Jonestown_Massacre

A suicide in general is bad enough as it is. But over 900 suicides at once will no doubt shake the world. Reverend Jim Jones is best known for leading a group of his most devoted followers to kill themselves and their children. There is without a doubt a sociological explanation as to why this happened. The deaths at Jonestown can be viewed as sort of a product of obedience, of people simply being compliant with their leader and reacting to the threat of force. Whatever Jim Jones ordered, the members of the Peoples Temple were sure to obey. Anyone who was noticed gathered at the pavilion that day in Jonestown, November 20th, 1978, would never see the outside world again. Everyone was surrounded by armed guards who were trusted lieutenants of Jones. Some reports say that there were actually some people who were reluctant to drink the cyanide laced fruit drink, those individuals had the drink forced down their throats or were injected with the substance. In the Peoples Temple, Jones tolerated no dissent, made sure the members had no allegiance more powerful than to himself, and tried to make the alternative of leaving the Temple an unthinkable option. Seeing the terms of obedience and the power of the situation can probably explain why the people acted the way they did. Jim Jones dreamed of a “socialist paradise” or “sanctuary” from the media scrutiny which had started in 1972 due to his cult like leadership in the Peoples Temple. He started Jonestown in 1974 which was the Peoples Temples “Agricultural Project” in Guyana in South Africa. He named Jonestown after himself of course. In the fall of 1977, Tim Stoen and other relatives in Jonestown formed a "Concerned Relatives" group. Stoen traveled to Washington D.C. to visit with Congressmen including Leo Ryan, and wrote a "white paper" to Congress detailing the dispute and pressing for Congressional correspondence. In April, 1978, the Concerned Relatives destributed a pasket of documents, including letters and affidavits, that they titles and "Accusation of Human Rights Violations by Rev. James Warren Jones". In November, U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan went to Jonestown on a mission to investigate allegations of human rights abuses. As members of Ryan's delegation boarded two planes at the airstrip, Jones' "Red Brigade" armed guards arrived and began shooting at the delegation. They killed Congressman Ryan and four others near a twin engine Otter aircraft. Later that day is when the suicide massacre took place. Jim Jones decided to commit "Revolutionary Suicide" because they were not going to leave him and the Peoples Temple in their Socialist Paradise alone.