Obedience training, Newspeak, Crimestop, Doublethink, Reality Control, Emotional Control, Sexual Control, Surveillance, Torture, and hard work on starvation diets—the staples of the Orwellian mind controller’s repertoire—were adapted and put into effective operation by Jim Jones in his attempt to demonstrate total behavior modification. Jones succeeded in his perverted mind control “experiment” by creating a mass mentality of the Manchurian Candidate that killed the enemy on demand . . . only here the enemy was one’s children, one’s parents, one’s mate, one’s friends, and even one’s self! On November 18, 1978, a total of 909 people died at the location, either by poison or by gunfire. How did Jim Jones keep his followers under his control, even as his plan for the "Jonestown Massacre" became clear? What cult tactics did he employ in order to get hundreds of people to follow his instructions? Over the course of his time as the head of the Peoples Temple, Jim Jones used multiple coercive tricks to control his parishioners, from psychological maneuvers to torture.
Jones carefully studied Mao’s mindfucker moves during the Cultural Revolution and used the same propaganda/mind control techniques that the Chinese Communist Party had perfected, in particular the “we’re the vanguard of a new age” and “us vs. them” aspects of “outcast” group think. Since he was so paranoid himself, this talent came easily to Jim Jones.
He was very charismatic," Leslie Wagner-Wilson, a Jonestown survivor, says of the Rev. Jim Jones. With the cadence and fervor of a Baptist preacher, the charm and folksiness of a country storyteller and the zeal and fury of a maniacal dictator, Jones exhorted his followers to a fever pitch, audiotapes recovered from Jonestown reveal. As he spoke, they applauded, shouted, cheered. One follower who survived the "revolutionary suicide" at Jonestown on November 18, 1978, said that Jones was the most dynamic speaker he had ever heard.
Like all powerful speakers, Jones' greatest asset was his ability to determine what listeners wanted to hear and give it to them in simple language that appealed to them on an almost instinctual level. "He was very charismatic, very charismatic," said Leslie Wilson, who survived that fateful day in Jonestown by walking away from the settlement before the cyanide that killed more than 900 Peoples Temple members was distributed. She was one of 33 people who began the day in Jonestown and lived to tell the tale. "He could quote scripture and turn around and preach socialism," she said. "He appealed to anyone on any level at any time." Hear Jones declare "I am God" Many of his followers were elderly African-Americans drawn to his cause by his soulful delivery and Pentecostal preaching style, including at times speaking in tongues. That hair-raising fervor was perhaps only overshadowed by what he said.
"When I say, I am God, then I feel [faith] well up within my soul. And I see it well up in you, and I see the sick healed, and the blind see, and the dead raised. ... You wanna know how I feel, I never feel so good as when I say I am God," he shouted in a full-throated roar in a 1973 San Francisco sermon.
The temple was aimed at providing the people with a sense of empowerment, enabling them to accomplish tasks by believing in themselves, and those who left felt that they had achieved self-worth. His messages were specific, and his ability to study the crowd and respond quickly to their liking was also beneficial in showing the unity between him and the people. The believers worshipped him. Jim Jones encouraged his followers to find the God within themselves and fulfil his wishes. In doing so, Jones ensured that the God within the people would be in his own image, therefore influencing the people. He gave earthy commentaries that made the audience howl. With a clever sense of humour, he tossed off all pretensions of piety, adopting the language, intonations and vocabulary of his inner city people….Jones spoke with candour, giving off the sexual magnetism of a crooner. The success of the propaganda was highly dependent on the maintenance of an ideal, insightful and convincing image. success in persuading the masses, after his immense understanding of human psychology, and the need to be entertained. The centrality of Jones was seen through his interventions, when he reminded the people of his selflessness and sacrifices for the success of the group and the temple. Jones ensured that the followers were committed to him and the community only by pairing the men and women who were not attracted to each other. He also broke up partners who were fond of each other to avoid any destruction to the purpose and goals of the community.
