Jonestown Massacre Research Paper

The Jonestown massacre was one of the most horrific and prolific mass casualty events to date. With over 900 deaths, and a third of those being children, most of us ask the question, why? Why did the members of the Jonestown colony participate in the massacre? To be able to answer the question, we need to look at the social, psychological, and ideological factors that led up to the massacre. While there is no single reason that this event happened, we can examine the different factors to begin to understand why it occurred.

The first factor is the center of the colony, Jim Jones. Jones was able to accumulate a devoted following through persuasive speech, manipulation, and empty promises of a utopian life. Jones was a very charismatic and narcissistic man who was able to sweet talk people into joining his colony with the promise of a …show more content…
He also employed several manipulation and ‘brain-wasing’ tactics to keep control of his followers. Jones would denounce the outside world and say they were dangerous and wanted to harm them and their children, this created a divide between the members and people outside of the colony, causing their communication to be restricted to other members of the colony. Jim Jones also convinced his members to give him complete access to their finances, giving him even more power over their lives. He would also utilize physical abuse too, he would use forced labor and torture of defectors to keep his followers in check. To deter anyone from leaving the colony, he would day the animals in the surrounding jungle would kill them, or that if he found them, he would. One account of a former member states, “... he [Jones] continually

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