Drinking the Kool-Aid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The phrase Drinking the Kool-Aid means to become a firm believer in something, to accept an argument or philosophy wholeheartedly or blindly.[1][2][1][3] The term orginated with the "Jonestown Massacre".[4]
Contents |
[edit] Origins
The term is derived from the Jonestown tragedy, a cult suicide in 1978. Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, had persuaded his followers to move to Jonestown, Guyana. Late in the year he ordered his 913 followers to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Flavor Aid laced with potassium cyanide. (Those unable, such as infants and those unwilling to comply received involuntary injections.) A camera from inside the compound shows a large chest being opened, clearly showing boxes of both Flavor Aid and Kool-Aid.[4] There is also testimony from criminal investigators at the Jonestown inquest stating that there were "cool aid" [sic] packets there.[5] It is unknown whether these are a reference to the Kool-Aid brand packets from the trunk, or simply a generic use of the more popular brand for the product. (The discrepancy between the idiom and the actual occurrence is likely due to Flavor Aid's relative obscurity, compared to the easily recognizable Kool-Aid.)
[edit] Use
The earliest known use of the term in its figurative sense, is from a 1987 quote about former Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry in the Washington Post.[6][7]
An earlier usage than 1987 can be attested at least as early as 1982 in the film The Slumber Party Massacre by Amy Holden Jones. In the scene where Valerie 'Val' Bates prepares Kool-Aid, she offers a glass to her sister and says "As the famous Jim Jones once said: 'should have been drinking Kool-Aid'".
More recently, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly is known for using the term in this manner.[8]
[edit] Alternative meaning
The expression also refers to the activities of the Merry Pranksters, a group of people associated with novelist Ken Kesey[citation needed] who, in the early 1960s, traveled around the United States and held events called "Acid Tests", where LSD-laced Kool-Aid was passed out to the public (LSD was legal in the U.S. until 1966). Those who drank the "Kool-Aid" passed the "Acid Test". "Drinking the Kool-Aid" in that context meant accepting the LSD drug culture, and the Pranksters' "turned on" point of view. These events were described in Tom Wolfe's 1968 classic "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test". However the expression is never used figuratively in the book, but only literally.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Paul McFedries (1998-10-27). "Wordspy article on the expression "Drink the Kool-Aid", October 27, 1998". Logophilia Limited, www.wordspy.com. http://www.wordspy.com/words/drinktheKool-Aid.asp. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
- ^ 'Jonestown': Portrait of a Disturbed Cult Leader Day to Day, October 20, 2006
- ^ Randall Hauch (2007-08-08). "Me Type Funny article "I've drunk the Kool-Aid," August 8, 2007". Randall Hauch, metypefunny.blogspot.com. http://metypefunny.blogspot.com/2007/08/ive-drunk-kool-aid.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
- ^ a b History Channel media
- ^ Guyana inquest.
- ^ "Washington Post Being Stood Up by Mayor Leaves Radio Host Fuming, July 17, 1987". ProQuest, www.proquest.com/. 1987-07-17. http://www.proquest.com/pqdweb?did=120800674&sid=1&Fmt=10&clientId=15403&RQT=309&VName=HNP. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
- ^ Doug Smith (2006-08-31). "Arkansas Times article on the expression "Drinking the Kool-Aid", September 31, 2006". Arkansas Times, www.arktimes.com. http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=131ee585-0cdc-459b-8f97-0f72729d048d. Retrieved on 2006-11-08.
- ^ FOXNews.com - Feeling Sorry for O'Reilly - Bill O’Reilly | The O’Reilly Factor