The delivery of such information also seeks to prevent the people from being confronted with varying information. The opinion of the people is therefore dependent on confusion and deception, as opposed to understanding and persuasion wants. The involvement of people in activities that demand self sacrifice was attributed to the commitment obtained from compelling leadership and persuasive groups that lead people into social transformation and revolution. Charles Manson was the same, he was able to attain this since he had convinced his followers that he was Christ incarnate, and defended his actions by saying that he was just a reflection of the ills in society.
ISOLATED HIS FOLLOWERS
How do you legally kidnap hundreds of people and essentially give them no choice but to do whatever you tell them to? Separate them from the world. In 1977, Jones moved scores of his followers to Guyana, a country in South America, largely to escape the media scrutiny that was now surrounding the Peoples Temple. Those who went with him were cut off from their friends and family outside of the organization. Jones became their sole source of information.
CREATED A FALSE WARZONE
According to Guyana escapee Teri Buford O'Shea, once the Peoples Temple moved down to South America, Jones made followers believe that the military was after them. He told them that American soldiers were waiting in the woods to kill anyone who ventured too far away from the compound. O'Shea told The Atlantic, "We didn't know this at the time, but he'd set up people who would shoot into the jungle to make us feel as if we were under attack. And there were other people who were set up to run and get shot - with rubber bullets, though we didn't know it at the time. So there you were, in the middle of the jungle. Shots were being fired, and people were surrounding you with guns." He even compared Jonestown to the Siege of Masada where the mountain town Jews commited mass suicide when the Romans were about to invade them.
TORTURED DOUBTERS
Deborah Layton was a Peoples Temple member who escaped Jonestown six months before the massacre. She filed an affidavit against Jones in order to get the US government to investigate the Peoples Temple. According to Layton, one of the ways that members of the cult were controlled was by being sent to the "medical unit." "Brave people who spoke out against the atrocities in Jonestown were taken to the 'medical unit' and put on coma inducing drugs," she said. "Others had a python wrapped around their neck. Children who cried about wanting to go back to the States were lowered into a dark well at night. One man was forced into 'the box' underground where he stayed for days/weeks."
In '1984' Orwell’s leading protagonist, Winston Smith, finally has his resistance broken when he is dumped into Room 101 to face his worst fear of having rats running over his body, since he had confessed earlier to that phobia. Jones replicated that situation exactly by initially forcing members to write out their fears in detail. He could then force them to face their worst fears head on when they disobeyed orders, were late for a meeting, or fell asleep during his endless harangues.
PUBLIC HUMILIATION
To break specific members of his group down, Jones would force them to undergo mass criticism in front of the rest of the congregation. Jones would make the followers strip naked in public and encouraged other cult members to berate them at length. Former Peoples Temple member Elmer Mertle said that this technique was called "catharsis" and that each "catharsis" would end with Jones telling the person who was being punished that what had just happened was a good thing. Mertle said: The first forms of punishment [in the Temple] were mental, where they would get up and totally disgrace and humiliate the person in front of the whole congregation... Jim would then come over and put his arms around the person and say, "I realize that you went through a lot, but it was for the cause. Father loves you and you’re a stronger person now. I can trust you more now that you’ve gone through and accepted this discipline." These tactics were a central part of both George Orwell’s '1984' & Jones’ mind control systems. All members had to engage in self-analysis, to prepare statements of their errors, weaknesses, fears, and wrong doings, so that they could purge themselves of these negative thoughts and achieve an uplifting catharsis. Instead, these reports became part of each member’s permanent file, and were used against them in public meetings, when errant individuals were “called on the floor” to be ridiculed, humiliated, tormented, or physically tortured.
STAGED MASS SUICIDES
Prior to the mass death that would end the Peoples Temple, Jones staged suicide rehearsals that he referred to as "white nights." During these events, members had to drink red liquid that they were told contained poison to test their loyalty. Jonestown residents were also frequently kept in the main pavilion while Jones spent all night raging against the media, outside family members, and government powers who opposed them. The true purpose of the white nights was chilling. By continually forcing people to enact a mass suicide, Jones was grooming them for the inevitable real event. By the time the actual massacre came about, Jonestown followers were subconsciously prepared to simply follow his instructions. "White Night! White Night! Get to the to the pavilion! Run! Your lives are in danger!" Jones heightened his followers' sense of danger by telling them how people were coming to murder them. Even worse, Jones had armed people waiting in the jungle. To the followers, these rehearsals seemed too real. However, it turned out the guns were firing rubber bullets, and it was all a ruse to terrify the people who lived at Jonestown. After the drill, Jones returned to the loudspeakers, saying, "Now I know I can trust you. Go home, my darlings! Sleep tight!"
