Synergy this week in my ears: South America and Mars

11:06 am 15 March 2014
A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown - Julia Scheeres

This week, I've been finishing the audiobook version of A Thousand Lives, Scheeres' account of the Jonestown massacre. I have also discovered Thirty Seconds to Mars. Tears and awe in the car--and I've been amazed at the eerie appropriateness of the lyrics to many songs on the LOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS album. They sound as if they are describing Jim Jones:

 

I'm tired of the waiting,
For the end of all days.
The prophets are preaching,
That the gods are needing praise.
The headlights are coming,
Showing me the way.
The serpents are singing,
A song that's meant to say:

All we need is faith.
...
A maniac's new love song.
Destruction is his game.
I need a new direction,
Cause I have lost my way.
...
The maniac messiah,
Destruction is his game.
A beautiful liar,
Love for him is pain.
The temples are now burning,
Our faith caught up in flames.
I need a new direction,
Cause I have lost my way.
...

--"End of All Days"

 

I loved this book because it was about the people who lived and died at Jonestown, rather than Jim Jones himself. It humanized the whole event--and it celebrated Congressman Leo Ryan, the only US Senator to be assassinated while performing his duties. Imagine your congressman being told that you are concerned about relatives living in a foreign country, possibly being held against their will. Now imagine that senator flying to that country in response to personally check on those relatives' welfare.

 

You can't do it, can't you?

1970's 1978 Audible audiobooks cults documentaries Guyana history Jim Jones Jonestown Julia Scheeres Leo Ryan lyrics mass murder music PBS poetry politics religion South American Thirty Seconds to Mars true crime