Prior to the terrorist attack on 9/11, the mass suicide of over nine hundred socialist, American citizens, not linked to a natural disaster or war, was the highest mortality count ever recorded (Scaliger 39). Jonestown terrifyingly became a scene out of a horror film, where participants could not enter nor leave without permission from an authoritative and deranged leader, Reverend Jim Jones. A gruesome tragedy like the one that occurred in 1978 created many thought provoking questions. How did Reverend Jones convince numerous people to join this “utopian society,” and how did he encourage people to kill their young children, then themselves? A cult is considered a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal,…show more content… Third, these groups convert members from their “inferior” principles to the cult’s “superior” ideals. Lastly, cults isolate members from the realities of the real world (Moss 23). The People’s Temple exemplifies Moss’ four characteristic traits about cults. For example, Reverend Jim Jones, the true commanding leader, enforced the socialistic ideals for his “nation” to follow. By using socialism, Reverend Jim Jones believed and created a place for true human quality and peace to exist, a place where everyone was common (“What Were the Beliefs of the Peoples Temple Members?” 1). The environment was based an individual’s internal qualities, not his or her physical features. The second doctrine structure involved Christianity and “the belief that the kingdom of God could be established on Earth by living in an apostolic community” with “utopianist…show more content… For example, Jim Jones personally connected with his followers and was called “Father” by many his devotees (Scaliger 34). Deborah Layton, a seventeen year old follower, stated, “ As he moved away from me, my body felt as though it had grown on size larger…I was convinced that this man truly and unconditionally loved me. I already missed him. I loved being the center of attention” (Scaliger 35). He had a presence about him that charmed a handful of people to follow him and the beliefs that he preached. In addition, in Guyana, South America he seemed to truly brainwash his followers through loud speakers and “White Nights.” At all times even during sleeping hours, Jim Jones would “broadcast the gospel of socialism throughout the settlement,” repetitively reminding the values and procedures of the socialistic camp to his followers (Scaliger 36). Also “White Nights” would occur which were mass, revolutionary suicides (Scaliger 37). Members were woken up by nightly alarms warning of impending danger from their “enemies” and “only suicide would deny their enemies the satisfaction of extinguishing the Peoples Temple, and now it was time to take that final, irrevocable step. The people all drank a concoction that, they assured, was a deadly
