The Origin Of The Saying "Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid"
The mass suicide occurred after U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan of California and a team of reporters visited the compound to investigate reports of abuse. After some members tried to leave with the congressman’s group, Jim Jones had Ryan and his entourage ambushed at the nearby airstrip. He then ordered his flock to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Kool-Aid laced with potassium cyanide.
The mass suicide wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. During the weeks that preceded the dreadful event, Jones had conducted a series of suicide drills, according to survivors. An alarm call would sound and every person in the camp would line up to receive a fatal dosage. These exercises in insanity proved that all of the adults at the compound knew what would be the result of their actions.
The People’s Temple did not start off as your average mind-controlling cult. It initially gained much respect as an interracial mission for the sick, homeless and jobless. Jim Jones did not manifest his darker side until near the end.
One lasting legacy of the Jonestown tragedy is the saying, "Don’t drink the Kool-Aid." This has come to mean, "Don’t trust any group you find to be a little on the kooky side."
Of course, you would have to know of Kool-Aid’s dubious connection to Jim Jones to understand the proverb.
Maybe this is why I have come to like the seach engine to "Google" a new term's meaning, I want to research the person, book or idea. And I also have come to like Wikipedia, that gives data on just about anything.
You can be sure that there is an open or a hidden agenda that is being set forth in most movements. Don't drink the kool-aid until you have checked the ingredients.
And this post is a set up for what I want to address as a Don't Drink the Kool-Aid.
