Prior to listening to this episode of the “Bad Ideas” podcast, I had heard of Jim Jones, Jonestown, and, of course, the “drink the Kool Aid” expression. What I did not know were the origins of the cult. I was surprised to hear that Jones was a proponent of racial equality because when I think of extremists who separate themselves from society, I tend to think of people fighting progress in society and rebelling as a result, not those who are advocating for progress. I then asked myself “How can something founded on such positive ideas turn negative?”. This reminded me of our discussion of groupthink.
When talking about groupthink, we talked about how a group with unified values and beliefs that has high cohesion can push each other to become more radically extreme, exactly what happened with Jonestown. The people of Jonestown, under Jim Jones’s influence, pressured each other to push even farther in their beliefs, so much so that they lost a sense of morality and reality. The article on groupthink also said that groups suffering from groupthink are more likely to kill people outside of their group without remorse, exactly what happened in Jonestown.
The creation of groupthink in Jonestown makes sense because Jim Jones studied and admired Hitler. Hitler’s tactics inspired either group cohesion (leading to groupthink) or fear among his citizens. Jones used very similar tactics and saw very similar results. I do find it odd that Jim Jones was an advocate of racial equality yet admired Hitler because Hitler’s beliefs stand in direct opposition to this. This makes me think that Jim Jones prioritized power and influence over his own morals, but that is just speculation.
When listening to the podcast, I also immediately thought of groupthink, especially in the way that the people of Jonestown pressured one another. Also, when I first heard that Jones supported Hitler’s ideas I was very surprised because even though the outcomes of his actions were disastrous, he had initial good intentions.
The question that you stated is interesting. While the idea of Jonestown is a bit out of the box and unrealistic, it doesn’t seem like he was doing it for a bad reason. To me there was not an exact moment mentioned when Jones turned into a negative leader.
I didn’t understand how he preached racial equality but admired Hitler, because that doesn’t really seem possible. I also thought about groupthink when I listened to this podcast because in groupthink, the group comes up with reasons why any opposition is wrong.
I liked how you Brough groupthink into this, because I hadn’t though of it and also because I agree that it could be a big proponent on how his once-good group mission turned bad. His original view for progress, especially racial equality, seemed to go MIA once his group solidified, showing the possibility for groupthink to have overtaken the group.