"Drinking the Kool Aid"

[FlightlessDuck]

I am trying to wonder why this phrase became acceptable.

909 people died in Jonestown, