Newsletter: Why Should We Care About Jonestown?
And How Do We Heal Ourselves in a World Where it’s Happening Again?
The massacre of over 900 people - many of them children - in a Guyana jungle happened 47 years ago today.
I still remember it as if it were yesterday.
Jim Jones, a malignant narcissist cult leader holding the power of life and death over his people, followers who had been bullied, isolated, and manipulated into thinking that he alone had all the answers, that those on the “outside” wanted to hurt them, that death would be preferable to making peace with the “other side.”
Yes, it all happened a long time ago. A child born that year would now be verging on middle age. So why should we care about something so far in the past?
Ironically, the answer was painted on a crude sign hung over Jim Jones’ throne in the cult’s main pavilion, a quote from the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Today, we live in a reality where authoritarian cult leaders hold the highest office in many countries, where slogans and ragebait have replaced rational discourse, and where making peace with the “other side” is unthinkable. In Chapter Three of my book, The Cult of Trump, I compared Trump with Jones, Moon, and Hubbard.
Don Lattin, the former religion reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an OpEd in which he cites my work as he remembers Jonestown and reflects on Trump. I interviewed Don for a future podcast.
People are dying in battles that could be prevented, starving while the divide between poor and rich grows wider, speaking and reacting from ignorance as they are kept from vital information.
Authoritarian leaders worldwide are pushing us into our own destruction, just as Jim Jones pushed his followers into their horrific demise.
Jonestown is not history; it is happening all over again, all around us. Worse still, if we do not pull ourselves out of ignorance and hate, we will destroy our planet.
So what can we do?
First, we must heal ourselves. But how?
Over the past few months, I have been publishing helpful guides for my paid subscribers, ranging from how to navigate relationships with those stuck in destructive groups to how to regain trust in one’s own decisions.
How to Rebuild Your Identity
This week’s guide, Re-Building Your Identity Post-Cult, is designed to help anyone who has been in a destructive cult group untangle the threads of implanted guilt, phobias, circular reasoning, and all the other mind-traps that keep us from moving forward and living effectively.
In this guide, I talk about:
Understanding the “dual” cult identity
The inherent “identity crisis” of cult recovery
The concept of “floating”
Giving yourself permission to grieve
I also offer some practical exercises for recovery and rediscovering your authentic self, such as:
Finding the moments when you are the “most you”
Challenging yourself with small choices
Reclaiming (or discovering) your preferences
Finding who you admire - and why
Fostering moments of rebellion
If you are not already a paid subscriber, now is an excellent time to become one.
If you are a paid subscriber, you can access this article now; you will also get access to my complete archive of valuable advice, cult history, and fascinating interviews with experts in the field, such as:
Jonestown and the Mind Control Cult of Jim Jones: A Survivor’s Story - a powerful interview with Jonestown survivor Vernon Gosney
Kim Jong Un and North Korea: Can we learn from Jim Jones and David Koresh? - a look at how the lessons of Jonestown and Waco resonate in today’s political landscape
Moving from Victim to Survivor in Precarious Times - a talk with my late great mentor, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, on how cult survivors can - and must - reclaim their identity, to navigate a precarious world filled with existential threats and on the brink of disaster
Fostering Positive Change in our Government
Another critical way to foster positive change in our world is to support leaders who care about the people, rather than their own political power.
Although I am usually leery of standing behind any political candidate, I was pleasantly surprised by my interactions with David Clayton, who is running for office in North Carolina’s fifth congressional district.
David is running as an Independent and promises to call out the legalized corruption that plagues our current political system. He spent several years of his life passing out survival gear to homeless veterans.
He has also drafted proposed legislation to house homeless veterans. This proposed legislation is called the Character by Integrity Act.
I sat down with him for my latest episode of my Cults, Culture & Coercion podcast, “Empathy Goes on Tour: David Clayton’s Fight in North Carolina’s District 5.” David is that rarest of people, a political candidate who has given up his wealth to share with the people.
Even if you don’t live in his district, you will want to hear his powerful story and find someone like him in your area to support.
Listen on Apple | Spotify | Watch on YouTube
Or read the full blog post version: Empathy Goes on Tour: David Clayton’s Fight in North Carolina’s District 5
As always, please let us know what you think about these pieces or what you’d like to see us discuss in the future. Thanks so much!
Spot-on as usual. Today Trump's niece , clinical psychologist Mary Trump, emphatically restated warnings she had written in her books. Trump is a nihilist, a malignant narcissist, who does not see/feel anything beyond himself. If/when he goes down, he will take everything/everyone down with him.
Dictators are irrily similar in psychosis to cult leaders and thus serve as a warning that nearly all cult leaders , walk willing followers of cliffs.