Jonestown

[Matt Foley]

Just saw a special on it hosted by Soledad O'Brien. I never really allowed the tragedy of it to sink in...I always figured "a bunch of religious nuts wanted to kill themselves, oh well." I had no idea. Jones was the worst kind of snake. Sonofabitch talked all of his followers into first killing their children and then themselves and then he didn't even take the stuff. An aide shot him in the head and lived to tell about it.

They played the tapes. Children screaming (cyanide apparently hurts like hell inside you). Parents crying. Jones telling them, with his lisp, that they shouldn't cry because death is much preferable to whatever the world had in store for them. Jones had been arrested for hanky panky in a men's room earlier in his life.

Most of the bodies found had syringe marks on parts of their body someone else obviously injected them. Those people went through hell.

[Matt Foley]

Was Waco a similar situation?

[guigrrl]

Awful. I don't think Waco was the same. ATF torched the place.

[Matt Foley]

I thought they torched themselves because ATF was closing in. And that's why the right wing wackos formed groups like Timothy McVeigh's.

[Happy Panther]

just watched this too

[mmmbeans]

I thought they torched themselves because ATF was closing in. And that's why the right wing wackos formed groups like Timothy McVeigh's.

from what I understand the ATF torched it "accidentally."

[guigrrl]

There was a big eff-up by the ATF. The wackos in waco were just holding out.

[Skew]

I remember when it happened. Jones was psychotic. Those that didn't drink the kool-aid, were either forced to drink it, or injected. And no, he didn't drink it himself.

He was about to be discredited as a scam. And not to take away from the tragedy, but his followers were all people who were looking for someone to follow. They were just foolish enough to pick Jones.

[pstall]

I remember when it happened. Jones was psychotic. Those that didn't drink the kool-aid, were either forced to drink it, or injected. And no, he didn't drink it himself.

He was about to be discredited as a scam. And not to take away from the tragedy, but his followers were all people who were looking for someone to follow. They were just foolish enough to pick Jones.

Same here. I remember watching Cronkite in the days leading up to and then the final day.

I think there were some Congressmen that went down and got shot at or even killed and the walls began to close in.

I think looking back, that might have played a role in me NOT following the crowd and marching to my own drum. I was like 9 or 10.

[guigrrl]

I watched a special on one of the Congressmen. Some of the followers wanted to leave when they showed up but Jones men went ape and shot at and killed a lot of the politicians, the crew and deserters.

[Epistaxis]

Just saw a special on it hosted by Soledad O'Brien. I never really allowed the tragedy of it to sink in...I always figured "a bunch of religious nuts wanted to kill themselves, oh well." I had no idea. Jones was the worst kind of snake. Sonofabitch talked all of his followers into first killing their children and then themselves and then he didn't even take the stuff. An aide shot him in the head and lived to tell about it.

They played the tapes. Children screaming (cyanide apparently hurts like hell inside you). Parents crying. Jones telling them, with his lisp, that they shouldn't cry because death is much preferable to whatever the world had in store for them. Jones had been arrested for hanky panky in a men's room earlier in his life.

Most of the bodies found had syringe marks on parts of their body someone else obviously injected them. Those people went through hell.

Religious wacko is not accurate.

Socialist wacko is closer, but a hybridization of anti-religion, anti-capitalism becoming a "religion" might be closest.

Ol' Harvey Milk was toit with Slim Jim the Dim. Nobody talks about that.

[Mr. Scot]

Same here. I remember watching Cronkite in the days leading up to and then the final day.

I think there were some Congressmen that went down and got shot at or even killed and the walls began to close in.

I think looking back, that might have played a role in me NOT following the crowd and marching to my own drum. I was like 9 or 10.

Congressman was Leo Ryan, as I recall.

Awful story. Hit hard when I sawit on the news.

The TV movie portrayal of it with Powers Boothe was very compelling (though perhaps not entirely accurate). Second best TV movie of a real event to me, next to the original Helter Skelter.

[Guest CatofWar]

Meat, might be better of talking bout this in the tinderbox. The ATF murdered everyone at Waco. They learned a hard lesson at Ruby Ridge and were determined not to let it happen again. When dealing with government agencies, you have to assume they are going to go by "Waco Rules".