Drinking the Kool-Aid

This is a plea to stop using the phrase, “drinking the Kool-Aid” in reference to your opinion of the fans of, or believers in, something you do not agree with.

Leading up to and after the 2008 election, I’ve seen a fair share of people state something to the effect of not wanting to drink the Obama Kool-Aid. Whatever their reasons, be it that they simply disagree with his policies and don’t know the origin of the phrase, or they actually think that there is some kind of similarity between Obama’s popularity and the origin of the phrase. What is the history behind this seemingly innocent phrase that references a sugary flavored drink mix? If you don’t know, then it’s probably darker than you think.

In 1978, Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple, persuaded his followers to flee the United States and establish their home in Jonestown, Guyana, located in South America. Later that year, then Congressman Leo Ryan from California visited Guyana with concerned family members of some of the residents of Jonestown. The Congressman and other people in his party were gunned down at the airport. Fearing the U.S. Government’s intervention, Jim Jones convinced over 900 followers to commit mass suicide. A large majority of those people drank Kool-Aid mixed with potassium cyanide and died. This incident became known as the Jonestown Massacre.

While there may be other explanations for the phrase, the actual history behind the meaning used by people like Bill O’Reilly refers to this tragedy, specifically the group of believers who followed their leader to their horrific deaths. It doesn’t matter if the person using the term is liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, Independant, or your run-of-the-mill nutjob. The term, when you think about the origin, is offensive.

To have seen the hundreds of men, women, children and even babies lying dead. To know that their fates could have been different had they not followed a sick man to their deaths. To hear people, now, use the phrase without any consideration whatsoever… It makes me ill.

So, think before you speak. Think about the hundreds of people who died and then think about the thousands of friends and relatives who were personally and deeply affected by the Jonestown Massacre.