DEPRIVED PEOPLE OF SLEEP
Depriving someone of sleep is a quick and brutal way to destroy their will. According to Teri Buford O'Shea, one of the few escapees from Jonestown, sleep deprivation was one of the most effective methods of controlling Jones's followers. O’Shea said, "One time Jim said to me... 'Let’s keep them poor and tired, because if they’re poor they can’t escape and if they’re tired they can’t make plans.'" Jonestown residents were forced to work six days a week and were made to feel guilty if they slept for more than a few hours each night.
BROKE UP FAMILIES
According to former Peoples Temple member Vernon Gosney, "Part of [Jones's] philosophy was that family relationships are sick and need to be broken down." Not only would Jones separate children from their parents, but he would also break up and rearrange marriages. He instilled a forced celibacy in the cult for everyone except himself and the people he slept with, claiming that all men were gay, all women were lesbians, and that he was the only heterosexual in the group. By separating people in long-standing relationships, he discouraged them from exchanging information or questioning their harsh surroundings.
STARVED MEMBERS
A weakened group is easier to control. According to former Temple member Deborah Layton's affidavit, Jonestown residents weren't fed enough to keep their energy up: "There was rice for breakfast, rice water soup for lunch, and rice and beans for dinner. On Sunday, we each received an egg and a cookie. Two or three times a week we had vegetables. Some very weak and elderly members received one egg per day." Layton notes that Jones did not rely on the same diet as his followers. Instead, "claiming problems with his blood sugar," he ate more nourishing meals that frequently included meat. A few select members of his inner circle were allowed to eat from his private stores, as well, and appeared to be in much better health than their fellow residents.
PUT PEOPLE IN 'THE BOX
According to survivors of the Peoples Temple, one way that members were reprimanded was with "The Box." During this punishment, a person was stuffed into a coffin-shaped box and held underground while they were constantly berated and reprimanded for their perceived slights against the cult.
BLACKMAIL
Jones wasn't above resorting to old-fashioned blackmail to keep his followers under his control. He forced members to sign blank power-of-attorney forms as well as false confessions that they had molested their children or conspired to overthrow the US government while members of the Peoples Temple. Once, he reportedly even had a member of the Temple put her fingerprints on a gun and threatened to frame her for murder if she left the cult. Jones's message was clear: Leave the Temple and your life is over. "It was all about forcing members to experience themselves as vulgar and despicable people who could never return to a normal life outside of the group," reported Psychology Today in 1992.
GENERATED PARANOIA
After isolating his followers from the outside world by bringing them to Guyana, Jones continued to isolate Temple members by breaking them into smaller and smaller groups and convincing them to report anyone who spoke out against Jones and the Temple. This engendered a mistrust-laden climate where friends told on friends, and children reported their parents for trying to escape Jones's grasp. Adding to the atmosphere of paranoia, Jones even convinced his followers that he had psychic abilities and could read their thoughts at all times.
CONVINCED PEOPLE HE WAS GOD
Jones was happy to act as his followers' surrogate father, brother, or God as long as they gave him their devotion in return. He laid this out in his sermons: "If you see me as your friend, I’ll be your friend. [If] you see me as your father, I’ll be your father. If you see me as your God, I’ll be your God."
GAINED MORE FOLLOWERS TO REPEAT THE CYCLE
The perception of power can be as key as power itself. Jones seemingly understood that and constantly brought new members into the Peoples Temple who hadn't yet questioned his control. The more members he was able to bring in, the more power he had, which made him more attractive to people outside of the cult - beginning the cycle again.
