Jonestown Massacre Research Paper

What follow are the events and tensions leading up to the Boston Massacre on March 5th, 1770. The soldiers and the colonists were quarreling and there were high tensions amongst them. In the days leading up to the massacre the soldiers may have plotted against the colonists of New England. There was a fight that took place at the ropemakers, which is considered to be one of the most influential encounters between the soldiers and the New Englanders. There are several different accounts of how this conflict took place. According to Captain Preston, “[o]n the [2nd] instant two of the 29th going through one Gray's ropewalk, the rope-makers insultingly asked them if they would empty a vault. This unfortunately had the desired effect by provoking

     What is groupthink? There is a simple definition for it, but is it truly that simple? The term groupthink refers to the inclination of group members to have the same opinions and beliefs; it frequently leads to mistakes. It often occurs without an individual being aware of it. Conflict is considered to be a harmful element when related to groups, but conflict is good when considering groupthink because it helps to eliminate the existence of a groupthink. The explanation sounds simple enough, but it is more complex than the description given.

"...he really thought they did fire to defend themselves." The Bloody Massacre was a killing of five people and six others were wounded. A more commonly known name is the Boston Massacre. This was also a key event that led to the start of the Revolutionary War.

“The shot heard round the world” left the barrel just after dawn in Lexington on July 29th 1775. This single shot sparked the true beginning of the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary war was a conflict that lasted for seven years. Many different events occurred throughout those years that fueled the war, and one was the Boston Massacre or The Late Unhappy Disturbance in Boston as it was known in London. Even though it is widely accepted that the Boston Massacre was a result of the actions of both the colonists and the British soldiers, the true cause lies behind the gunfire of the British.

More than a quarter of a million Africans were brought to the American colonies. Most of them worked on larger plantations on the south. Many American’s lost their jobs and they blamed it on the British. This caused the Boston Massacre also known as the Bloody Massacre. On the streets of Boston, a mob of Patriots fill the area. There were eight British soldiers that faced this angry mob. The words of a young man named Edward Garrick started this massacre. African American Crispus Attucks was killed instantly along with four other Patriots. This changed history forever. The British then repealed all taxes except on tea. The Patriots reacted by dumping over one million dollars worth of tea into the Boston Harbor. The British make a bold decision

“Prior to the 9/11 attack, the tragedy at Jonestown marked the single largest loss of U.S. civilian lives in a non-natural disaster”(Jonestown Massacre 2). Jim Jones, a cult leader of the Peoples Temple, was responsible for the loss of the 900+ people that died in Guyana on November 18, 1978. Before all of this Jim Jones was a normal man living a life as a preacher who preached against racism. Throughout his life he was very popular by “currying favor with public officials and the media, donated money to numerous charitable causes and delivered votes for various politicians at election times”(History Staff). Jim Jones was a cult leader that preached to 900+ people of the Peoples Temple, made hundreds of people commit suicide, and made history of the biggest loss of U.S. civilians before 9/11.

“Belief is a powerful force” (Moore, Alt. Considerations). It is what lead the Israelites out of Egypt and what inspired Michelangelo to paint the “Creation of Adam.” It is what encouraged the pilgrims to move to America, but belief has also lead to wars. It is belief of superiority that fanned the flame of the Holocaust and the KKK. It is what that killed seventy-nine people in the Wacco Siege and it is what that killed 909 men, women, and children in Jonestown. The Jonestown Massacre has played a very big part in the history of cults and radical belief. People wonder how these people were manipulated to do terrible things. But perhaps it is not belief itself that is terrible, but how people use it.

The People’s Temple was a new religious movement founded on April 4th, 1955 by founder James Warren Jones. The movement had over 1000 members and lived on together, segregated from the outside society in a small encampment of Jonestown in the country of Guyana. The encampment which claimed to be a utopia, over time changed into an environment delegates have never signed up to be a part of, being part of one of the world’s most unfortunate massacre incidents.

Chidester, D. (1992). Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, The Peoples Temple, and Jonestown. Pg. 335-338. Retrieved February 15, 2016, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=ab3b2e3d-4c6e-4370-a7d1-2855e6027c88@sessionmgr4003&hid=4212

On November 18, 1978, followers of Jim Jones shot and killed United States Congressman Leo J. Ryan and four others traveling with him on a fact finding trip to Guyana. Ryan was there to investigate complaints about the community called "Jonestown," which was largely inhabited by his former California constituents.

The people of Jonestown were apart of a subculture because this group of people were shut out from the rest of the world, other communities, and people. They followed a person named Jim Jones. That was their leader. They looked up to him and did as he said they did not question him.

The worst mass murder suicide was the Jonestown Massacre which happened on November 18th, 1978. Have you ever head the saying “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid?” this originates for the Jonestown Massacre, which killed over 900 members of the Peoples Temple. James Jones made a concoction of a powered drink, like Kool-Aid mixed laced with cyanide and prescription drugs. James Jones used psychological manipulation instead of physical force with the members of Peoples Temple.

On November 18, 1979, in the South American nation of Guyana, a United States Congressman named Leo Ryan, and several news reporters were assassinated by members of a religious cult called the Peoples Temple. Due to increased scrutiny and pressures at home, the Reverend Jim Jones, had moved the majority of his congregation to South America in order to establish a communist utopia. Representative Ryan had travelled to meet with Jones at the requests of numerous family members whom were concerned about their missing loved ones. Subsequent to the assassinations, Jim Jones was not only able convince most of his followers to willingly drink cyanide laced Kool-Aid, but he also influenced them to give the poison to their own children to drink as well. In all, 918 people, mostly due to their obedience to Jones, were either murdered or convinced to freely commit suicide; and some, even consented to the murder of their own children (Moore, R & McGehee, F., 2014). The first question that many people might ask, is what kind of mind control did Jim Jones have over his followers? Moreover, what kind of lessons were his people learning while they were isolated in the middle of a Guyanese jungle? The Control and Learning theories help people to learn a great deal about crime, but they can also aid in the understanding of how criminal organizations or societies work as well.

Groupthink theory often occurs without the group’s realization. Irving Janis formed 8 different symptoms that indicate groupthink. The first of these symptoms is illusions of vulnerability. This occurs when members of the group are overly optimistic and believe that nothing negative will arise from their decision. Janis describes it as taking great risks and acquiring the attitude of “everything is going to be OK, because we are a special group”. Secondly we have belief in inherent morality. This symptom is characterized as the groups thought that they could do no wrong. They believe that they have high morality, that they are right in all situations and they ignore the ethical consequences that could arise because of their decisions. As the third

The events that occurred on November 18, 1978 has rocked the psychological world on how Jim Jones was able to manage what is now known as the "Jonestown Suicides" or the "Jonestown Massacre". It all started from when Jim Jones created what was known as the Peoples Temple in the middle of Indianapolis in 1955 leading only just 20 followers at the time. After a year had past, the people’s temple started to make a name for itself by serving for the disadvantage and opening an orphanage. This started to draw a crowd to the temple and it manage to start almost a new religion. And when November 1978 arrived, Jim Jones managed to persuade 909 people to commit suicide that were a part of the people's temple at the time.