Kool-Aid didn’t kill those people. (salvation, translation, America, gospel)

[coberst]

Kool-Aid didn’t kill those people.

Transference and suggestibility killed those people.

In October of 1978, surrounded by hundreds of his followers, cult leader Jim Jones was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head; this event took place in Jonestown, Guyana, where the followers of Jones drank the Kool-Aid of group psychology, killing them self by drinking a soft drink laced with cyanide at the cult's sprawling compound.

The images of bodies found at the compound were seared into the consciousness of a generation. The phrase "drank the Kool-Aid" came to describe any blind devotion to a cause or person. It was not the Kool-Aid that killed all of these people but it was a human propensity called transference.

Freud informs us the reason for this form of behavior is the tendency for humans to be suggestible and influenced by a psychic form of transference.

What do the following entities have in common: fascism, capitalism, communism, political parties, and religions? They all have a common characteristic that can be called “group mind”.

What is striking is that members of these entities often undergo a major change in behavior just by being members of such entities. Under certain conditions individuals who become members of these groups behave differently than they would as individuals. These individuals acquire the characteristics of a ‘psychological group’.

Contagion sets in—hypnotic order becomes prevalent—individuals sacrifice personal interest for the group interest.

Suggestibility, of which contagion is a symptom, leads to the lose of conscious personality—the individual follows suggestions for actions totally contradictory to person conscience—hypnotic like fascination sets in—will and discernment vanishes—direction is taken from the leader in an hypnotic like manner—the conscious personality disappears.

“Moreover, by the mere fact that he forms part of an organized group, a man descends several rungs in the ladder of civilization.” Isolated, he may be a cultivated individual; in a crowd, he is a barbarian—a creature acting by instinct. “He possesses the spontaneity, the violence, the ferocity, and also the enthusiasm and heroism of primitive beings.”

There is a lowering of intellectual ability “pointing to its similarity with the mental life of primitive people and of children…A group is credulous and easily influenced”—the improbable seldom exists—they think in images—feelings are very simple and exaggerated—the group knows neither doubt nor uncertainty—extremes are prevalent, antipathy becomes hate and suspicion becomes certainty.

Force is king—force is respected and obeyed without question—kindness is weakness—tradition is triumphant—words have a magical power—supernatural powers are easily accepted—groups never thirst for truth, they demand illusions—the unreal receives precedence over the real—the group is an obedient herd—prestige is a source for domination, however it “is also dependent upon success, and is lost in the event of failure”.

Psychology is a domain of knowledge that is complex and filled with concepts that are completely unfamiliar to the vast majority of our population. But Psychology provides us with an insight into why humans do what they do that no other domain of knowledge can provide.

Sapiens are at heart slavish. Therein lay the rub, as Shakespeare might say.

Humans seek to be more than animals. We seek to be gods or at least propagate that level above animal and just below God.

We seek the power to ward off big evil by reflexively embracing small terrors and small fascinations in the place of overwhelming ones.

The predisposition to hypnosis is identical to that which gives rise to transference and it is characteristic of all sapiens. We could not function as adults if we retained this submissive attitude to our parents, however, this attitude of submissiveness, as noted by Ferenczi, is “The need to be subject to someone remains; only the part of the father is transferred to teachers, superiors, impressive personalities; the submissive loyalty to rulers that is so widespread is also a transference of this sort.”

Freud saw immediately that when caught up in groups wo/man became dependent children once again. They abandoned their individual egos for that of the leader; they identified with their leader and proceeded to function with him as their ideal. Freud identified man, not as a herd animal but as a horde (teeming crowd) animal that is led by a chief. Wo/man has an insatiable need for authority.

People have an insatiable need to be hypnotized by authority; they seek a magical protection as when they were infants protected by their mother. This is the force that acts to hold groups together, intertwined within a mutually constructed but often mindless interdependence. This mindless group think also builds a feeling of potency. The members feel a sense of unity within the grasp of their leadership.

‘Why are groups so blind and stupid?’ Freud asked; and he replied that mankind lived by self delusion. They “constantly give what is unreal precedence over what is real.” The real world is too frightening to behold; delusion changes this by making sapiens seem important. This explains the terrible sadism we see in group activity. English translation Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, was explicitly based on a critique of Le Bon's work. The quotes and short phrases in this post are from this book.

[Tricky D]

Good post.
Too bad that I still can't rep you!

[Padgett2]

Have you ever wonder what would have happened to this group if Jim Jones had been arrested, and executed? Supposed he had become a martyr for his teachings?

Would those followers continue to spread the word of the Gospel according to Jim Jones?

Makes me wonder sometimes about those that flocked after Jesus. How many were just going along with the crowd without thinking for themselves.

We see the same thing happening today with the crowd spirit involved in some of the big TV ministries. It's a powerful influence.

[coberst]

Ideology is something we humans need to comprehend better than we now do. Ideology is both salvation and death.

We are all members of many ideologies. Our ideologies are the abstract ideas that we create and invest with value. Our ideologies are what lead us to live a certain way, die for a certain cause, and kill THEM who are not US.

I might be a Democrat, Catholic, American, and capitalist. When we are members of a group we can do things that we would never consider doing alone. As an American my group kills others, as a Democrat I may seek to improve the well being of my side while taking it from the other side, as a Catholic I may hate Jews, as a capitalist I may cheat to get mine. All of these things we might do as a group but perhaps never would have been so self-seeking alone.

[june 7th]

Ah, Cobert, you've done it again!

Once again, I basically agree with your thoughts. Groups will collectively endorse and find ways to validate and thereby defend their maladaptive, illusionary thinking. It's a mutually participated in, cyclical maladaption. (At least in the example you cited regarding Jones.) The flip side of the coin is that groups are not necessarily maladaptive in their thinking or causes.

You wrote: "This is the force that acts to hold groups together, intertwined within a mutually constructed but often mindless interdependence." -True. The interdependence, however, is unconsciously based and illicited. Transference goes hand in hand with countertransference. At the heart of the matter is the question: Why are we drawn to, why do we seek out those individuals (or groups) that we do?

The group leader unconsciously appeals to the positive introject within his/her followers. Thus is the foundation of a transferential interdynamic. But transferences can be both positive and negative. Freud would have us believe that every interaction we have with every person in our lives entails transference. --And I suspect he was correct in so noting. If I am lacking in sufficient ego strength, if I am vulnerable to self deficits, and if someone comes along who can instill within me a positive transference, (albiet, a primitive one) then I suspect that I am vulnerable to "drinking the kool aid."

On one level or another, we all belong to some type of "group." We all operate on some level of collective thinking and action. The collective group dynamic of a cult is another thing altogether. Those who fall prey to cult dynamics are perhaps those very individuals who are in most need of an idealizing transference. But so too, is the group leader; the dispatcher of the kool aid!

--And I suspect that, in part, is what makes it work...

[Tricky D]

Originally Posted by June 7th

On one level or another, we all belong to some type of "group." We all operate on some level of collective thinking and action. The collective group dynamic of a cult is another thing altogether. Those who fall prey to cult dynamics are perhaps those very individuals who are in most need of an idealizing transference. But so too, is the group leader; the dispatcher of the kool aid!

Not me, in that regards the Trickster is spehshiul.
Like Groucho Marx:

I sent the club a wire stating, PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.
Groucho Marx
US comedian with Marx Brothers (1890 - 1977)
Quote Details: Groucho Marx: I sent the club... - The Quotations Page