Jim Jones: The Intricator Of Evil

Cults bring fear in the hearts and eyes of the public, but do citizens know how Jim Jones managed to seduce so many people to join his cult, the Peoples Temple? The Peoples Temple was previously loved in the public eye, as they aided anti-segregation groups and community work, but were eventually relocated in Jonestown, Guyana, under the paranoid eyes of Jim Jones, where they were found dead in a mass-suicide. The ways Jim Jones managed to bring in as many followers as he did are still widely debated to this day. Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, manipulated his members to join his sadistic, sinister cult and blindly follow him until their eventual deaths by using threats, blackmail, and brutal punishments.

Resocialization is defined by the dictionary as the process of learning new attitudes and norms required for a new social role. In essence, the members of Peoples Temple were certainly brainwashed and taught new values and beliefs that were in actuality the standards of Jim Jones. I believe Jim Jones appeared at a time where people desperately wanted to spread peace and love throughout their communities. He appeared at the lowest point of a lot of people’s lives like drug addicts and the less fortunate. Moreover, these people needed a clear path of guidance from a leader that could possibly grant them a miracle. In the words of a past member of Peoples Temple named Hue Fortson, “Jim Jones said If you see me as your father, I’ll be your father. If you see me as your god, I’ll be your

Jim Jones became increasingly more drastic. He moved out of the country, refused people from leaving, killed those who tried, and eventually killed the entire Temple. Jones may have been a troubled man, and there may have been aspects of the group that were negative or cultish, however, without the scrutiny and attention from the media, those things may have remained benign rather than leading to the death of almost 1000 people. Regardless, the originally innocent People’s Temple spiraled in part by the heavy push of the US media.

Jim Jones a very charismatic leader literally talked 914 people into killing themselves in the name of God. In this paper you will find strong evidence of how Jim Jones rose to power and why people followed his warped since of religion and

The “Lessons from Jonestown” article from the American Psychological Association explains what happened in Jonestown, Guyana and why it happened. The members of the church wanted to leave the United States to escape racism, so they agreed to follow Jim Jones to South America. They hoped to live more peaceful, happy lives, but their lives were cut short due to a mass suicide led by Jones. Psychologists, such as Philip Zimbardo, believe that Jones’ success came partially from George Orwell’s book, “1984.” This book explained different facets of mind control and how it is executed, and there are many parallels between the examples in the book and in Jim Jones’ church.

The Jonestown Massacre “Hurry my children, hurry, Jim Jones told his followers as they drank the poison that ended their lives”(Streissguth 1). James Warren Jones was an American religious leader who was born on May 13, 1931 and died on November 18, 1978. Jones soon became known as the leader of a cult called “ The People’s Temple”. Jim Jones initiated and was responsible for a mass murder and mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Mass murder and mass suicide committed by Jim Jones and the government as a part of the massacre are two theories surrounding the mystery behind “The Jonestown Massacre”.

In 1969, a leader, Charles Manson ordered members of what was known as the “Family,” to break into a Hollywood home and murder five people, including a pregnant actress. Less than 48 hours later, they were asked to murder two more people (Bugliosi). A couple years later, in 1978, a man named Jim Jones convinced over 900 of his followers to drink a cyanide-laced beverage that killed them all (Gritz). These horrifying stories made headlines and shocked the world. When one thinks of cults, the Manson and Jones cases are the kind of examples that come to mind.

Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple Cult “Jim Jones of the Peoples’s Temple began as a sound, fairly mainstream Christian minister” (Sects, ‘Cults’ & Alternative Religions). Before all the madness Jones seemed like a caring person, that wanted to bring peace to a town he made, Jonestown. Instead it turned into something more horrific. Jim Jones was the manipulative mastermind behind the traumatic events that happened in Jonestown, Guyana, this essay will discuss interviews by people who are survivors of the mass suicide, and dive into the crazy conspiracies that have emerged, and finally conclude with the death of the Peoples Temple.

In contrast, “The Genocidal Killer in the Mirror” focuses on the history of mass death goes back as far as 500 years ago. Sartwell cited some historical events that happened, including the Cambodian Killing Field, Nazi Holocaust, Cultural Revolution, Belgians vs. Congolese and the African Slave Trade. In his article, Sartwell assumes that authority especially hierarchies is the most “evil” thing in our society. Sartwell also states that all humans are "evil” (Sartwell), but then ask if evil is something that is learned behavior through institutional means, for example through media and bureaucracy.

Moreover, erratic behavior is directly seen though the description of a lance corporal from Rodriquez's platoon. Due to the loss of two of his friends six weeks ago, “he’d been having mood swings, angry outbursts. He’d been punching walls, finding it impossible to sleep unless he quadrupled

Because people have good and bad qualities, they also have the ability to act on either quality depending on the situation. Seemingly good people can be “seduced” (Zimbardo, 2007, p.211) into acting against their nature. Under the right situational stress, people can act cruelly even if their personality is not

Here, it is important to note Jones’ description of the origins, resurgence, and current

This caused him to not be able to take care of all us animals and if we wouldn 't of have done something we could have all died. Lucky I kicked Mr.Jones out of our farm just like Joseph Stalin did. Kicking him out was the best idea ever because

The Monitor on Psychology article “What makes good people do bad things?” by Melissa Dittmann analyzes the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Stanford psychology professor Phillip Zimbardo in 1971 and discusses what the experiment can tell us about human nature and what causes humans to be evil. In the novel “Lord of the Flies” the author William Golding discusses the effects of the theories mentioned in the article by creating his own fictional experiment with children stranded on an island during a nuclear war. Throughout his novel Golding explores the focus of Dittmann’s article; that environments and situations can bring out the evil that is inside all of us. People can act good or bad depending on their environment, and these actions are not entirely their fault because when people are not held accountable for their actions their more violent natures are revealed.

Introduction Human history is abundant in examples of individuals who have amassed such power with themselves that have allowed them to control entire populations, and often unleash tyranny and oppression upon millions of people. Throughout history there have been individuals who have held an iron grip over entire nations, concentrating totalitarian power with themselves, denying any freedom to people, crushing any form of dissent, and often unleashing mass violence, terror, and in some cases genocide. These people have shaped the future of peoples, regions and continents, starting wars and conflicts, and determining the course of millions of lives. And because of this very fact, that a single person could such a huge impact over the lives of so many people, it is very important to study the very factors that caused these individuals to make the decisions that they did, specifically, the factors and that shaped up the personality of these