• Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    It wasn’t really a suicide thing. Maybe for some of them, it was. But they were forced to drink that flavour aid at gunpoint if they didn’t drink it willingly or manage to flee into the jungle. So it was more of a massacre than a mass suicide. Or a massacre plus a mass suicide, as I’m not sure what portion had to be forced.

    • limelight79@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Sounds good. I haven’t read up on that any time recently so my memory was hazy. The main point I was trying to make was the Flavor-Aid vs Kool-Aid, though, which stands.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Yeah, wasn’t intending on contradicting your main point, just wanted to throw that trivia in because the pop culture version is that either the cultists had no idea the drinks were poisoned (they knew) or that they all willingly went into the suicide pact (some did, some didn’t but were forced, some made it out alive).

        • limelight79@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          Thanks.

          This made me wonder about another doomsday cult: Is the Heaven’s Gate website still up? I had to go check, and yes, it is!

          Edit: Oh I remember seeing an editorial some years back complaining that people using the expression “Drink the Kool-Aid” was disrespectful to the members of the cult that perished (even though it was Flavor-Aid). Kind of an interesting read. Holy cow, I found it, really quickly.

          • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Lol, I’m only marginally familiar with that death cult, but is that first sentence there because an earlier version of their claims included a companion comet whose existence was either disproven or brought into question? That sentence just screams “the goal posts have been moved on something we used to think is important but now wish to downplay”.