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Writer's pictureliam s.

drinking the kool-aid - sources and discussion

Some Jonestown Stuff:

Some of the rumors surrounding Jonestown were mainly conjecture published or discussed by the survivors of the Jonestown massacre or people that were involved with the People's Temple that weren't present in Jonestown. All of these people had an axe to grind with Jim Jones or weren't present during the final days of Jonestown making their testimony questionable.


Another small thing that I left out of the video was the fact that a lot of the work structure that Jonestown was established around was modeled after the Kim family of North Korea. I didn't include this because, once again, the historical accuracy of the labor structure of both North Korea and Jonestown is up for debate and I thought that the conflicting evidence regarding if Jones was even familiar with the perils of the common North Korean in the late 70s would distract from the more concrete history that we have regarding Jonestown.


Concerning the Branch Dividians:

The Branch Dividians and David Koresh are incredible in the context of 90s history. I highly recommend that people watch the semi-fictionalized recount "WACO" on Netflix. The inclusion of the Branch Dividians and of the Waco siege in hindsight may have been a bit sloppy, but I think that the historical context of another religious separatist cult meeting a tragic end, in albeit a different fashion, was important due to the relationship that it had with the People's Temple. In my opinion, the inclusion of a study on a mass suicide into the letter to the Attorney General was directly impacted by the Jonestown massacre and while I may have left that a bit more ambiguous in the video, the wording of the letter reads similar to the sentiment of, "We can't let this happen again."


As to my opinion as to what happened leading up to and during the Waco siege, I think that to some degree, both the Branch Dividians and the federal agents involved were responsible for the completely needless loss of life that happened.


Corrections:

-In the graph showing complaints for the Cybertruck and F-150, the number 11 in the graph bar for Cybertruck complaints should be 15


Sources:

Jonestown: Got milk? – Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. (n.d.). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=30886

American Experience, PBS. (2018, August 13). The Peoples Temple in California. American Experience | PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/jonestown-california/?flavour=mobile

Taylor, M. (1998, November 12). Jones Captivated S.F.’s Liberal Elite. San Francisco Chronicle.

McLeod, H. (2007). The religious crisis of the 1960s. Oxford University Press on Demand.

Remembering Indiana University in the 1960s: Perspectives on “Dissent in the Heartland” on JSTOR. (n.d.). www.jstor.org. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27792443

Crewdson, J. (1978, December 16). Followers Say Jim Jones Directed Voting Frauds. The New York Times.

Peturbir. (2010, September 30). Jesus, give her a new hip! Do it! BAM BAM BAM! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNFBWyIAOE4

Hendrickson, B. (2014). Metaphysical healing and health in the United States. Religion Compass, 8(11), 347–355. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12136

Grasso, C. (2020, February 26). Skepticism and faith - commonplace. Commonplace. https://commonplace.online/article/skepticism-and-faith/

Reiterman, T., & Jacobs, J. (1982). Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People. Dutton Adult.

*Martin, B. K. (2007). Under the loving care of the fatherly leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. Macmillan.

Guinn, J. (2017). The road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. Simon and Schuster.

Waco, Branch Davidians, and Changing Perceptions. (n.d.). Roper Center, Cornell University. https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/blog/waco-branch-davidians-and-changing-perceptions

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, September 27). Branch Davidians. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_Davidians

Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the events at WACO, Texas. (2018, February 15). https://www.justice.gov/archives/publications/waco/report-deputy-attorney-general-events-waco-texas

SEC v. Elon Musk. (2018). In United States Securities and Exchange Commission (No. 18-CV–8865). United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Musk, E. [@elonmusk] (2018, August 7). Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured. [X] X https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776?lang=en

Kokalitcheva, K. (2023, February 4). Elon Musk wins securities fraud case over 2018 tweet. Axios.

Roth, P. (1997). American Pastoral.

Jalopnik, C. W. /. (2024, July 24). The Tesla Cybertruck has never been crash-tested — and it probably never will be. Quartz. https://qz.com/elon-musk-tesla-cybertruck-nhtsa-iihs-1851603726

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