ok ever since we went to tw, my dearest travel mates discovered i know some interesting stuff that they didnt know. Best example: the taipei 101.

After watching discovery channel just now, i had gained a new knowledge of some shocking events that i didnt know previously. being the nice girl that wants to share knowledge with everyone, i have been inspired to start a "add-a-knowledge every week" section, in which i hope to share sth interesting and useful with my readers (though i know its ALWAYS my same old bunch of girls that read faithfully) on a weekly basis. at the very least, i hope to note down things i learnt abt on TV. so that in the LONG RUN (im not Keynes who dun think that LR exists), we shall all be knowledegable people!! (i really hope so~~~)

So here's the first contribution on Jonestown:

Just watched the prog, Jonestown: Paradise Lost on Discovery. Then i got to know in Nov 1978 there was this mass suicide/murder that took the lives of 1000 people, including 300 kids. All these started with a cult in california called People's Temple, founded by this guy called Jim Jones. He started to psycho the people into believing him that he is the God or sth like that and told them to build their own community in Guyana, an African country, and named it Jonestown, which was his name. He believed in Marx and was against the US govt. Here are some info i got from wikipedia:

The Peoples Temple was formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, during the mid-1950s.^[2] In the 1960s, Jones' congregation had dwindled to fewer than a hundred members and was on the verge of collapse. Jones managed to secure an affiliation with the Disciples of Christ.^[3] This new association bolstered the Temple's reputation, increased its membership, and spread Jones' influence. Beginning in 1965, Jones and about 80 followers moved to Redwood Valley in Mendocino County, California,^[3] where they believed they would be safe from nuclear fallout if there were a nuclear attack on the United States.

n 1972, Jones moved his congregation to San Francisco, California, and opened another church in Los Angeles, California. While in San Francisco, Jones changed his political image from anti-communist to socialist, vocally supported prominent political candidates, was appointed to city commissions and made grants to local newspapers with the stated goal of supporting the First Amendment.^{[citation needed]} Partly inspired by the eccentric preacher Father Divine, he began charity efforts with the goal of recruiting the poor.^[5] After several scandals and investigation for tax evasion^[6] in San Francisco, Jones began planning a relocation of the Temple. According to the American Journal of Economics & Sociology , Jones considered locations in California and Brazil before settling on Guyana^{[citation needed]}. In 1974, he leased over 3,800 acres (15.4 km²) of jungle land from the Guyanese government.^[7] Members of the People's Temple began the construction of Jonestown under the supervision of senior Temple members. Jones then went back to California before he encouraged all of his followers to move to Jonestown, which he called the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project", in 1977.^[7] Jonestown's population increased from 50 members in 1977 to more than 900 at its peak in 1978.

Many of the Peoples Temple members believed that Guyana would be, as Jones promised, a paradise. Work was performed six days a week, from seven in the morning to six in the evening^], with temperatures that often reached over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), in Guyana's equatorial climate.

Jones built his own community deep in the woods, his believer cleared all forests, built their houses there. However as time went by, truth began to show as they realised things were not that good. However constant brainwashing and the feear instilled by Jones made everyone succumb. Soon relatives of the people in US wanted to know wat was happening to them in the town and hope to know the truth behind. When things eventually of out of control, Jones chose end the lives of everyone tgt with himself. And this started the mass suicide, or rather murder of the all the people in the town. Here's wat is mentioned in wiki narrated in the prog:

Jim Jones called a meeting under the pavilion in the early evening. Before the meeting, aides prepared a metal vat with grape Flavor Aid, poisoned with Valium, chloral hydrate, and presumably (though not certainly) cyanide. Before the murder-suicide got under way, Jones argued with at least one Temple member who actively resisted his decision for the whole congregation to die. A 43-minute audio tape, which was edited at some point by persons unknown, was left behind, documenting the affair^[16]. Christine Miller is heard objecting to mass death and called for an airlift to Russia. After several exchanges, she backed down, apparently after being shouted at by the crowd.

The children were poisoned first. Aides took the children from their parents and brought them to stand in line. Some parents apparently went with their children. Poison was squirted into children's mouths with plastic syringes. Eyewitness Stanley Clayton, who was assisting already-poisoned children, reports that many children resisted and were physically forced to swallow by guards and nurses. With regards to the frequent assertion that the adults committed consensual suicide, it could be argued that it was the shock of the deaths of the community's 287 children that caused the adults to go to their own deaths with (allegedly) little or no resistance.

wat struck me so hard after watching the programme was how people could actually be convinced to follow Jones all the way to Guyana and what caused the huge tragedy. Initially when i watched, i didnt understand why the people regarded Jones as the god and why they were willing to end their lives with him. but soon everyth unfold: it was not a really a suicide afterall since people were forced to take the poison, ONE by ONE, lined up in a straight line. If they didnt obey, they would be killed by the security guards. The prog showed how goos a speaker was Jones and how his speech appealed to the people then, esp the blacks and the poor.

i kept thinking if i was a member in jonestown, there was simply no wat i could have escaped. no transport or links to the outside world, being forced to leave my children under the care of the town, and eventually taking the poison with no choice. Reason being that the government was unable to help out in time was probably becos it was far too in accessible for them to learn wat was happening, and also that people who initally went there refused to let the outside world know wat was happening. to them, they were living their own lives, away from the politics and poverty and discrimination. it was a horror to see hundreds of bodies lying on top on each other, and i cant imagine wat was the scene then.

the last voice recording of Jones said,' We lay down our lives with dignity.'

the whole incident just tells us how vulnerable we are, how easily we can be controlled and manipulated. and how 1000 lives are lost just in the hands of a sick person. this is only another example of the holocaust and the Subway Sarin Incident. im still so 感触良多 after watching it.

2:12:00 am;