I want to know all the details so I can educate others in hopes of bringing it to light. I mean, not even my mum knew any details about what had happened, and this was in 1978, so she was definitely old enough to care about it. It irks me that people see this kind of stuff in the news and they just shrugs and turn their heads, forgetting it ever happened. We can't learn from our past mistakes if we don't acknowledge them!
EDIT;; If you are interested and want to know more, then Wikipedia has some good info on both Jonestown and Waco.
Jones was a fucking psycho that manipulated thousands of people into thinking he was a brilliant, kind, caring man who helped the poor through his churches. It wasn't until he moved a community to Guyana did people see him for who he really was. By that time, it was too late. He wouldn't let them leave. In the end over 900 of them, Jones included, were dead, either as a willing participant in the mass suicide, or unwillingly injected with cyanide.
Between Jonestown and the Waco massacre, I believe the public needs to be more educated on this. Just maybe, maybe, if people realized from the past that following a mass church-cult (or just mass cult in general) could result in painful death, they wouldn't be so eager to jump in the band wagon.
But that's me putting a lot of useless faith in humanity, where in the past it's shown humanity is stupid and blind.
My mum says I'm "fascinated" by the whole thing, but I'm not. I'm horrified that something like this can happen, and I want to know all the details so I can educate others in hopes of bringing it to light. I mean, not even my mum knew any details about what had happened, and this was in 1978, so she was definitely old enough to care about it. It irks me that people see this kind of stuff in the news and they just shrugs and turn their heads, forgetting it ever happened. We can't learn from our past mistakes if we don't acknowledge them!
EDIT;; If you are interested and want to know more, then Wikipedia has some good info on both Jonestown and Waco.