JONESTOWN

I just finished watching a PBS movie called Jonestown, the Life and Death of the People's Temple. It was a 90 minute look at the "Church" as it began as a dream of Jim Jones' in Indiana, to it's move to Ukiah, CA, to build a commune-like community, to it's move to San Francisco to reach more people, to it's final move to Guyana leading to the murders of Congressman Ryan and of 900+ Church members.

It was unfortunate and tragic and I have always wondered how people could be caught up by such deception and obvious crazy evil. This movie helped me to get more of an understanding of how and why people got involved.

Jim Jones was a charismatic leader and exceptional speaker that brought an incredible vision of hope and change to people. The church was all about helping people, building community, accepting the outcasts, caring for poor children and the elderly, racial reconciliation. The People's Temple was a beacon in San Francisco in it's time, showing that people of all different races, backgrounds, etc. can live together in harmony.

Unfortunately, it was led by an megalomaniacal drug addict that was paranoid, transferred blame for all his problems to others, was entirely disingenuous in all he said and did and eventually thought it was better to kill everyone than face the consequences of his mistakes.

It shows me that a compelling vision can be powerful and intoxicating. And, if you learn about The People's Temple, you will see that it really was a compelling vision. As it resonated in people's hearts, it made it easy for the people to follow Jones and ignore the warning signs all around.

The movie included interviews with Jones' family members, survivors of the People's Temple and survivors of Congressman Ryan's ambush. It was a very interesting look at the sort of thing that never happens here and could never happen to us when it really did happen here and happened to people just like us.