A week ago Jim Jones, Jr., adopted son of the murderous cult leader that obliterated over 900 Americans, made a dramatic spectacle on the Oprah Winfrey show.Like all good apologists, Jones, Jr. wants the world to think that his long-extinct cult was "trying to build a better world," when they operated in California or in Guyana. Interestingly enough, he left out details of the seamier sides of the Peoples Temple "better world": Marxist, totalitarian, featuring all the charms of a criminal enterprise; extortion, fraud, child abuse, slave labor, torture, and murder.
And Oprah let him get away with it.
One of my readers, "Anonymous," had a quite different take on the show last Wednesday, saying:
"It seems like we were watching two shows. The one that I saw was not as you say, 'an apologist of someone's father.' It was a beautiful told story of the 'human spirt' and I actual take offense for minimizing that. It seems like Jones Jr. faced many internal demons and came out the better person for himself and his family. I can't understand how this creates honor or sympathy for Jones Sr. in my eyes.
What I saw was a candid description of why and maybe how come so many people were willing to travel to SA. I think it was Jones Jr's admiration for his lost loved ones for trying to build a new world that blinded them to the manipulations of his father. Additionally Oprah was in complete dismay/disdain of this tragedy and in my opinion not even close in doing a puff piece." Well, "Anonymous," I don't happen to agree. Jones, Jr.'s description on the hows and whys all those people got shipped off to an even more terrible enslavement in a South American jungle was anything but candid.
That the man suffered, there is no doubt. He lost family members, friends in the massacre. But what seems obvious is that Jones, Jr.'s method of dealing with his "survivor's guilt" is to now try to paint a sweet-smelling rose garden along the path that lead to Jonestown.
While this now may enable him to sleep better at night, it still won't change the reality of the Peoples Temple. Only in his deluded mind and others, such as director Stanley Nelson and Religion Prof. Becky Moore, sister of Annie and Carolyn, who were vicious cult enforcers & baby killers.
One of my other readers, "Rhonda," (a former Temple captive who chooses to remain anonymous) had her own special assessment of Jones, Jr.'s performance:
"I am so tired of hearing Jim Jones, Jr. confess and profess his undying love for this sociopath, and now I wonder if these same traits are not fundamentally also inside of Jim Jones, Jr. Over the past 32 years he has gone overboard in his sharing of his philosophical views of this 'rainbow family.' Now there is no longer a rainbow family. The same man that created it took it away!
And yes, I am encouraged that he was finally honest enough with himself and others to state to millions of people that he did not know that he is Black. How do you forgive a man for the murder of 900 people, including your wife, unborn child, mother, brother, etc.?Jim Jr., how do you look at yourself in the mirror each day? How do you justify genocide? How do you justify hatred? How do you justify the torture and punishment you witnessed of People’s Temple members that even occurred on U.S. soil? Finally how does a modern day Hitler like your Dad become a victim?
Another thing that bothers me: Why would he keep the name he was given at the time of his adoption? Why did Jones, Sr., provide the Black adopted son with his name and not the natural born son? (Hmmm, I wonder why??) It is obvious that everything Jim Jones, Sr., did had a deliberate reason and purpose. However, I can only assume that Jim, Jr., maintains the name of this murderous self-proclaimed con artist minister in order to strike up conversations with people and to feel a sense of importance in our society. Maintaining this name exhibits a potential lack of self-esteem and independence.
Obviously, he is still a child who has never surpassed the age of 18 years old living in an adult body. If Jim Jones, Sr. was so good and kind, then why has Tim Jones, another adopted son, never stepped up to the plate in support of his father? Why did Sue Jones never step up to the plate to tell others of his greatness? Why has Stephen Jones whom you refer to as “natural born” not been on major networks professing his love for Jim Jones, Sr.?
Why must there be a person who appears to be Black in skin color be compelled to stand up publicly as an “Uncle Tom” during Black History Month on national television in front of Oprah Winfrey Show, defending the genocide of 900 people that by your own statement were 70% Black Americans? Is it for money, fortune, fame, notoriety, publicity?
Or is it to protect a white racist communist pig responsible for annihilating innocent people (including babies). I have several questions for you, Jim Jones, Jr.: Are you the second coming of Jim Jones, Sr.? Or are you really loathing over the fact that you were never allowed to minister over a large congregation like your Dad, the monster you idolize? And shame on Oprah for letting him off so easy, especially during Black History Month. Jim Jones, Jr. you are obviously still under the lure of your Dad and the brainwashing you endured no doubt is irreversible. Perhaps, if you are fortunate, God Almighty will allow you to come back in another life for a second time (the process reincarnation.)
