{PUBLIC} We need more education on cult-religion outcomes

[aurelminuial]

I am almost twenty-five, and I had never heard of Jim Jones, the People's Temple, or the Jonestown Massacre, and I'm sure there are millions others that are ignorant to it as well

Comments

[korichan]

Sorry about not continuing our text messages....I fell asleep. *sheepish* Dunno why I've been so exhausted.

I meant to ask, and I know this is off-subject of the post, but did you want to hang out Thursday before you head down to the midnight showing? I figure you'll head before I go to work, but we can still see each other for a bit if you like.

[aurelminuial]

Hm, if there is time, that would be great. I get out of choir class at 7ish, and you get out of class at 7:45, right? I told Ang and Jeff that we should get there ATLEAST and hour in advance, if not earlier, so I'll need to talk it out with them. I guess, I'll let you know? heh
And I'm not sure if we're going Friday at 7:10 yet. Mum needs to talk to the girls at work to make sure it's okay, but again, I'll let you know what's going on^^;

[korichan]

I figured you would, if not, we can hang out on Friday evening if nothing else, especially if the movie plans fall through. Just send me a text or something to lemme know. I'll be going to my advisor meeting at like...9:30am that morning, so I'm going to pass out early on and I need to know if I should actually get up a couple of hours in advance to get ready or not. :P

[korichan]

Lol, this is me being random and encouraging you to read my latest LJ entry. It's pretty stupd and pointless, but I really liked how the last one turned out. I WANT SOMEONE TO WRITE IT OR I WANT TO WRITE IT.

[veggieincoma]

I thought every American knew about it o.O I'm not American and know nothing about religion and yet I know about it. The fact that many people are unaware of this event is news to me o.O

[aurelminuial]

Unless it happens in our lifetime at an age that we'd remember, how are we expected to know these things if it's not taught in schools? It happened 7 years before I was born, so it should have been history enough for my generation to be taught in US History. (Then again, my mum says they didn't teach her high school class about WWII, and that ended atleast 10 years before she was born.)

[keikazama]

I'm sorry I always just read your LJ entries and just let it be, but this one...is too horrific to just let by :( I am making my way towards becoming an elementary school teacher, and I am wondering if I can educate students about incidents like this.

However, religion is a very sensitive topic, and I am pretty sure not many people will appreciate this type of discussions going on in the classroom at the current moment :x At the same time, I never knew about this, and I am glad you made me aware of this.

Thank you. But I hope you feel and do better. Don't let this take over your mind too long :(

[aurelminuial]

I wouldn't think about teaching a subject like this to anyone under highschool age. They just wouldn't understand, and most likely wouldn't care at that age.
Religion is a VERY touchy topic in school, and probably always will be. Unfortunately, that may be one the reason they haven't been teaching these things in schools, but I think in a high school US History class they should atleast touch on the topic, even if they doin't go in depth with it. Some people may take an interest and search learning on their own, or go on and take classes in college.

I wont let this consume me, really. I'm really glad that I could bring it to atleast one persons attention, though^^; (It's MSNBC's fault, really. They'd been showing specials on Jonestown all weekend because the 30th anni was yesterday.)

[phantom_fox0033]

I remember reading about one woman--she refused to drink the poison, and she fought so hard with the people holding her down, that almost all of her joints were dislocated. It was pretty horrible stuff.