Towards the end of the year in 1978, November to be exact, a little over 900 people committed mass suicide taking the first place as the largest in modern history. The people, who were part of a North American cult known as Peoples Temple, took their lives in a nation called Guyana following a man named Jim Jones. All the members were part of a congregation that followed Jones and his words as gospel truth begging the question of how he had managed to gain so much control over such a large group of people.
The 1970s – A Brief History
Every decade has its peaks and falls, ones that are often used to describe the decade itself in case one is reminiscent. Each decade, especially in the past, had a signature item, look, event or overall aura. While the 1950s are remembered for the innovation that happened in the time: the washing machine and television, the next few decades were more a blur than actual decades. The 1970s have always been as grim from the music popular at the time, to the dressing, to the fashion trends, to the social setting. They were seen as desperate times socially, economically and politically.
In the 1970s, most countries were still reeling in the effects of the wars before and preparing for any other in case there was; attributed to the close proximity of the previous two. But what really had more impact on the social setting at the time is people finally settling into various religions and schools of thought as globalization started conceptualizing. This led to what seemed like an identity crisis among many adults across the world but particularly in the United States. An identity crisis was a wide open arched door through which manipulative leaders could walk into the minds of the population and root any concept they desired.
Jim Jones and His Power over the People
The people, at the time, were hungry for something to satisfy their spiritual hunger, and something that could feed their religious desire; and that is exactly what Jim Jones gave them. This man from very humble beginnings in rural Indiana managed to rise through the ranks to become quite the exceptional leader and influential of his time. Throughout most of his early life, Jones was constantly the outcast and the ‘weird’ one in the lot as he did not conform to the ideas of his time; he had a deep obsession with religion and death and affection for the oppressed African-American minority despite him being white. Jones feeling of being an outcast himself gave him the connection to the exiled in the community.
This understanding of how the minority and oppressed groups in the society were isolated offered Jones with an opportunity to gain the trust of the people and have them feel like they could let him in. Jones related to their pain, their frustrations, their ordeals and their vision for a better future making him an accepted entity among the diverse oppressed communities. To the world, he appeared to be the ideal leader, and the perfect example of a great person; apart from giving a helping hand to the marginalized, he played a part in supporting the senior citizens in the community and also supported the poor and unfortunate. Racism was one of the most pressing issues at the time and Jones being such an avid supporter of the minority, fought strongly against the prejudice. To further strengthen his resolve against racial prejudice, so he ensured that his congregation was racially integrated thus uniting different races in the community.
Jones gained popularity among the people because he showed what seemed like genuine concern and care for his congregation. Through him, they saw what a great man looks like and they viewed him as a role model to children and adults alike. He portrayed the image of a successful yet humble man by not living an extravagant life, and a man who used his power for the good of his people. His good was, however, a shadow for his other side to hide. In as much as he was a socialist, and a philanthropist, he was a more ambitious politician; one that was very driven intrinsically. His good quality blurred the truth of who he was to the people thus the trust they placed on him; a vast measure of good that canceled out any criticism that arose in the hearts of those who followed him
When he moved his church to San Francisco, Jones’ rise to the top hastened more and he was fast becoming more influential. With his congregation’s numbers rising to the thousands, he amassed quite the favor from public figures and the media was having a field day with him and his congregation. At this point, he became increasingly involved in charities and donation drives making him the go-to person by politicians who sought a way to gain favor with the public and their votes. The increasing involvement in aid, youth programs, social and racial prejudice activism gave Jones a platform to widen his following. However, the media’s attention on his activities made Jones paranoid and brought out his paranoid nature.
Once he had established his congregation, he continued to feed them with exactly what they wanted, the words they wanted to hear. Unknown to them, Jones was actually planting seeds of his school of thought in their minds. Through this school of thought, he knew that he could move the masses to the direction he willed; though it is highly unlikely that he had evil intentions for the congregation forming the Peoples’ Temple. Once they moved to the ‘social utopia’ he had promised them i.e. in Guyana, he furthered this brainwashing technique and had them following his word as gospel. By the time he was convincing almost 1000 people to poison themselves, he had them resolved to let the thinking occur in Jones’ mind as they worked their lives away in the fields.
Peoples’ Temple Significance Then
At the time, the people needed answers to questions only religion would answer. Questions of identity, questions of whose morals were the best and who was to be trusted especially after what the world had been through both socially and politically. This offered an opportunity for crowd-movers to embed their thoughts into the public to gain more popularity and advance their political careers. The confusion of who everyone was and where to plant one's faith was the foundation of what we now know as stories.