Rhetorical Analysis Of Jim Jones 'Death Tape'

(117 book) Numerous celebrities sought the freedom of the “West Memphis Three” as they came to be called after their imprisonment (Robertson 1). These celebrities were putting their face out there by attaching it to a cause. This is advertisement for them.

Saying death is better than life reinforces his suicidal thoughts and shows how he is descending into madness.

The leader of Jonestown, Jim Jones, applied this tactic to help fund the People’s Temple move to Guyana. Members of his church signed over personal items such as homes and custody of their own children. They also donated money for the move to Guyana, which Jones wanted because he faced unwanted media attention and investigations. The signing over of belongings was the smaller request Jones asked of his followers. The larger request Jones asked was for everyone to kill themselves by drinking poison. Since his followers agreed to the smaller request of signing over money and belonging, they are more likely to agree to his larger request of suicide. In addition to Jim Jones, Family International founder, David Berg, used the same tactic to help him achieve his goal. In order to join his cult, he suggested to his members that they

It’s been four months since the false prophet arrive at the shore. My people are weak from disease and my wife is dead. Why must I have to see my people suffer in vain? My lord, please answer me! Please make the suffering stop. For the love of everything that is holy, take my life but please let my people live. Because of my fault, my children are dead and your temple, the one that my ancestors built in your honor, is now destroyed. It is now covered in dirt and ashes and the blood of your village as if your name was not pure enough.

Fighting for justice in “Revolutionary Suicide” presents two conflicts between suicide and salvation. In Oakland California around 1970, African Americans were being so mistreated that a movement was created to fight for black power which is known as Black Panther Party. African Americans were going up against the police and government of the racist south. This was a time Jim Crow laws had just ending along with segregation ,but that dosen’t mean that the whites of the south still didn’t have the same intentions they used to have about blacks. Which lead to many confrontations that resulted in death or injury causing revolutionary suicide. In poem “Revolutionary Suicide,” The style of the poem is built of a cause and effect. First, the speaker addresses that having nothing causes him to have everything .“By having no family I inherited the family of humanity …By having surrendering my life to the revolution I found internal life.” Readers can get an impression that the speaker would make a great leader. Especially when he tells the audience that he is willing to sacrifice himself in order to gain revolution. The speaker is confronting the opposition letting them know he is not afraid of death nor them. He also writes this in the poem

The theory also goes that the United states Government had no involvement and that the Reason he moved to Guyana was because he was fearful of the Rising Nuclear threat. Not to mention that the main Lure of being a Religious leader at the time was the money. In fact after Jones death he left Millions of dollars and many argue if he had taken advantage of his Group (The Peoples Temple). To add to the theory, Jones mostly integrated African Americans into his Congregation (Mass Suicide at Jonestown 2). Which at the time Many Blacks did not have a Church to take them in so Jones would have had some easy followers to add to his Group which meant more money.

Failure is an obstacle, everyone during their life must face and come to accept. But, what really is failure? I see failure as when you try to achieve at something, but do not succeed in doing so. A person who has faced many letdowns in his life is Denzel Washington; as he talks about failures in his 2011 University of Pennsylvania Commencement Address. During his speech, uses of rhetoric can be heard all throughout his words. Making the message he is trying to say to the graduating students that still have their lives in front of them, just so much more robust. Washington’s use of all three kinds of rhetoric throughout his speech about defeat and how to change your thoughts to overcome them.

One of the stories that caught my attention was the Helzer brothers’ story because it happened locally. The older of the two Helzer brothers, Glenn (a.k.a. Taylor) Helzer, was the one that was in charge. He attended a “brainwashing” seminar known as “Harmony” training. After the training, he “decided that God had put him on earth to take over the Mormon church and become its true prophet” (Rich 32). Then he convinced Dawn Godman to attend a “Harmony” training. To illustrate, Dawn Godman, who was a roommate of the Helzer brothers, was “… a depressive, overweight woman …” (Rich 32). Godman was in a depressive state, which made her vulnerable and seeking a sense of purpose, which led to Taylor controlling her psychologically. The Helzer brothers and Godman abducted an elderly couple for money and killed them; in addition, killed several other people. Godman continued to follow the Helzer brothers and commit these heinous crimes because her life had purpose which was being a “disciple” to Taylor. Later, David Sullivan, an investigator, took part in the “Harmony” trainings to gain Godman’s trust. During Godman’s hearing, Sullivan showed her a hand signal which meant “… he was a trusted, heart connection” (Rich 36). Sullivan helped Godman finally realize that Taylor was not a prophet and her purpose was not to be his “disciple.” Godman, herself, ultimately, came back to reality and testified against the

He no longer wants to live and convinces himself suicide may be an option. His thought of death just being a part of life influenced these immoral decisions to appear. His thought on suicide forces him to believe it will extract the depression from his life. However, he realizes it will also take him out of the world. His soft approach to death being part of the cycle then continues to protest in his mind. He refers to the bible and states “Are two sparrows sold for a farthing, one should not fall…without your father” (Matthew 10.29). This ultimately means that throughout

Therefore, the Myth of Sisyphus of Camus states that the only serious problem of philosophy is suicide, meaning that, he believed that suicide admits the fact that life is not worth living, in other words meaningless. And so, he posed a question by asking, why, do people not commit suicide? Thereby, making his, description of absurdity to come into play or existence. Camus posed that people are not logical in the act of killing themselves, instead, they do believe in the absurdity of their own lives as an individual.

One of Jones' long time followers Tim Stoen explained, "There wasn't anything magical about Jim's power. It was raw politics. He was able to deliver what politicians want, which is power. And how do you get power? By votes. And how do you get votes? With people. Jim Jones could produce 3,000 people at a political event.''

He worked on breaking down connections between Temple members, he rearranged marriages, and insisted on celibacy. Jones was deviant when it came to have sexual relations with men and women.

Whatever a religion may offer as it's belief about suicide, the followers of that religion do not always uphold that belief. At Masada, for example, a sect of fervently religious Jews known as Zealots held off Roman invaders for two years. When it became apparent that defeat was inevitable, their leader convinced the remaining nine hundred and sixty of them to commit suicide (Flanders 5). And Michel de Montaigne, a Christian writer living in France in the mid sixteenth century wrote five essays arguing that suicide is a matter of personal choice, and it is a viable option under some circumstances (OCRT 1).

Many Americans flocked to see Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” On over 2.000 screens across America the viewed the “harrowing depiction of Jesus' last 12 hours in wide-screen vivid color.” (Allen 2004) People viewed images of Jesus being flogged, crucified and left to die. This violence caused some Christians discomfort with theology, and some Jews’ fear that it will “incite violence against them because of its portrayal of Jews’ involvement in Jesus’ death.” (Allen 2004)

In his play, <u>Death and the King's Horseman</u>, Wole Soyinka would have us examine every clash and conflict, save for the one involving culture. Certainly this may seem the most obvious part of the play, but we would do the general understanding of <u>Death</u> a disservice if we ignored one of the central conflicts in the play. Every element of the play is placed in terms of two extremes, and the cultures must be considered one of those pairs. Suicide is no exception to this examination; it must be seen in the conflicting lights that Soyinka gives us: British vs. Yoruban, physical vs. metaphysical, personal vs. social; and an expression of failure vs. a form of redemption. In examining how the play divides suicide so completely through