Jonestown brainwashing victim

This clip is from 39:00 of PBS's American Experience Jonestown The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2007)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/jonestown/

Hello, Family. It's been a . . . it's ... it's such a joy and great pleasure being here because of Father's love. We are trying to make -- and we are making -- a place of refuge for all of you here.

Uh, there is no ... no ... nuh ... nothing at all that I would . . . . that I have any holdings or I do not want to go back in any way, shape, or form to, uh, to the States. I love it here, and this is the place where all of you are going to be.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• jonestown
• cult
• brainwashing

[gregconquest]

If you follow a suicide drill for Jim Jones with or without something being in the Kool-Aid, if you follow the drill because he says you should, then you'd already be brainwashed. Anyone not brainwashed would either innocuously dump the drink out or they'd just refuse and confront Jones about the rationality of such demands. I'm nearly certain I'd not drink it; I'd probably call him out on it, but I'm a rebel often standing apart from the crowd and I'd never last long in any cult . . .

[lisakn27]

He made that tape before Jim Jones got there and started getting crazy. From the accounts I've read..everything was great until JJones got there.

[reddheddjedd77]

@RobGoth100 His father and grandmother survived also, as they were on the Temple boat "Cudjo" during the massacre...

[Joycell22]

@stonerguy19666 They were working very hard, often not sleeping enough, so very tired, day in day out. Try sleeping 4 hours a night for a week.. then if some leader tells you something you'll believe it because youre too tired to think otherwise. Its crazy and maybe not for everyone but for some..

[Boubala25]

I had a friend that joined a "group" that basically took all the money he made for special life training retreats, encouraged him to cut off contact with anyone who didn't belong to said group, then they decided to move to another state because they said they had cheap land for everyone to live on. Those that didn't go were shunned. I never saw my friend again. Did some research and found out the leader was just moving to avoid taxes...again. Damned cults.

[Greatersend]

I read that he passed a couple of years ago. Not sure what caused his death, but I remember seeing a clip of him painting a house while they were interviewed him back in the mid 20's.

[Msphanc]

@RobGoth100 He has beautiful children. A son and a daughter, who happens to be my best friend. Yes he made it out because he was on the basketball team, but GOD does things for a reason. Honestly, it would have never happened had the basketball team been there. I know because I heard it from the horses mouth.

[gregconquest]

GC2: But this is not about me. The focus of this video should be on how easily and completely ssoooooooo many people can be brainwashed into such cults. Many of us say it could never happen to us, but I think most people would not want to make waves and just go along not realizing until too late what they were getting themselves into.

[gregconquest]

GC1: waybelicious, do I "still want to talk how [I'd] refuse . . ."? I wasn't on some soapbox there saying it could never have happened to me. I was replying to stonerguy19666 saying he wouldn't be brainwashed that easy.

I appreciate the info you added to the discussion, but I still don't think I would have ever been invited to Guyana in the first place even if I had been interested in the People's Temple.