i just got to watch it and oh man there's some good stuff he says in there, and the thing he says that i liked the most was when he was talking about how he copes with having that particular history he said "i embrace it because if i embrace it i don't have to run from it". did anybody else get to see it? i didn't know that jim jones and his wife were the first caucasian couple to adopt an african american child either. that history is something else, and it was something good for this man (jim jones jr) as much as it was something bad for him. he also talked about how his children have handled everybody knowing about their grandfather and his cult and the murders of over 900 men, women and children, how because he embraced it all and didn't let it become a stigma for him, then his children haven't either. and then he told about how the reason he didn't die in the whole mess was because he was 150 miles away playing basketball, and then about 15 years afterwards when he was self-destructing on booze and drugs and his wife was about to leave him, how it was basketball again that saved his life when he connected with his son through basketball and found a reason to sober up and make his life the way he wanted it to be. that son is now a big basketball star, and he said that for the first many years of his life he was known by everybody as "jim jones's son" but now he's known as "rob jones's father" and how much that means to him and shows how life can change no matter what. i cried a whole lot. it was a very good interview i thought, and i see how i don't have to always be the kid that was raised in a cult.
It was on while I was working out at the gym. I don't hear it (because to listen, you have to have your own radio and tune to the right fm frequency, because they have half a dozen different channels on at the same time), but I did see (and read the closed captioning) about how he was away at the basketball tournament in Georgetown... I figured the whole thing was probably pretty compelling...
And I ask you WHY it should be such a big deal? Children are children.
Because Indiana was incredibly racist at the time.
People can say what they will about Jim Jones and his motives, but that guy did more for race relations than any other person in the state of Indiana before and since. It is a damn shame that he disintegrated the way he did, because while he was here, he did a lot of good. People don't remember that. They just remember the crazy.
The whole thing was very interesting. I agree he had a really positive outlook on everything... clearly he had worked through his issues and made his peace. Good for him.
I thought it was interesting that he had gone back to Jonestown at one point, looking for pieces of his past, but when all he found was the metal tub that held the poisoned kool-aid, he realized it was time to move on. Wow.
I also thought it was very telling and interesting to see the contrast between Jim Jones, Jr. who has faced his demons and conquored them, with the sister of John Wayne Gacy, who clearly hadn't. Who still had neighbors who knew nothing of her family history. The difference was blatant to any one who has had to face their own sorry past and live it down -- you know, like being a member of a cult for almost 20 years... :-)
i'm sorry for getting that adoption information wrong, but i have it recorded and will go back and see how i missed it, and i didn't watch the gacey part yet so i'm going to go back and watch it sooner or later when i have more time. taking his children to see the place, i don't think i could have gone back myself but taking my children? i don't know because i have so much shame, but this is really making me think about a lot of things and that probably there's hope that i will find a way to do what he's done with making peace within himself about such things.
taking his children to see the place, i don't think i could have gone back myself but taking my children?
You know, I wondered about that too... seemed like an odd thing to do when I first heard it, but after more thought I've concluded that if he was trying to be open and honest about the whole history (the good and the bad) with himself and his family, and that is the atmosphere in which his kids were raised, it probably wasn't a big deal that he took them there. And as they got older I'm sure they could understand that it was all part of his personal journey to find closure --- specially since he wasn't actually there as people were dying.
I'm sure those memories would have made it so much harder for him to visit the place. But knowing it was the place where a utopian dream lived and died and so many people he loved were killed, it was probably more like a visit to a sematary or a sacred burial ground than anything else.
true that thehighway. and after everything he said about embracing his past instead of running away from it, and how his children see it as stories and part of their history, i guess it would be like being a decendant of al capone or something. it is all helping me to be less freaky about being raised in a cult, and that's a good thing for me because i am pretty freaky about it all and it's hindering my progress in life, so whatever helps is refreshing and i am thankful for it.
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excathedra
that made me cry. i didn't see it. i will look for it
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waysider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8pyapqyB4o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqj_cZz6VXE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ5cbq5HU8E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-IJzjsbQkc
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrsRiaht#p/u/6/0Dl1KOqHZP4
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HAPe4me
He might have been the first in Indiana to adopt an afro-american child, but not likely the first ever.
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Rocky
It was on while I was working out at the gym. I don't hear it (because to listen, you have to have your own radio and tune to the right fm frequency, because they have half a dozen different channels on at the same time), but I did see (and read the closed captioning) about how he was away at the basketball tournament in Georgetown... I figured the whole thing was probably pretty compelling...
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cheranne
sad...and very brave and couragous for him to speak.
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Tzaia
First in Indiana - it was a big deal at the time. Really big deal.
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RumRunner
And I ask you WHY it should be such a big deal? Children are children.
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Tzaia
Because Indiana was incredibly racist at the time.
People can say what they will about Jim Jones and his motives, but that guy did more for race relations than any other person in the state of Indiana before and since. It is a damn shame that he disintegrated the way he did, because while he was here, he did a lot of good. People don't remember that. They just remember the crazy.
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TheHighWay
The whole thing was very interesting. I agree he had a really positive outlook on everything... clearly he had worked through his issues and made his peace. Good for him.
I thought it was interesting that he had gone back to Jonestown at one point, looking for pieces of his past, but when all he found was the metal tub that held the poisoned kool-aid, he realized it was time to move on. Wow.
I also thought it was very telling and interesting to see the contrast between Jim Jones, Jr. who has faced his demons and conquored them, with the sister of John Wayne Gacy, who clearly hadn't. Who still had neighbors who knew nothing of her family history. The difference was blatant to any one who has had to face their own sorry past and live it down -- you know, like being a member of a cult for almost 20 years... :-)
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brainfixed
i'm sorry for getting that adoption information wrong, but i have it recorded and will go back and see how i missed it, and i didn't watch the gacey part yet so i'm going to go back and watch it sooner or later when i have more time. taking his children to see the place, i don't think i could have gone back myself but taking my children? i don't know because i have so much shame, but this is really making me think about a lot of things and that probably there's hope that i will find a way to do what he's done with making peace within himself about such things.
oh these are links to the whole show? very cool and thank you for putting them here because i didn't know if or when it would ever be reaired.
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TheHighWay
You know, I wondered about that too... seemed like an odd thing to do when I first heard it, but after more thought I've concluded that if he was trying to be open and honest about the whole history (the good and the bad) with himself and his family, and that is the atmosphere in which his kids were raised, it probably wasn't a big deal that he took them there. And as they got older I'm sure they could understand that it was all part of his personal journey to find closure --- specially since he wasn't actually there as people were dying.
I'm sure those memories would have made it so much harder for him to visit the place. But knowing it was the place where a utopian dream lived and died and so many people he loved were killed, it was probably more like a visit to a sematary or a sacred burial ground than anything else.
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brainfixed
true that thehighway. and after everything he said about embracing his past instead of running away from it, and how his children see it as stories and part of their history, i guess it would be like being a decendant of al capone or something. it is all helping me to be less freaky about being raised in a cult, and that's a good thing for me because i am pretty freaky about it all and it's hindering my progress in life, so whatever helps is refreshing and i am thankful for it.
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