On November 18, 1978 over 900 members of Jim Jones’ People’s Temple cult (men, women, and children) committed suicide at a jungle complex in Guayana. This event has been immortalized in colloquial speech; conforming with dubious group behavior is known as “drinking the Kool-Aid”- an homage to the cyanide laced sports drink used in the Jonestown Massacre. While many people can make at least a vague connection between the cliché and its historical origins, the specific ideology that drove nearly 1000 people to kill themselves that day is much less well known. While calling himself a “Reverend”, and styling his organization as a “Church”, Jones was driven not by religious ideals, but by social ones. The guise of divinity was largely to reap tax benefits, lure new disciples, and keep the feds off of his case- Jones at heart was actually a radical socialist. In his own words: “"
Great piece and totally agree.