MADE POWERFUL FRIENDS
Before moving his cult to South America, Jones became an influential figure in the city of San Francisco. In 1976, Willie Brown, speaker of the California State Assembly, compared Jones to Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein, and Chairman Mao. High-ranking members of Jimmy Carter's inner circle were known to meet with him, and Mayor George Moscone appointed Jones to San Francisco's housing commission. The reason he had these high-powered friends? Jones likely got them elected. Former members of his church say he pressured his followers into voting for the candidates of his choice and that people who didn't vote were "pushed around, roughed up, physically abused." The New York Times noted in 1978, "there is little doubt that [Jones] controlled the votes of several thousand of his followers, enough to make the difference in a close election."
MADE EVERYONE FEEL LIKE A STAR
One of the simplest ways to control someone is to make them feel as if he or she is your best friend. Ex-Temple member Mike Cartmell said, "Jones could make everyone feel as if he or she was the guest of the day; he made each one feel special in some way. He gave you your five minutes, and in return, you gave him your life." Cartmell’s family joined the Peoples Temple in 1959, and he was a member for 17 years until he left in February 1977.
PROMISE OF INTEGRATION
Jim Jones and the People's Temple is the doomsday cult that all other doomsday cults are measured against. The infamous Jonestown mass suicide/murder claimed the lives of 918 people, 276 of which were children. But before Jones moved his cult to Guyana, South America, he spent the '50s and '60s recruiting new members by preaching about the beauty of integration, something that spoke to directly to America's African American and young liberal populations. The Jonestown Massacre shows how one good idea can lead to a horrible path when it's twisted by the wrong person.
Cult tactics
*Keep it vague and simple - promise of something great, a transformative change in their lives, achieve enlightenment, love, righteous formula to get into paradise.
Offer romantic, mysterious, ethereal and otherwordly solutions, offer a family , father figure, music, let go of society and ur past, freedom and the spring of life.
*Emphasise the visual over the intellectual - get rid of boredom and skepticism, use theatre and luxury, exotic culture, write songs together, orgies, drugs, remove calanders, clocks, news, books.
*Borrow forms from organized religion - create a structure that emanates power and loftiness, create rituals, create a hierarchy with titles and new names, ask for sacrifices.
*Prophethood - the leader calls himself god and alludes to it ''they've already nailed me to the cross'', ''they killed me before and it wont happen again'', quote the bible.
* Disguise the source of ur income - never reveal that the money comes from their followers and gifts.
*Use the ''us'' vs ''them'' dynamic - make them believe its an exclusive club, create an enemy, create a cause, purpose and a message for them to believe in.
*Keep it vague and simple - promise of something great, a transformative change in their lives, achieve enlightenment, love, righteous formula to get into paradise.
Offer romantic, mysterious, ethereal and otherwordly solutions, offer a family , father figure, music, let go of society and ur past, freedom and the spring of life.
*Emphasise the visual over the intellectual - get rid of boredom and skepticism, use theatre and luxury, exotic culture, write songs together, orgies, drugs, remove calanders, clocks, news, books.
*Borrow forms from organized religion - create a structure that emanates power and loftiness, create rituals, create a hierarchy with titles and new names, ask for sacrifices.
*Prophethood - the leader calls himself god and alludes to it ''they've already nailed me to the cross'', ''they killed me before and it wont happen again'', quote the bible.
* Disguise the source of ur income - never reveal that the money comes from their followers and gifts.
*Use the ''us'' vs ''them'' dynamic - make them believe its an exclusive club, create an enemy, create a cause, purpose and a message for them to believe in.
*Cults remove peoples 'critical thinking' process E.g: Ignore ur doubt and gut instincts because thats whats holding u back towards personal growth
E.g: What are ur assumptions and reasons based on?
E.g: Dont be so prideful.
The '1984' mind control tecnniques
In 2003, Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo, a psychology professor at Stanford University and the former president of the American Psychological Association, revealed findings of his Jonestown research, which suggested that Jones could have learned some of his control techniques from George Orwell's novel 1984. During his 25 years of research and extensive interviews with Jonestown survivors, Zimbardo found several remarkable similarities between Jones's methods and those portrayed in 1984.
Orwell's idea of a "Big Brother" may have existed in Jonestown, as Jim Jones made cult members spy on each other. He used loudspeakers throughout the compound to continually broadcast his voice.
