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This Episode:
/u/cordis_melum discusses the group led by Jim Jones known as the People's Temple. We explore its development from a integration minded church in Indianapolis with socialist tendencies to it's final chapter of mass suicide in the jungles of Guyana. This episode aims to look at the People's Temple not as an inexplicable cult, but as an extreme response to the social and political situation of America at that time, set against the backdrop of the Cold War. (83min)
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Coming up next episode: /u/firedrops discusses Haitian Vodou.
Coming up after that: /u/shlin28 discusses the political arrangements between East and West after the Fall of Rome.
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Hi, everyone! Happy Christmas to you all!
Also, damn, this is one depressing subject on Christmas day.
ANYWAYS! I'll be here today and tomorrow answering questions that you may have. For those of you who are looking at this post months later, I also take questions on the subreddit.
Here's the rough outline of stuff. We didn't go over everything in there (otherwise it would be like five hours long), but this should give you a general idea on things I wanted to discuss. I would like to emphasize the fact that this is extremely rough! There's a lot of repetition, but I wanted to share what the rabbits and I had in front of our screens when we recorded this.
There are excerpts of the so-called "death tape" on this podcast, although I promise that we did not include excerpts taken during the actual mass suicide/murder. If you're curious as to the full contents, here's the Q042 transcript. CONTENT NOTE: This is literally a transcript of a recording made from the final hours of Jonestown's existence, including the mass suicide/murder. As such, this may be very disturbing for some readers. Doubly so if you actually decide to listen to the MP3 recordings, which I'm not linking to because that is pretty easy to find.
A very big and very special thanks to our early supporters of the podcast: Matt F, Max M, Elm, and Vlad! I'd call you pioneers but the last couple episodes on Zimbabwe have given that word a bit of an odd connotation.
For anyone interested in more podcasts on this subject, I would suggest an old audio documentary from NPR, "Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown" it has some amazing and haunting audio.
edit: Here's a short clip from that doc, where congregants of the People's Temple testify their loyalty to Jim Jones and Jonestown- by describing what they would do to the relatives that wanted them to leave.
What about Guyana led the People's Temple to move there?
Did the Guyanese government invite them, or merely tolerate them? Why?
What effects did the events at Jonestown and surrounding the PT, including the intervention of Congressman Ryan, have on Guyana?
Did you mean to say "This episode aims to look at the People's Temple NOT as an inexplicable cult,"?
Is there a way for me to add this podcast to my pocket casts subscriptions