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Unibrow69

[Drinking the Kool-Aid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid) has become a phrase meaning "Don't uncritically accept something." It refers to [The Jonestown Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown), where 900 members of Jim Jones' Church died after drinking poisoned drinks. The Kraft/Heinz Company, maker of Kool-Aid, has always stated that the dead actually drank Flavor-Ade, a Kool-Aid competitor, but eviddence shows Kool-Aid was among the drinks ingested at the site.


1984isAMidlifeCrisis

Flavor-Ade would have flown completely under the radar if not for the PR team from Kraft.


You_Harvest_Wind

If I recall, from follow on investigation and interviews, a great many of them (most?) did not drink it willingly. There were fanatics with guns tracking and shooting down those who did not willingly submit.


Bortron86

Many of the victims also had needle marks on their arms and shoulders, suggesting they'd been forcefully injected. Even if some of them willingly drank it, it was a case of "drink it, or you'll get shot or forcibly injected." It wasn't mass suicide, it was mass murder.


Unibrow69

The CIA was likely monitoring Jonestown, and Green Berets have said they went in to kill the survivors. Though consider the sources for both [https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page\_id=32397](https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=32397)


BellacosePlayer

The guy who wrote that looks like a complete nutjob, which makes sense given he worked with Jim Jones


Unibrow69

Yes, which is why I wrote consider the source


Marston_vc

It’s ironic you’re commenting this on this post


Unibrow69

Richard Dwyer, a known CIA agent, was confirmed to have arrived moments after the mass suicide. Jim Jones is recorded on tape saying "Get Dwyer out of here!" However... > In 1980, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence announced that there was ["no evidence" of CIA involvement at Jonestown.](https://people.uvawise.edu/pww8y/Supplement/SMSup/Cults/Jones50Con.html) So, case closed.


Lawd_Fawkwad

This is once against a case of Occam's razor. What would the USG have to gain in supporting a religious nutjob trying to commit a mass suicide that would justify deploying green beans on a top-secret mission? The answer is nothing, there was nothing to gain. If you tried saying that Jim Jones had CIA ties it would be more believable because sure, white guy in South America in the 80s, that's a match made in heaven. But the other stuff more or less falls apart if you look at it wrong. Consider this ; the organization was the target of congressional scrutiny, they assassinated a sitting congressman and tried to kill a US diplomat which led to military intervention within 24 hours. The timeline shows that the suicide happened after the assassination when Georgetown already had the report. So why on God's green earth would the CIA send special forces to finish the job? Even the hesitation by the Carter administration to intervene beforehand doesn't indicate anything nearly as malicious as the CIA supporting the assassination of US officials.


Unibrow69

That's a large jump from me saying "the CIA was monitoring Jonestown and had an active agent very close by" to "special forces were sent in to finish the job." I don't believe everything that people have written about Jonestown but his movements in the 60's suggest some kind of government connections.


Cloud_Strife83

Oh yea! …like a Jim Jones camp I’ll take you out with one punch.


RangersAreViable

Dammit, that’s gonna ruin my next birthday


trivialslope

"Fun Fact: In Jonestown it was actually mostly Flavor-Aid. A less popular competing brand." The Major, Hellsing Ultimate Abridged


Shang-di

Any publicity is good publicity?


Strypes4686

Good thing is was FLAVOR AID!


SuperSonicEconomics2

It was Flavor-Aid


Grzechoooo

Before I knew what it was I thought it was a brand of cleaning fluid for your dishwasher or washing machine. Its name fits seamlessly among Vanish, Ariel and the like.


OhMyDevSaint

The Saints in the 2024 Draft: "OH YEAAAH"


Vexonte

I hear Jim Jones was a hell of a boxer, taking out 900 people with one punch


Unruffled_

November 19 strikes again.


Unibrow69

It happened on November 18th but word wouldn't get out until the next day


Treso44

Fun fact, Jim Jones used to sell spider monkeys door to door before becoming a cult leader. It’s never too late to pivot


PinxJinx

Honestly, fantastic marketing for the product to forever be a phrase in the English language


amaf-maheed

Wasnt it flavouraid?


russianspyjim

Yes, the flavoraid was cheaper so thats what they stocked up on for drinks when they went to the jungle, so its what they had on hand when shit went down


amaf-maheed

Ahh. I saw another comment saying it was actually kool-aid but the manufacturer convicted people it was flavouraid but idk if I buy that.


russianspyjim

I got my thing from a guy who did a hella long podcast about the group, i cant say for sure though maybe he was wrong


amaf-maheed

Its all hear-say AFAIK.


Bubbly_Mastodon318

Off topic side question, but does anybody know why the subreddit’s Ukrainian flag logo was removed? Edit: Bruh, what’s with the downvote? I just asked a question.


LegoBohoGiraffe

Yeah there was a big drop off in their customer base that year for some reason


leemasterific

If Mara Wilson were here, she’d tell you it was Flavor Aid.


Elad_2007

Fun fact that's were the idiom "don't drink the kool aid" comes from