Apropos of Nothing

I just wanted to throw out this one little nugget that occurred to me while writing the last post: I don’t think it’s appropriate to use the phrase “drink the Kool-Aid” as a reference to brainwashing. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a reference to the 909 unfortunates who lost their lives in 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana by drinking poisoned Kool-Aid, including hundreds of children.

A few of the survivors of Jonestown are still alive, including at least one of madman Jim Jones’ sons. It’s disrespectful to them to throw around that phrase casually, since they all lost family members. One man watched his wife poison their toddler, then herself. Yes, it’s madness, but should it be something we make light of so casually?

I saw a 2006 documentary on Jonestown a few weeks ago, and I was staggered at the senselessness and depravity of it all. I suppose it heightened my sensitivity to the phrase. So, even though it would have fit well in the last post, I don’t use that phrase any more. And I think it’d probably be for the best if you didn’t use it, either.

Okay, enough serious stuff for now.