Salutations

At this writing, in the dawning hours of November 18, 2006, are two milestones.

The First: But of course, it's the Apologists Alert official blast-off into this tumultuous brave new blogosphere world. Must confess, am both exhilarated and, yeah, anxious. As much as I am impressed with this user-friendly "create your own website in a jiffy" package, somehow, somewhere, it just feeeels like one of these "friendly" little icons will lunge forward and begin munching away at 29 hours of my "creation".

I'll get over it. Probably 29 hours from now. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled about interacting with all manner of humanity, on issues affecting our lives in overt and subtle ways. They cannot continue to always be shunted off into convenient pigeon holes by know-it-all media pundits. This is what is so invigorating about blogging: it has provided great promise to us, the public. Now, no longer can corporate communication chiefs muzzle citizens at will (which, with the increasing gobbling up of independent news services by media giants, is more critical than ever.)

The Second: It's no accident that I'm launching this site today, November 18, the date of a horrendous anniversary. Before September 11 had occurred, did you know that today marks the day--28 years ago, in Guyana--of the greatest loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster? Lamentably, it's a good bet that most of these people tossing about the macabre "drink the Kool-Aid" slang are oblivious that today was the day it happened.

A deplorable irony. But even more appalling is that a big part of the lesson of this utterly preventable Jonestown Massacre (not a mass suicide, but largely a mass murder) remain clouded. Critical components continue to be buried away from the public. If you think you'll find them in director Stanley Nelson's crafty little new film "Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple", forget about it. He's done some real handiwork, this "pronounced liberal activist". Not only has he condoned the army of shameless public figures that helped create the Jim Jones Frankenstein, but Nelson actually does a brilliantly executed positive spin on all this. Apparently, he was deeply enamored by "Jim's" (as Nelson has referred to him) great dedication to social activism. Thus, a reprehensible cast of "Jonestown Apologists" continue promoting denial about the full reality of Jim Jones's nightmarish cult.

Along with director Nelson's disgraceful fraud of a "documentary" film, two of his cronies, Rebecca Moore and Fielding "Mac" McGhee, run the "Jonestown Institute". Becky (whose two sisters that perished at Jonestown were top conspirators with Jones) and the Mac are amazing. Their Ministry of Cult Apologist Propaganda website is impressive, with an inclusion of useful, historical archives, woven around endless breath-taking arguments that People's Temple was, well, really not actuuualy cult, but just a bit of an unconventional church.....and Jonestown was, yeeees, metamorphosing into Shangri-La. (Problem was just that the racist, tyrannical outside world wouldn't "leave them in peace"--yes, Jones did say that, but he was--gulp--not alone in this view.)

Like editors of National Enquirer, Moore and McGhee have cooked up a spectacularly corrupt blend of fantasy and reality.

As this day progresses and the grieving relatives share their pilgrimage to Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California to remember their loved ones, from the babies to the elderly that were senselessly slaughtered in South America, I begin work on a series of exposes.

The first will spotlight Lord Hollywood Nelson's cinematic smoke & mirrors that reveal his subtle church pastels softening the harsher edges of the Jones Gulag, sweetened up with a foot-stompin' score of gospel and R&B tunes. The Cult That Rocked?

There's so much more in this sordid saga--a house bursting with many, many other unscrupulous, deluded characters, past and present, that have stowed away here in this People's Temple Hall of Shame.

Prepare yourself.

Tom Kinsolving

November 18, 2006