Episode 50

Sword and Scale

Incongruity

History, Society & Culture, True Crime, Documentary

4.0 • 63.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2015

⏱️ 108 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On November 18, 1978, in a remote settlement of northwestern Guyana, 909 Americans lost their lives in what is considered to be the largest mass suicide of the twentieth century. This compound, informally known as Jonestown, was established by a charismatic preacher named Jim Jones who led his People's Temple to their ultimate demise. In this episode, we welcome Julia Scheeres, author of the book "A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Jonestown", to tell us the story of how this story evolved into a tragedy. The religious organization he established was called People's Temple, and it was shrouded in secrecy and isolation. After drawing some unwanted attention from concerned family of People's Temple members, Jones moved his followers to a 3,800 acre plot of jungle he leased from Guyanese officials. Once there, Temple members were trapped. Late night meetings known as "White Nights" were used as drills to keep residents prepared for an imminent invasion by the CIA or other intelligence agencies which Jones referred to as "capitalist pigs." Temple members were tricked into committing "revolutionary suicide", as Jones called it, for the sake of their cause during staged sessions. Eventually, the paranoia and drug abuse of Jones would lead Jonestown down a dark path to which there was no other alternative but the death of every resident of Jonestown. If you're familiar with the term "drinking the Kool-Aid", this is where it comes from. However, the derogatory term simply doesn't fit the set of facts. Many of the residents of Jonestown simply didn't have a choice and almost a third of them were children. This mass "suicide", wasn't suicide at all. It was murder.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence. It is not intended for all audiences.
0:05.2	Listener discretion is advised. The People's Temple is an experiment in religious socialism,
0:11.8	with the emphasis on socialism. It was founded in the 1950s by Jim Jones, who used the church to become
0:17.4	a political power in the state. Jones set out to rehabilitate dope addicts, prostitutes, and other social misfits.
0:24.2	And to members of the People's Temple, Jim Jones and communal living in Jones Town provide the
0:28.9	atmosphere to get rid of America's urban ills.
1:10.0	Hello and welcome the sword and Scale, episode 50, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Thank you. We have a massive show for you today.
1:14.2	In this episode, we'll cover a case that a lot of people in their 20s don't even know about,
1:17.8	despite it being the largest mass suicide of the 20th century.
1:22.1	We'll speak to author Julie Shears about her book, A Thousand Lives,
1:28.3	and get a little closer to understanding the massacre that happened at Jonestown in 1978. But before we get to that, I gotta let you know that I've been working non-stop since October of 2013.
1:34.3	I have not had a free weekend, where I wasn't doing something related to Sordonscale in some way.
1:40.3	I estimate the amount of time I've put into Sordonscale so far is about 1,500 hours, or 62.5, 24-hour days.
1:48.3	So I'm due for a break, and I'm going to take one. After episode 50, I'm going to go offline for a little while.
1:55.1	Maybe even leave the house and go outside. I will be meeting a few of you on July 30th at the Whiskey and Rye Bar in downtown
2:02.7	Fort Worth. That should be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to meeting some of the fans
2:06.8	that have helped make this show as popular as it has become. If you're in the area and want to come out,
2:11.8	details are on our Facebook page at facebook.com slash sword and scale. For the rest of you, I'll see you once I've had a chance to recuperate from the heavy
2:21.2	workload and get some new inspiration for the rest of the season.
2:24.9	Thanks again for being patient and on with the show. There are moments in time where the perfect set of elements and circumstances come together to create a disaster, never
2:52.8	before seen in history. In this case, what we're talking about is a mass suicide. The reasons will
3:00.3	vary, but the result will be very much the same. Shock, sorrow, disbelief, and a need to understand why.
	...

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