Jones also forced his followers to give him information that he could later use against them, which is similar to what happens to the main character in 1984. The "White Night" suicide drills could also have a link to 1984; a line in the book says, "The proper thing was to kill yourself before they get you."
Many who have read 1984 may remember Newspeak, the propaganda language used in Oceania, the novel's fictional dystopia. Jones adopted an analogous measure by making his followers thank him for food and work; of course, the followers' actual living conditions were far from luxurious. Jones son Stephan reveals: “Dad did read 1984, talked about it plenty to frighten us. I think he may have even attached some kind of prophetic significance to the date— nuclear holocaust or fascist takeover or something. Yup, there was a song [“1984”] written and performed by Deanna Wilkinson, our lead performer from the time she joined ‘til she died in Jonestown.”
According to Zimbardo's research, Jones "commissioned a song that his followers were required to sing at Jonestown about the advent of the year 1984. “Jim talked about 1984 all the time. There is a film with Diane singing ‘1984’ in Jonestown and Jim is singing along with her, saying, ‘That’s right, that’s right.’ He would sing, ‘Got to watch out. They are coming to get us. They are going to kill us,’ and similar phrases.”
Big brother is watching you
Jones used this idea to gain the loyalty of his followers. He required followers to spy on one another and blasted messages from loudspeakers so that his voice was always present while they worked, slept and ate, Zimbardo says.
Self-incrimination.
Jones instructed followers to give him written statements about their fears and mistakes and then, if they disobeyed him, he used that information to humiliate them or subject them to their worst fears during public meetings. In "1984," the main character's resistance is broken when he is subjected to his worst fear of being covered in rats.
Suicide drills.
Orwell's main character said that "the proper thing was to kill yourself before they get you" in a threat of war. Jones had his followers do practice suicide drills right up to the actual mass suicide event.
Distorting people's perceptions.
Jones blurred the relationship between words and reality, for example, by requiring his followers to give him daily thanks for good food and work--yet the people were starving and working six and a half days a week, Zimbardo says. Similarly, Orwell described such a technique, which he called "newspeak." Even 'Doublethink' the subject is expected to simultaneously accept two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in contravention to one's own memories or sense of reality. For example ''war is peace'', ''freedom is slavery'', ''Ignorance is Strength'', and ''2 + 2 = 5.''
Jones sought to conquer, corrupt, compromise, divide, and destroy, living always by the motto “the ends justify the means.” They were also used as the cornerstone for the dangerous game of control, subjugation, oppression and domination unleashed to its fullest in the isolation of the borders of South America. The bible is not sacred and you wont die if u drop it. You wont die if u stand on it, u wont die if you jump up and down on it Jim Jones
Sow the seeds of mistrust and paranoia Jones His desired to dominate with the creation of his own environment and organization which he could control those he helped recover from drug and alcohol addictions would prove to be the most loyal. Those he gave shelter and a meal would readily embrace him as their savior. As a pragmatist, he also used the humanitarian label to attract humanitarian types, advocates of socialism, and those with little or no family support and/or a willingness to forsake all for him. He seemed to prioritize those with little education) because in his playbook, he thought they would be easier to manipulate, deceive, control, and destroy. After all, to this knowledgeable animal lover, the most loyal pets would be the ones saved from near destruction. Working in tandem with his love for deception would be his love for deconstruction. Jones would “break-down” his followers emotionally, psychologically, and sometimes even physically, only to press the reset button at the end of this initial process, to ultimately re-create and re-cast them into an even deeper chasm of torment, fear and vulnerability. His followers, therefore, would unwittingly jump from the frying pan into Jones’ fire. It was almost as if he loved saving a drowning man only to strangle him on the shore. At the end of all the manipulation and deception, Peoples Temple comprised several hundred senior citizens, who were promised shelter, health care and constant companionship in exchange for relinquishing their Social Security checks and their homes to the Temple. Over time, these demands would be placed on all