{"id":31408,"date":"2013-07-25T16:37:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T16:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=31408"},"modified":"2026-02-20T15:11:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T23:11:30","slug":"kooldirectory","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=31408","title":{"rendered":"Drinking the Kool-Aid: A (Partial) 2008 Directory"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note<\/strong>: the jonestown report made note every year in its 13 editions between 2007 and 2019 of the numerous articles, op-ed pieces, and commentaries that specifically mention the use of the phrase “Drinking the Kool-Aid,” even if it isn\u2019t the focus of the entire piece. Even though the report suspended the annual listing beginning in 2020, the references continue on a near daily basis in online media sources.<\/p>\n

(The listing below includes several references from 2008.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The expression \u201cdrinking the Kool-Aid\u201d is now deeply embedded into American slang \u2013 often as throwaway and\/or commonly-understood lines in sports, business, and popular culture \u2013 with upwards of a dozen references appearing on news feeds every day. Especially in political arena, the saying has become increasingly weaponized, as partisans on all sides use it to disparage the intellectual capacity and discernment of their opponents.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there have been several serious considerations of the phrase in several commentaries during the past year, including:<\/p>\n

Q & A: Jim Ardis<\/b>
\nPeoria Journal-Star<\/i>, June 23, 2008<\/p>\n

Mayor Jim Ardis has received\u00a0some criticism lately for his comments regarding the Peoria Public Library’s\u00a0successful referendum in 2007, saying he wasn’t going to “drink the Kool-Aid”\u00a0of the 72 percent who voted in favor of supporting a $35 million expansion of\u00a0the library system.<\/p>\n

Ardis said he accepts responsibility for his comments, and he hopes the sometimes confrontational discourse in the past month between the\u00a0City Council and the Library Board does not hamper future progress for Peoria.<\/p>\n

Q: There has been some fervor, it seems, with the “Drink the Kool-Aid” comment you made about the 2007\u00a0referendum with regards to voter turnout and those who supported the library\u00a0referendum. Is there anything you would like to say to set that record\u00a0straight?<\/p>\n

A: I accept full responsibility for that comment and would\u00a0not use that phrase again in that context. Many people in our community share\u00a0my vision for enhanced education and I did not mean to imply that those who\u00a0desire enhanced libraries are (naive) or have been brainwashed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Drinking the Kool-Aid<\/b><\/a>
\nby Dave Stewart, Running in the Rain<\/i>, April 4, 2008<\/p>\n

I was sitting with one of my\u00a0work colleagues today and having a little ad hoc meeting about something\u00a0interesting (but off topic). At one point I commented, “Maybe I have been\u00a0drinking the Kool-Aid too much here, but…” and then I was going to prattle\u00a0off some long-assumed corporate party line, which I wanted to cast doubt on.<\/p>\n

Then my friend interrupted me\u00a0and said, “What does ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’ mean?”<\/p>\n

This caused me to stop dead, and then break out in laughter. Not at him … my friend grew up in India, and moved to the US after graduating\u00a0from college. He has heard several people use the phrase, but didn’t know what\u00a0it meant. My laughter was based on how deeply this term has seeped into\u00a0American culture. Then I turned serious, and even sad.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hey, Kool-Aid: A resurgent metaphor of\u00a0questionable taste<\/b>
\nby Jan Freeman, Boston Globe<\/i>,\u00a0March 9, 2008<\/p>\n

That sloshing sound isn’t just\u00a0your imagination: If you follow the news, you’ve probably noticed the risingtide of references to “drinking the Kool-Aid.”<\/p>\n

There’s a lot of Obama-flavored\u00a0Kool-Aid out there, of course – according to Clinton partisans. And there’s\u00a0Clinton Kool-Aid, too – according to Obama voters (and columnist Frank Rich,\u00a0who recently told New York Times readers that Hillary’s strategists, early in\u00a0the campaign, had been swilling the stuff).<\/p>\n

Accusations of Kool-Aid\u00a0intoxication aren’t limited to Democratic campaign rhetoric. Warren Buffett\u00a0recently said that US banks tripped up by complex investments were now drinking\u00a0their own “toxic Kool-Aid.” Business students, sportswriters, and Nascar fans imbibe\u00a0as well.<\/p>\n

When the Kool-Aid showed up last\u00a0month in a Globe story about bread-baking rivalries, though, reader Janice\u00a0Zazinski had had her fill. “I assume it’s a reference to the mass suicide in\u00a0Jonestown, and I find it wholly inappropriate and insensitive,” she e-mailed.<\/p>\n

She’s right about the source. Jim Jones, who forced hundreds\u00a0of his followers to drink cyanide in Jonestown, Guyana, 30 years ago, left the language this vivid metaphor for blind faith.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the road with Obama<\/b><\/a>
\nby Justin Webb, BBC News<\/i>,\u00a0USA, March 3, 2008<\/p>\n

Suicide is a serious subject and mass suicide even more so.\u00a0But we had to laugh (those of us sitting on the press bus inhaling fumes from a dodgy exhaust system) at the start of another day on the road with Barack\u00a0Obama.<\/p>\n

“Oh God,” someone called out.<\/p>\n

“They’ll think we did it on\u00a0purpose if we all die here. They’ll think we drank the Kool Aid.”<\/p>\n

That phrase “drinking the Kool\u00a0Aid” – as well as recalling the drug fuelled days of the 1960s – is associated\u00a0with followers of a cult leader Jim Jones who were persuaded by him to commit\u00a0suicide.<\/p>\n

They drank bottles of pop\u00a0(actually Flavor Aid, not Kool Aid, but Kool Aid has stuck) and the point\u00a0anyway is that the pop was laced with cyanide.<\/p>\n

Nine-hundred and thirteen people\u00a0died and to this day nobody knows why they did it.<\/p>\n

How apt that my journey with the Obama team begins with a\u00a0Kool Aid reminder because that is the charge you hear over and over again now\u2026<\/p>\n

But I come away from my days on\u00a0the road with the Obama team with, if I am honest, a very warm feeling about\u00a0him and his people. They are pleasant to deal with. They are winning and having\u00a0fun.<\/p>\n

And yet, I read the other day\u00a0that Jim Jones’ Kool Aid cult began as a struggle for racial equality and\u00a0social justice.<\/p>\n

One account says, “his followers\u00a0believed their movement was the solution to the problems of society, many did\u00a0not distinguish Jones from the movement.”<\/p>\n

How disconcerting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On drinking Kool-Aid and\u00a0other paranormal events<\/b>
\nby Ray Unger, Capital Times<\/i>, Madison, Wisconsin, April 25, 2008<\/p>\n

The weird headline above was just to get your attention, so read on. You won’t be disappointed. We’re forced to make decisions about the\u00a0future with faulty and imperfect information. But guess what? That’s what makes\u00a0this business so interesting, because we’re always learning new things. And\u00a0that’s the crux of the above headline. No, I’m not a Jim Jones fanatic – he\u00a0convinced his followers to take a cyanide-laced drink to commit suicide – hence\u00a0the expression “drinking to Kool-Aid.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note: the jonestown report made note every year in its 13 editions between 2007 and 2019 of the numerous articles, op-ed pieces, and commentaries that specifically mention the use of the phrase “Drinking the Kool-Aid,” even if it isn\u2019t the focus of the entire piece. Even though the report suspended the annual listing beginning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":31411,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31408","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31408"}],"version-history":[{"count":130,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133857,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31408\/revisions\/133857"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}