A proposed ban
- Thread starter witness23
- Start date
You recall incorrectly. That was the Heaven's Gate, the UFO based religious group led by Marshall Applewhite, who looked eerily like Uncle Martin from My Favorite Martian.
They didn't drink Kool Aid. These were mature adult loons. None of that lowbrow kiddie stuff. They killed themselves by enjoying a cосktail of phenobarbital and vodka, on the rocks, and then, juuuust to make sure, secured plastic bags over their heads. Each had a crisp $5 bill and three quarters in their pockets. All were identially dressed in black shirts and sweatpants, and brand new Nike sneakers, with each also wearing an armband proclaiming "Heaven's Gate Away Team". Too much Star Trek. Their deaths in 1997 coincided with the arrival of Hale-Bopp comet. Beam me up, Scotty.
The Kool Aid term is derived from the 1978 Jonestown Massacre (Jonestown, Guyana) where Jim Jones, leader of The Peoples Temple, instructed his followers to drink potassium cyanide laced grape Kool Aid as part of a Revolutionary Suicide. It was felt, and subsequently determined, that many of the "followers" were there against their will, particularly some of the children. Concerned Relatives and others demanded an investigation, which prompted Congressman Leo Ryan (D-CA) to visit Jonestown. After an investigation that did not go well for Jim Jones and his followers, Ryan and 5 others were murdered at the airstrip as they were about to leave, which prompted Jones to issue the Revolutionary Suicide.
Be that as it may, the Kool Aid term as used today does not mean to "in effect is asking or directing somebody to kill themselves merely for disagreeing with their philosophy of life." That's not how metaphors (or figures of speech) work.
The term "drinking the Kool Aid" or "Kool Aid drinkers" is used to mean someone who becomes a firm believer in something, who accepts an argument or philosophy blindly and without question, just like the followers of Jim Jones did when they drank the Kool Aid without question. It is also a metaphor for how things can sometimes go really bad when you accept things blindly, unquestioned. It is not a metaphor for inducing suicide, sorry.
Knowing the origin of a term is not a requisite for using it as a figure of speech to convey a particular metaphorical meaning. In this case, the meaning of the term is usually quite clear to those who use and hear it, and knowing the origin of the term is irrelevant. What's not good is trying to apply the literal meaning to the metaphor, as it conveys an incorrect meaning.
The reverse of that, in being totally ignorant of the origin of something, can also be just as bad. For example, there are many Christians who believe, to the core of their very soul, that the "X" in "Xmas" was deliberately invented to take the Christ out of Christmas and is a symptom and symbol of the commercialization of the holiday. They believe this without question. You know, like, uhm, on faith. Ironic, I think.
That's what the ignorance of Classical Languages gets you.
Its origins actually come from the fact that the first letter in the Greek word for 'Christ' is 'chi,' and the Greek letter 'chi' is represented by a symbol virtually indistinguishable the letter 'X' in the modern Roman alphabet. The word "Christ" has been abbreviated for more than 1000 years, sometimes by the "chi" and sometimes by the first two letters, X and P, or XP. The Labarum, a very old Christian symbol for Christ, is also known as the "chi-rho", which is the superimpositon of the X and the P (rho) together. The chi and the chi-rho both were used by scholars and monks to make notations in the margins of scrolls, and later printed books, for particularly important or "good" passages, as the chi-rho combination stands for "chreston", which means "good". It was also those printed books, thanks to the Gutenberg Press, that brought the abbreviation into the mainsteam, since it was a much more efficient use of ink and paper to set up the type for Xmas than it was to use all those extra letters in spelling it out. It wasn't a slight then, and it's not a slight now.
But people see Xmas and the freak out, regardless of the fact that it's been in continuous use in the English language for a really, really long time.
Kool Aid, anyone?
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As usual Turtle had the patience for a much more detailed response than I. My impatient version is koolaid drinker has nothing to do with suggesting suicide to anyone. It also refers to the Jonestown murders but that has nothing to do with it's metaphorical use. It's use, in the context of the soapbox, is to suggest those who brainlessly follow a flawed, damaged, insane, idiotic, moronic etc. leader to eventual doom even when other (intelligent) options are available.
witness23
Veteran Expediter
I couldn't agree more, Witness: wading through the same tired cliches over and over does little to promote respect for the viewpoint of the poster. Maybe we just expected too much when the Soapbox was envisioned as a place for reasoned debate & opinions, but I still think it can be done. [The recent posts by Mr G and 'Rocket'among others, are an example]
I'd also include a ban on anything other than proper names: Obama, Republicans, Democrats, etc. The level of disrespect displayed by the cutesy pejoratives is immature, [not to mention tiresome] IMO. As much as I disliked Bush, I seldom referred to him as "the Shrub" except in my head, because he was still the President, no matter how I felt.
Like my daddy always told me: "If you want to be treated as an adult, you need to act like one."
Amen cheri!!!! Very well said.
N
NextOut
Guest
Yeah, what he said.
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
Witness wrote in response to Tenn. hawk:
HAWKKK!!!! "Hi mrs Hawk, Can Hawk come out and play!?!? We need him to play 2nd base!!!!" Hey Hawk, bring your good louisville slugger too!!!
HAWKKK!!!! "Hi mrs Hawk, Can Hawk come out and play!?!? We need him to play 2nd base!!!!" Hey Hawk, bring your good louisville slugger too!!!
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
I was being sarcastic, but it was YOU who called me out, when others have used that term WAY more than I. Not a big deal, as I have no qualms using the term when I see someone drinking the big D kool-aid.
If I sound like a child, it's because I am curled up in the fetal position in my bunk, trying not to cry for a nurse from Momobama's teet.
But you, my friend, sound like you need an enema.
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
Witness wrote in response to Tenn. hawk:
HAWKKK!!!! "Hi mrs Hawk, Can Hawk come out and play!?!? We need him to play 2nd base!!!!" Hey Hawk, bring your good louisville slugger too!!!
Hey Chef! Be out in a minute! I told you I broke that bat on the TV on Jan 20th. Let's play football instead!
Watch it Rock.....Hope and optimism makes you a wearer of rose coloured glasses and swigger of kool aid!
Just think of the other option........misery!!!
Just think of the other option........misery!!!
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
Football works, I get to be OJ!!!!!!
I don't post for most people, only myself. I use it because I know what it means and what I mean by using it. I'm sure that isn't the case for everyone.
spudhead911
Seasoned Expediter
I will join the ban as soon as I put my glass of Kool-Aid down and take off my rose colored glasses, but it might take a while.
Cleverly challenged? You mean like those people who aren't clever enough to make their point all by themselves, so they need to create additional screen names to reinforce the point with a bunch of yeah, yeah, yeah, posts? Yeah, yeah, that's lame.
spudhead911
Seasoned Expediter
Now your talking, I almost dropped my koolaid and my rose colored glasses almost slipped off my face while reading some of the posts on this subject.