And this time, God might make you strong like Martin or Malcolm, and not like your adoptive parent--the conniving, manipulative, coward dictator 'Rev. James Warren Jones, Sr.' I pity and feel sorry for you because you are truly experiencing a roller coaster ride, attempting to make something virtuous out of something that fundamentally went deceitfully wicked."
Ouch.
Clearly Rhonda is no fan of Jim Jones, Jr. And I join her in these sentiments.
Meanwhile, our detractor "Anonymous" added this in his/her comment:
"I am not aware of your references about Stanley Nelson, but from what I surmise, he is a film maker that tried to capture the voices of survivors of this horrific event. I think Oprah using this footage was so beneficial to explaining the story. I now want to look up his work and view his complete piece on my own." Oh, Lord Nelson is sure to delight you, "Anonymous," probably even more than the cult monster's adoring son. His cult-coddling film classic has a closing scene with the voice over reading of the "Final Letter From Jonestown."
"....We wanted to live, to shine, to bring light to a world that is dying for a little bit of love,” wrote Jones henchman, Richard Tropp.
Bring light to a world?
Was this before or after Comrades Jones, Tropp, and their fellow sadists were regularly getting their thrills dunking terrified little children into a dark, deep well in that jungle utopia? Nelson and Jones, Jr. Now THAT is an apologist duo from hell. But don't just take my word for it. Below, a 2006 promo of the revisionist wonder movie that no doubt could effectively dress up and sparkle even the most heinous cult in the neighborhood.
Just imagine, a Charlie Mason, Jr., shaggy beard, coat & tie, telling us how much he "embraces" his daddy's famous name.
Now take a deep breath, and watch this.....
7 comments:
So if Congressman Ryan hadn't been shot, their ideals would have blossomed? Which ones the child torturing, the money laundering? These people decided their way of living was better than the rest of us, kidnapped the elderly to collect that Social Security all the while looking down their nose at us. Will a documentary ever come out that shows what truly vicious monsters this man and his cohorts in the inner circle were? I realize that most of these people were duped, but it seems that many of them knew exactly what the deal was.
The problem there is that for there to ever be a documentary like that, then it will have to implicate some of the survivors. There are a few things the survivors don't seem to want to admit. They don't wanna admit they were communists. They don't wanna admit that they thought that Jim Jones was, at the very least, some sort of deity. You can understand why they disavow that life but when you leave that sort of thing out of the narrative, it makes for some really disjointed storytelling. Nelson edited out part of an audio snippet where Jones threatened an old man with his super powers. The way it played, he just sounded like he was being mean. You hear Jones say, "I have the power to send you home, but it won't be on Pan Am." But he editted out the part where he referenced that the powers he was talking about were his God powers.
Again. I get why they don't wanna associate themselves with that,but it's part of the story .
Sounds like Rhonda who can't come out of the closet has a strong opinion. I have always wondered about people who hide in the shadows and shout out statements that can't be challenged or discussed.
I wonder because it makes me think the vaildity of her thoughts may not be there. It sounded like Jones, Jr would have answered the questioned she posed, But when you do that from the shadows he' never have a chance...to bad? Or maybe this Rhonda doesn't wasn't to hear the truth and believe what she wants too. I am sure the autor of this blog feels the same way too?
Amen, Jennifer. To me, Tim Stoen is the most interesting of the surviving "inner circle".
We should listen. We should listen and try to understand in order to prevent. We shouldn't judge. We should just fucking listen. I am not going to pick and choose the voices of those whose opinions I share. I personally did not have Jim Jones as a father, so I listen. I want to hear.
We shouldn't be surprised at Oprah - She's free PR for every whack-job self-help scam out there, from Scientology to the latest diet fad.
However, the cancer of Cult Apologism still makes me ill - It's intellectual fig-leaves being bought and sold. Anyone remember James Lewis and Gordon Melton flying to Japan, on the Aum Shryinko dime, to 'investigate' the Sarin Gas attacks? They looked at what the cult gave them, said "Oh, they couldn't have done it", and promptly got told humiliated when the Japanese courts convicted Aum for the attacks.
Great insights on this blog about how the Jonestown story is often romanticized in a completely inaccurate way. What do you think of the National Geographic channel's "Jonestown: Nightmare in Paradise?" http://natgeotv.com/uk/jonestown-nightmare-in-paradise
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