The Jonestown memorial (hell, suicide, faith, God)

[SuSuSushi]

Why is there a memorial to all of these people? A good share of them voluntarily killed themselves, essentially sacrificing themselves for their religious beliefs, so why a "victims" memorial when most of them were not victims? They chose their path, they knew what they were doing.

I can see there being a memorial to the innocents in the group who were forced to drink the deadly poison, or the members who had the common sense to not want to kill themselves, but why are the names of the suicides on the memorial too?

Jonestown memorial unveiled on 30th anniversary | National Headlines from AP | Star-Telegram.com

[ShepsMom]

I was thinking about it myself Su, i was going to make a post about Jonestown massacre yesterday. It is sad what happened to those people regardless of reason they all died. I've read few interviews of survivors, interesting stuff.
They are still victims, victims of their own believes.

[JohnJLethal]

Good point.

[SuSuSushi]

Originally Posted by ShepsMom

I was thinking about it myself Su, i was going to make a post about Jonestown massacre yesterday. It is sad what happened to those people regardless of reason they all died. I've read few interviews of survivors, interesting stuff.
They are still victims, victims of their own believes.

Sure, their beliefs led them to kill themselves. But why are they being memorialized for it? I can see putting up the names of the true victims, but not those adults who knowingly went to their deaths. Hell, if anything -- they should get a memorial as martyrs rather than victims.

[b. frank]

Memorials are for the living. Maybe you lost all respect for the humanity of the suicides the moment they drank the punch (btw, suicide=bad is a pretty Christian ideal) but their families probably see them as victims of a horrible crime. I see their point. Either way, why shouldn't the families of the dead have a memorial?

[esselcue]

It sounds like the monument was paid for and erected by relatives, friends and survivors of the Jonestown incident...which is not a whole lot different from putting a headstone on a grave, I suppose. It was obviously done with donations, not tax dollars, so I don't really see a problem. Although I do agree that many people died due to their own mistaken beliefs and ignorance... but Jones was the ultimate manipulator, he used the weakest of people to twist into his web and relied on their "faith" to support his visions of grandeur. Similar things occur in the guise of religion and God all the time. Sadly.

[SuSuSushi]

Originally Posted by b. frank

Memorials are for the living. Maybe you lost all respect for the humanity of the suicides the moment they drank the punch (btw, suicide=bad is a pretty Christian ideal) but their families probably see them as victims of a horrible crime. I see their point. Either way, why shouldn't the families of the dead have a memorial?

Actually, no. I didn't lose any respect for the suicides. They had the big brass cojones to follow through with what they believed.

What I'm saying is that they were not victims. They chose to believe what they believed. The ones I feel should have a memorial would be the ones that didn't want to die, but were forced to do so anyway.

[b. frank]

Originally Posted by SuSuSushi

What I'm saying is that they were not victims.

In a way they were. If you want to punish their memories further then go ahead. But others have compassion even for the misguided.

They chose to believe what they believed. The ones I feel should have a memorial would be the ones that didn't want to die, but were forced to do so anyway.

Naturally, I also have more sympathy for those who didn't want to die. But I have equal sympathy for the families of all the dead. Give 'em a damn memorial if they want one.

[SuSuSushi]

Originally Posted by b. frank

Naturally, I also have more sympathy for those who didn't want to die. But I have equal sympathy for the families of all the dead. Give 'em a damn memorial if they want one.

So by that logic, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold should be on the Columbine Memorial?

[b. frank]

Originally Posted by SuSuSushi

So by that logic, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold should be on the Columbine Memorial?

Not sure - do you hate the Jonestown suicides as much as you hate the Columbine killers?
I don't so it doesn't seem logical. But, logically, I believe that the parents of Harris and Klebold deserve much compassion. It's unfortuante that they can't have it. I'll say again: Memorials are for the living. Dead people don't care about big slabs of granite with their names on it - no matter what they did in life.