When I was young I lived in San Francisco in a Rastafarian commune. In 1978, we were producing concerts in an old Jewish synagogue at Geary and Fillmore we call the Temple Beautiful or 1839 Geary. To one side of us was the Fillmore West where Bill Graham ran the show. On the other side was The Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ aka The Peoples Temple: a left-wing racial justice group focused on Christian community that was founded in the 1950s by the Reverend Jim Jones.
At one time, San Francisco’s inner circle of progressive politics, people like Willie Brown, Rosalynn Carter, and Jerry Brown supported Jones due to Jones’ active participation in progressive politics; much like the right wing of the Republican party supported Trump to get their agendas passed.
Initially, Jones’ focus was on housing and feeding the poor, racial justice, and other progressive agendas. After awhile Jones, like Trump, started praising terrorist organizations and little by little he isolated followers from family and friends in what morphed from a church and a community to a cult due to Jones demanding unquestioning loyalty, to him, repudiation of other perspectives, and a spiraling into mental illness (sound like Trump?).
~~ David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images
Dead bodies surround the compound of the Peoples Temple cult after its more than 900 members, led by Reverend Jim Jones, died from drinking cyanide-laced Flavor Aid. November 19, 1978. Jonestown, Guyana.
I remember the mass suicide in Guyana as if it were yesterday. No one would come to our events because they thought we were associated with The People’s Temple. The few people who were still living and working at The Peoples Temple in San Francisco were in shock. They were the lucky survivors whose entire belief system had exploded in one instance and were now being investigated for the death of a Congressional representative, journalists, and hundreds of temple members.
We have seen this type of cult all too often. Followers remain isolated from non-followers, absolute loyalty is required to a charismatic leader, and eventually some type of mass suicide or violence occurs: David Koresh and the Branch Davidians siege at Waco, Osama Bin Laden and suicide bombers, Shoko Asahara and Aum Shinrikyo who attacked the Tokoyo subway with nerve gas, “Do” of Heaven’s Gate, who orchestrated a mass suicide surrounding the appearance of the Hale-Bopp Comet, and so many more.
Experts have identified these and other leaders as having narcissistic personality disorders just as many have diagnosed the same in Donald Trump.
The events of January 6th are akin to these other horrific events in that Donald Trump asked for unquestioning allegiance to his lies about the 2020 presidential election that have only served to make him a rich man as he peddles falsehoods and collects multi-million dollars in donations. Those who are indoctrinated into the Cult of Trump obeyed and tried to change the outcome of our election by force.
I fear for the safety of this country as those still in the grip of a leader who demands absolute loyalty and whose mind is in an alternative reality are likely to commit anotherJonestown massacre. Please don’t let that happen.