members, deepening their dependence and vulnerability on a man who frequently compared himself with God, preferring the name of Father above all else. It is instructive that Jones wanted a title and role he had very limited exposure to as a child. Through strategic alignments, associations, and constant public relations endeavors, Jones maintained a profile and persona that essentially pulled the wool over the eyes of those who readily found themselves identifying with the man and his so-called mission. Jones’ need to constantly test the loyalty of his followers. It is this very need that fostered an organizational system of spying and armed security within the confines of communalism to ensure that everyone was “kept in line.” Of course, the playbook on deception demanded the creation of a justification for this loyalty credo. Forever claiming to be pursued by countless enemies (of which the press was dubbed No. 1), the Temple leader constructed two workable paradigms. The first was the “Victim Paradigm”; the second was the “Us versus Them Paradigm.” In the former, Jones always presented himself as the “victim” and never the perpetrator. Under this guise, he would deceive members by justifying the need for heavily armed security whom he tacitly used as intimidators and enforcers. In this paradigm, he lambasted the media and select government agencies such as the FBI and CIA for conspiring against him. Forever the victim, in the words of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Jones always presented himself as “a man more sinned against than sinning.” While the first paradigm assumed the character of a daily routine and means of escaping responsibility for the Temple leader, the second paradigm would be the one to prove lethal to the residents of Jonestown. Under this rubric, Jones would paint the scene and create the impetus for destruction. By instilling the “no way out” plot into his members, the inevitability of their destruction was sold to them lock, stock and barrel. Mental manipulation and the discouragement of individual thought allowed many to accept this ploy. Jones would complain to many in the US that his “enemies” were responsible for the Temple’s exodus to Guyana. The general outlandishness of what occurred in the colony on a daily basis seemed to inoculate members into lowering their sensitivity to real danger. The playbook on deception would be used one last time. The shock of the news of Leo Ryans death was not allowed to settle, as the plot thickened. On the spot, without any warning, the residents received the order that the time had actually come for their eternal departure. Ironically, this would be the first and last time the rattlesnake would not rattle before striking its prey. The emotional cries, distress, chaos and mayhem heard on that death tape reveals unequivocally the fruition of Jones’ destructive agenda. They were also used as the cornerstone for the dangerous game of control, subjugation, oppression and domination unleashed to its fullest in the isolation of the borders of South America. The bottom line is that Jones’ use of deception was raw. He sought to conquer, corrupt, compromise, divide, and destroy, living always by the motto “the ends justify the means.”
Anointed
Revival
Testify
Emancipated
Deliver you
Seismic
Manifestation
Promised land
Destiny
Salvation
Purified
Dispensation
Sovereignty
Holy trinity
Divine pentacostel
Revelation
Repent
Excamunicated
Testament
Doctrine
Ordained
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, omniscient, omnilucent
Exhaultation
I declare
Dispensation
Ecclesial
*The letter of Killeth (book)
*Religious obligation to bring desires to the surface so u can eliminate them
*Body is the temple of the holy ghost
*Holy ghost power
*The letter then kills but the Spirit maketh alive.
*Eternal judgement
*You only know about a vicarious grace
Holy war
Teutonic Bible
Crusade
Pilgrimage
Eternal
Martyrdom
Sanctity
Consecration
ecclesiastical
Baptism
My apostles
Providence
Secular redemption
Invinsible summer
Sage
Ethical mission to change the world
Revival
Testify
Emancipated
Deliver you
Seismic
Manifestation
Promised land
Destiny
Salvation
Purified
Dispensation
Sovereignty
Holy trinity
Divine pentacostel
Revelation
Repent
Excamunicated
Testament
Doctrine
Ordained
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, omniscient, omnilucent
Exhaultation
I declare
Dispensation
Ecclesial
*The letter of Killeth (book)
*Religious obligation to bring desires to the surface so u can eliminate them
*Body is the temple of the holy ghost
*Holy ghost power
*The letter then kills but the Spirit maketh alive.
*Eternal judgement
*You only know about a vicarious grace
Holy war
Teutonic Bible
Crusade
Pilgrimage
Eternal
Martyrdom
Sanctity
Consecration
ecclesiastical
Baptism
My apostles
Providence
Secular redemption
Invinsible summer
Sage
Ethical mission to change the world
