This is to clarify what to many of you youngsters might be an obscure reference. Right-wing commentators [Sean Hannity comes to mind] often refer to liberals and lefties as "kool-aid drinkers" implying that they are mindless followers of irrational and corrupt politicians who are leading them and the country down the path to ruin. Here's why.
On this day in 1978, 911 followers of the Reverend Jim Jones committed suicide at their compound in Jonestown, Guyana. Nearly all of them died from ingesting Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. Apparently they did so voluntarily. Here's a link to the Court TV account of the massacre. Here's a retrospective from the Richmond Review.
The political association comes from the fact that at one point Rev. Jones was photographed with and received an endorsement from a clueless Rosalyn Carter, wife of the equally clueless Jimmah.
Note: Some accounts say the liquid was "Flavor Aid" but it is "KoolAid" that most people remember.
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