Trump’s
most ardent supporters are . . . remolding their own views to keep pace
with their leader. . . This shows the extent to which Trump’s rise
was not based on any particular positions or views. It was and remains a
cult of personality. Trump’s followers worship him—and he worships
himself, too. They are bound by a conviction, rooted in basically
nothing but quasi-religious faith, that he is a singularly tough and
savvy deal-maker who will protect American interests in a way that no
previous president has done. - Max Boot
I just finished "The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People's Temple" by Jeff Guinn on audiobook. The other day I was in the bookstore and I thumbed through the actual book to the pages with images. Having only listened to the audiobook I didn't get a full grasp on the scope of the mass suicide. I had forgotten about these images. When I flipped to the image I posted at the beginning of this blog I lost my breath and felt extremely nauseous. The visceral sensation is something that welled up from deep within my core. It's hard to mask the terror I felt at that moment.
I was brought up in a large cult. Christianity is a large cult. It is a blood cult based on the life, bloody death, and resurrection of the supposed Jesus of Nazareth. There could be some family or friends reading this right now that are rolling their eyes and thinking I'm being sensational and absurd. Of course I didn't escape from some strange twisted suicidal ritual like many survivors of the Jonestown cult did, but people who have escaped fundamentalist religion of all varieties will attest to what I'm saying. It is low-level consistent brain washing, and it is most effective when it begins at childhood.
Jesus of Nazareth (the supposed Son and god of a Triune God) ,if he existed, was another messiah or zealot from ancient Palestine. There were many messiahs during this time. For our purposes "cult leader" can replace the word "messiah" since they are the same thing essentially. When I was a kid I recall the passage in the New Testament in the Bible where Jesus spoke fondly of the little children and how adults should have faith like little children to enter the kingdom of god. Like many stories that somehow were explained as wonderful ancient holy moral examples from God's Word, this one is really disturbing. The allure for these ancient cults like Christianity and Islam is the significant block of time separating us from it. We tend to make sacred that which is old. Look at how we now revere Native American culture as it was almost angelic when in reality it was quite brutal at times. Look at how we revere old books and ancient stories. There is something "magical" about aspects from our distant past.
The passage from the New Testament is Matthew 18. Here's just a small sample:
1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
Jesus understood its easiest to propagate your cult if children are involved. They have the most "faith" in the cult because they in many cases haven't yet had a chance to develop critical thinking skills. Jesus was an amazing cult leader. In fact in retrospect and hindsight he was likely the best cult leader of all time given the size of his cult in human history after he died. That fanatic ape sure tricked a lot of other gullible apes. The power of belief is what drives us and it is why we so easily fall for the trap of cultism. I challenge you look up this verse and read the entire chapter. It's all sorts of cult gibberish from cut out your eyes and chopping off your hand if it offends the cult leader and a set number of how many times a cult member has to forgive someone who did them wrong (that's precisely 490 times, just so you know).
I often cannot believe I made it out of the blood cult of fundamentalist Evangelicalism. Clearly I have my cult-PTSD which is likely why I'm writing this right now, but all in all I came out on top and it feels good. There is nothing more powerful in life than reasoning your way out of they years of conditioning perpetrated on you by bullshit artists. I was surrounded by a slew of bullshit artists growing up. Sure some, maybe even most were genuine believers in the bullshit they were telling children and teenagers but there were some I am sure were self-aware of the cult game they were playing.
Jim Jones was a fraud. In interviews with Jim Jones' son, Stephen Jones he explains that his father knew he was a fraud but was terrified others would find out and he increasingly became more paranoid as time went on. He started to lose his grip of control on his cult. This is ultimately what led to the mass suicide. Cult leaders often know they are frauds. I would venture to say most are this way, whether it be overtly religious cult leaders like Jim Jones or David Koresh, or Nazi cult leaders like Adolf Hitler, or fascist cult leaders like Mussolini, or political-cult gods like Kim Jong Un, or neofascist cult-of-personality leaders like Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump.
Demagogues recruit by uniting a disenchanted element against an enemy, then promising to use religion or politics or a combination of the two to bring about rightful change. Those as gifted as Jones use actual rather than imagined injustices as their initial lure - the racism and economic disparity in America that Jones cited were, and still are - real- then exaggerate the threat until followers lose any sense of perspective. - Jeff Guinn, author of The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People's Temple
In the NBC News footage they scan through the dead cult members' dead bodies laid out in layer after layer, along with a shot of one dead dog. The camera man films the parrot obviously amused at how blissfully unaware it was of all this carnage. And says, Strangest thing I've ever seen. One man on camera says, You name it they got it, as they look at the vat of Flavor-aid and vials of poison while another person oddly laughs at that statement. It's funny. From the inside cults are hard to detect. The cult member does not think he is in a cult. The power of belief is enough to make one kill themselves. This is clearly true among the cult at Jonestown. This is clearly true of the cult of Islamist suicide bombers.
Jim Jones' son, Stephan Jones said in that video, I lost everything that day. I lost brothers and sisters and dear friends, people I'd known my entire life and the dearest person on the planet to me: which is my mother. My father, Oh I can tell you, I've never grieved his death. I remember feeling disgust that he didn't go the way everyone else went. Not only did he have to be shot in the head but he had to have somebody else do it. And I still believe it was because he couldn't bear to go out the way he was seeing other people go out.
Ask yourself, what would someone have to tell you or what would someone have to do to you to get you to do something that you couldn't possibly believe you were capable of, and examine that. Learn from it. Don't judge it. Don't stand separate from it. Be willing to stand in the shoes of the people you are judging. - Stephan Jones
Cult leaders thrive on fear and conspiracy and they are mythical strongmen to eyes of their cult, but in reality, like with Trump, like with Jim Jones, like with Jesus of Nazareth they are weak and pathetic deranged little men. Cult leaders have mental disorders, they are narcissists at bottom, only concerned about themselves. In the end whether the cult leader is Adolf Hitler or Jim Jones you take everyone down with you. Cult leaders never actually care about the safety and well being of their cult followers. This is something people should understand so they are able to walk away if they even can. We may know people who are trapped in cults and want to leave but feel like they can't, maybe someone in Scientology or Mormonism. We may know someone who is a Trump cultist who can never speak a bad word of their dear leader. This country is being run by a cult leader. This is the biggest a cult leader has even risen. Let's try to put ourselves in these people's shoes to help them out of the cult. I am writing this for myself to heed my own advice. We all should do our best to help them escape these cults if it's possible.
Sources:
Jeff Guinn's book on Jonestown:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-road-to-jonestown-jeff-guinn/1124016017?ean=9781476763828
NBC Archive Footage from Jonestown:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm7k2Eq-vD0
Jonestown Cult Suicides: the True Stories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3yzkhJVXE4
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