April 11, 2017
Listened to a radio program about Jim Jones and the events
in Guyana nearly 40 years on. This man’s path to extinguishing almost a
thousand lives, many willing and complicit, is at once darkly fascinating and
frighteningly felicitous: a demagogue convinces his followers that he is the
only answer; that he alone represents a greater good. That the cause is larger
than just one man, bestowing a sense of morality on his loyal following. This
great force of personality needn’t possess understanding of process nor of
governance, only of psychology. He is a master of mental gymnastics, and will
induce the flock to look past his obvious faults and naked transgressions,
persuading them that criticism of him is indeed criticism of the movement
itself. Your enemy, once an external force, becomes your neighbor. And you
believe him. He prays upon the disadvantaged, exploiting intrinsic and chronic
vulnerabilities to chimeric promises. He knows that if he can keep them poor
and hungry, clinging to hope, they'll continue to need and support him. But as
with Jonestown, the charade always comes to an end. And it never ends well.
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