First used in reference to an infamous political figure, radio talk show host Cathy Hughes brought the phrase to the airwaves when she, as quoted in The Washington Post, said, "If Marion Barry disrespects us, we will cry out. We will not blindly drink the Kool-Aid any longer."
It was 1987 and that was how the trivialization of a tragedy began.
During this campaign cycle, "drinking the Kool-Aid" became a constant refrain of Hillary Clinton supporters before it seemed to seep into the media, turning into an oft repeated favorite of mindless punditry -- Rush Limbaugh, Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough, Bill O'Reilly, Joy Behar, et al. It has appeared in newspapers and magazines, intended to paint someone with an allegiance as weak-willed and dull-minded.
"Just this summer, during CNN’s coverage of the Democratic National Convention," wrote Juanell Smart, "One of the newsman made the 'Drinking the Kool-Aid' comment. How insensitive ... It never ends."
Smart knows the reference all too well. Thirty years ago tomorrow, her four children and her mother were among those who drank the Kool-Aid in the jungle of Guyana, where 909 members of the Peoples Temple met their deaths at the whim of a madman. They were poisoned, the drink laced with cyanide, after Jim Jones ordered the shooting of a California congressional delegation which had flown to Jonestown to inspect the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project.
Temple members killed five people at the Port Kaituma airstrip, including Congressman Leo Ryan, the first member of Congress in the history of the United States to be murdered in the line of duty. His trip had been prompted after word trickled back to relatives that the activities of the cult were growing increasingly bizarre, including talk of revolutionary suicide.
After the congressman and others were killed, Jones followed through with the annihilation of his followers, many forced to comply. One-hundred-thirty-six of the dead had yet to see their 10th birthday, including 13 of whom had been born that year in Guyana. It was the greatest loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until Sept. 11 and perhaps more mystifying.
Ron Cabral -- then the baseball coach at Opportunity High School in the Bay Area -- is detailing his memories in a book called And Then They Were Gone. In 1978, a new crop of players showed up on his diamond. With a few months of the end of the season, 11 of them had moved to Guyana with the People's Temple. Eight died in the jungle while the other three survived because they were playing in a basketball tournament away from the settlement.
Cabral wrote, "The first thing the other Opportunity students noticed about the newcomers from Peoples Temple was that they kept to themselves. Mostly black with a smattering of white faces, the group was a consolidated family. Their closeness made a physical statement about their lack of racism and was what the teachers first admired about these very likable kids, that and how attentive they were, how they always raised their hands to speak, remembered to say 'please' and 'thank you.'"
There is an amazing project on the San Diego State University website, where the members of the Peoples Temple who died in a Guyanese jungle are personalized with photos and stories. Click here to check it out.
We ought to care enough to object to the "drinking the Kool-Aid" references in the future.