40 Years Later, and the Kool Aid Flows More Than Ever

The phrase, “Don’t drink the kool aid” means to think for yourself, and not just blindly follow someone or believe what they say without checking for yourself. It comes from an incident that happened on this day in 1978.

40 years ago today, 909 people were either murdered or committed suicide in what is commonly known as “The Jonestown Massacre.” It was the largest number of intentional civilian deaths in American history prior to September 11, 2001.

They had followed “Reverend” Jim Jones to the nation of Guyana, South America as part of his cult. Congressman Leo Ryan of California lead a group down to investigate what was going on. He had heard from some who had escaped about assaults of every nature, and people not being allowed to leave.

Leo Ryan was an amazing Congressman. To learn more about the school system, he became a substitute teacher. To learn…