Truth and Lies: Jonestown, Paradise Lost

ABUSE

 

    While watching this film I thought it was crazy that there was an individual that manipulated a huge group of people into thinking that he was a god and could walk on water. Hearing about Jim Jones childhood was very intriguing because he had explained how he felt like an outcast and was never accepted, until he had a huge group of individuals believing every word he had said and followed him to the end.

    What stood out to me the most was hearing these stories from people who were members of the People's Temple and how amazing Jones had appeared to be. He adopted children of color, he had a soup kitchen to feed individuals, he was preaching to, what was appeared as, fighting for justice, but in reality he was a predator who was taking advantage of these people. It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that there are individuals out in this world that will tell others what they want to hear so they can later use them to their advantage, especially in the way that Jim Jones did. He was continuously tricking people. He was a con man. He tried to control people in a variety of ways for his own benefit as well! 

    This film was extremely interesting all in all because of the fact that I learned about the ways Jim Jones could control, trick, manipulate, and blackmail individuals to do whatever he wanted. And this was all for his own benefit and for power. It is crazy to think that this horrible, abusive man, was looked at as a god as well because he was not that. He was the exact opposite of being a god.