[nytimes.com]
He Told Followers to Starve to Meet Jesus. Why Did So Many Do It?
Hundreds were drawn to a remote wilderness in southeastern Kenya by the End Times preaching of pastor Paul Mackenzie. Relatives and ex-members tried to intervene, but some did not want to be rescued.
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Why did they drink the Koolaid when they could have slunk off into the jungle...who cares? good bye, farewell, so long......
AnneWimsey
Level 9
May 15, 2023
5
Paul Mackenzie, Jim Jones, David Koresh etc. target the disenfranchised. People who have been rejected, lost, depressed, disillusioned, and looking for something to fill a void. These people are easier to brainwash then, convinced to take their own lives for the promise of something so much better. People that are damaged in some way are vulnerable. Taking advantage of that is cruel and inhumane, it is mass murder.
Maybe these so-called leaders get off on it. For the power, control, and of course you can't forget the money.
That is my two cents worth.
Betty
Level 8
May 15, 2023
5
How was Paul Mackenzie able to convince his followers in the "Good News International Church" to starve themselves to death?
How was Jim Jones able to convince hundreds "Jonestown" acolytes to check out by drinking a cyanide cocktail?
How was David Koresh able to convince the "Branch Davidians" to snuff themselves with bullets and fire?
How was Marshall Applewhite able to convince his "Heaven's Gate" disciples to conk themselves with massive doses of barbiturates?
All these apocalyptic cults have this in common: credulous weak-minded people who don't know how to think for themselves are easily brought under the spell of a crazy, charismatic, con artist who claims to know that the The End is at hand.
Donald Trump has already convinced thousands of MAGA morons that the end (of America) is at hand; they stormed the Capitol because he told them, "If you don't fight like hell, you won't have a country anymore." Now the question is, what will he get them to do for an encore?
Flyingsaucesir
Level 8
May 15, 2023
6
I find a lot of this greatly disturbing. Especially your last paragraph. Then my mind recalls just a short time ago when I heard a man say he is "the greatest president we have ever had." That's pretty far down the rabbit hole.
@DenoPenno You are right to be disturbed by an apocalyptic personality cult with 70 million members.
@SeaGreenEyez Only climate change is a bigger threat to America, but MAGA is a more immediate one.
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