[pachyderm]

I have just finished the book "Seductive Poison" by Deborah Layton. Although I hope this message will not trigger anyone, the book might. It is the story of the "Reverend" Jim Jones, his Peoples' Temple, and of Jonestown (Guyana). On November 18, 1978, the members of Jonestown, some 1,000 people, committed suicide or were killed by other members.

The author of this book was a trusted aide of Jim Jones for a long time, and lived for a while in Jonestown. A number of months before the mass suicide/killing, she escaped from Jonestown. She was able to make her way back to the United States, with the help of, but despite the bumblings of, the U.S. embassy in Guyana. Some time after she made it back to the U.S., she started telling her story. She testified before a congressional committee, predicting in detail the mass suicide that happened a few months later. The committee and many other departments of the U.S. government paid little attention to her.

I found in this story some echoes of my own childhood. None of us was killed, but the emotionally disturbed state of a "leader" and the swallowing of the dictates of that leader by the followers remind me of one of my parents and of us children. We also were instructed to keep secrets, and that no one would listen to us if we told. Some people here might find this book instructive as I did.

I got the book from my local public library. Amazon.com also has the book. When I buy books from Amazon I usually pick the used ones; I have been satisfied with their quality.

Added note: I could not see how to put a trigger icon in front of this message.

(edited to add trigger icon)

[Maven]

When you post, there are several icons to choose from, right under the subject field. You choose the one that looks a little bit like a basketball.

[eskielover]

I haven't read this book, but what you have described about someone trying to tell people about what is happening & no one will listen has been a trigger my whole life. I know nothing happened when I was young to make it a trigger.....just watching many movies where I saw it happen I could relate to how it feels.

Then when I was alone in my Mothers house with her & the care giver that I caught stealing her ID & everything she was doing including the phone call I caught & she cut the phone cord. I couldn't get anyone to listen to what was happening to me or my Mother. Everyone including my pdoc & psychologist & even the neighbors were telling me that I wasn't seeing what was really happening. I have never had a good imagination....why in the world would it start then???? Why can't we get people to listen when we have very serious things we are trying to say? Why are all the important things just dropped or ignored until after the fact when they come back & say.....oh, that is what you were talking about.

It seems that this way of handling information is more the norm than the exception.....even inclucing the start of WWII. the most important information is either covered up or ignored & meaningless things have hours of time spent on them?

It is really sad when things like this happen & history shows continually that this happens. When will we ever learn from our past mistakes & take the important information seriously?

Debbie