Mass Suicide by Jim Jones' Cult Essay Example

What is America’s 12th leading cause of death? The majority of people have probably never considered it, but this cause is suicide. Suicide is defined as a death brought about by self-harm with the purpose to die. Suicide is what tied one event in particular together. The Peoples Temple, a religious cult, perpetrated mass suicide uner the leadership of Jim Jones. This mass suicide claimed the lives of 918, some people willingly and others not so much. 

This historical event is not talked about often and many don’t know the origin of The Peoples Temple or Jim Jones. Jim Jones was a religious man who focused on the ideas of socialism and fought against racial discrimination. Due to his local church being against colored individuals, he founded “The Peoples Temple” where anyone and everyone was welcome. Here, people of every color would come together to discuss the idea of everyone being equal in every aspect of life. After getting a large following, Jim Jones then came to realize just how powerful he is. “Soon, the power and money Jones encountered turned him into an arrogant, manipulative extroverted narcissist. His speech steered towards racial communism. He wanted more authority and control over his congregation.” Jim Jones knew just how powerful he was, but this wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to get more powerful just to see how much he can rule over his followers. 

As soon as Jim Jones realized just how powerful he really was, he tested his power by making his followers do the worst imaginable. He would host what the members would call “White Nights” which were suicide drills to test how loyal his followers were. 

“Then a couple of women brought out these trays of cups of what they said was

cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, or Flavor-Aid -- whichever they had. Everybody drank it. If we didn’t drink it, we were forced to drink it. If we ran, we thought we’d be shot. At the end of it, we were wondering, ‘why aren’t we dead?’ And then Jim would just start laughing and clapping his hands. He’d tell us it was a rehearsal and say, ‘Now I know I can trust you.’” 

He would go to the absolute limit just to see how much he can get away with when it came to the loyalty of his followers. 

After Jim Jones would host these drills, that is when some followers realized that they needed to leave Jonestown. This caused a large amount of suspicion to Jonestown which caused a congressman to come investigate the temple which resulted in the death of the congressman and eventually led up to the mass suicide of The Peoples Temple. 

“Concern over the welfare of those in the jungle encampment prompted U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan to visit Jonestown in November 1978. After checking out the settlement, Ryan was shot to death along with four other people by Temple gunmen at an airstrip. Following those murders, Jones commanded his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch, staring with the children first. In all, there were over 900 who died in Jonestown, including Jim Jones, who was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head.” 

Jim Jones knew what he was doing was in the wrong and resulted in hosting a mass suicide and ended up taking hundreds of his followers lives.