I appreciate this guy tackling the complete nonsense that is Jim Jones' legacy as we get taught it, as its absolutely them hiding the truth in plain sight by telling us all the juicy parts to hide the small ones.
But I disagree heavily with his belief in it. Jones' wasn't some true believer in Civil Rights because of moral reasons, he simply lacked any form of racism to prevent him from being pragmatic about it.
Blacks are super easy to whip into a frenzy, its why Black Churches are such a meme. Jones always wanted to be a dictator like Hitler as a kid, and he found the easiest audience to get idolization out of. Especially at the time, he could take thier struggles and make himself a Messiah out of them. And he did do a lot of good in a way that most Civil Rights leaders we learn about failed. He'd just straight go into jails and argue with cops to save his congregation, he'd write letters for them, he'd get down to the individual to fight for them and actually made a visible difference instead of just marching forever in hopes of sweeping societal change.
But he didn't do this entirely for the goodness of it. He knew it would make them fiercely loyal to him and increase his godhood among them by being able to point to exact points he had helped each of them. He was building an army that would follow him to anything, and their civil rights was just a means to that end.
And that anything was Socialism. That's the part that history ignores entirely. Jones' entire goal was socialism. Its why its called the Peoples Temple (no apostrophe to remove ownership). Its why before they killed themselves they were all asking if Russia would come to their aid. Its why many of them on the Death Tape itself espouse that they were dying for Socialism and that was their entire goal for the entire Jonestown.
This gets ignored because, besides being a bad look for socialism, it also reveals some Civil Rights Leaders and Black people were actually socialist/communists in large numbers during the Cold War and actually were both willing to defect and undermine America for that goal. Which would completely dismantle the deification of those Civil Rights protesters by showing that hatred of them wasn't just some form of racism, but a legitimate resistance to foreign ideologies.
Especially as Jones had a huge list of fans and friends who constantly sucked him off. Celebrities, politicians, the wife of a president. Even Lee O'Ryan, whose death caused the mass suicide, was in the process of returning to write a glowing letter about how good socialism was working until defectors jumped on his ride with him.
I don't know the full credentials of this historian nor the context for this interview, but the stunning lack of mention about Socialism in regards to Jim Jones, while ironically talking about the parts people ignore, undermines it a lot for me.
They were, and its a completely buried detail about them.
Jones, however, actually walked the walk instead of just screaming about it constantly. He built communities that self functioned, heck he built his own town to prove his point. He wasn't paying lip service to the idea to seem hip or anti-American (like most celebrities and leaders did at the time), he went out and did it.
He also proved why it always fails while doing it, but its tied deeply to his story and actions and it needs to be mentioned constantly to tell it truthfully.
I appreciate this guy tackling the complete nonsense that is Jim Jones' legacy as we get taught it, as its absolutely them hiding the truth in plain sight by telling us all the juicy parts to hide the small ones.
But I disagree heavily with his belief in it. Jones' wasn't some true believer in Civil Rights because of moral reasons, he simply lacked any form of racism to prevent him from being pragmatic about it.
Blacks are super easy to whip into a frenzy, its why Black Churches are such a meme. Jones always wanted to be a dictator like Hitler as a kid, and he found the easiest audience to get idolization out of. Especially at the time, he could take thier struggles and make himself a Messiah out of them. And he did do a lot of good in a way that most Civil Rights leaders we learn about failed. He'd just straight go into jails and argue with cops to save his congregation, he'd write letters for them, he'd get down to the individual to fight for them and actually made a visible difference instead of just marching forever in hopes of sweeping societal change.
But he didn't do this entirely for the goodness of it. He knew it would make them fiercely loyal to him and increase his godhood among them by being able to point to exact points he had helped each of them. He was building an army that would follow him to anything, and their civil rights was just a means to that end.
And that anything was Socialism. That's the part that history ignores entirely. Jones' entire goal was socialism. Its why its called the Peoples Temple (no apostrophe to remove ownership). Its why before they killed themselves they were all asking if Russia would come to their aid. Its why many of them on the Death Tape itself espouse that they were dying for Socialism and that was their entire goal for the entire Jonestown.
This gets ignored because, besides being a bad look for socialism, it also reveals some Civil Rights Leaders and Black people were actually socialist/communists in large numbers during the Cold War and actually were both willing to defect and undermine America for that goal. Which would completely dismantle the deification of those Civil Rights protesters by showing that hatred of them wasn't just some form of racism, but a legitimate resistance to foreign ideologies.
Especially as Jones had a huge list of fans and friends who constantly sucked him off. Celebrities, politicians, the wife of a president. Even Lee O'Ryan, whose death caused the mass suicide, was in the process of returning to write a glowing letter about how good socialism was working until defectors jumped on his ride with him.
I don't know the full credentials of this historian nor the context for this interview, but the stunning lack of mention about Socialism in regards to Jim Jones, while ironically talking about the parts people ignore, undermines it a lot for me.
Most of the Civil Rights Leaders were socialist.
Jones wasn't even religious. He was an atheist. Lying isn't wrong if it's in service of utopia.
That's the basic premise that makes these people evil. Temporary suffering is not comparable to eternal bliss.
They were, and its a completely buried detail about them.
Jones, however, actually walked the walk instead of just screaming about it constantly. He built communities that self functioned, heck he built his own town to prove his point. He wasn't paying lip service to the idea to seem hip or anti-American (like most celebrities and leaders did at the time), he went out and did it.
He also proved why it always fails while doing it, but its tied deeply to his story and actions and it needs to be mentioned constantly to tell it truthfully.