Jonestown massacre: Why the phrase ‘drink the Kool-Aid’ hurts this cult survivor
She escaped the worst murder-suicide in US history, but one thing still haunts this survivor, even 40 years later. Emma Reynolds@emmareyn news.com.au November 17, 20189:26pm Jonestown, anniversary of a massacre After she escaped the cult, Deborah Layton wanted to get as far from her past as possible, terrified of being labelled the “Jonestown girl” or “Kool-Aid kid”. She was the one who warned US authorities they needed to save the People’s Temple church members awaiting death in a remote jungle clearing in South America. Her testimony was the impetus for Californian Congressman Leo Ryan to lead an investigations party to the Jonestown camp in Guyana, South America — an arrival that triggered a mass murder-suicide that left 913 people dead. That was November 18, 1978, but the images of bodies strewn around the community are still as vivid 40 years on. But Deborah hates how the phrase “drink the Kool-Aid” has become a euphemism for unquestioning obedience, after Reverend Jim Jones’s fo...
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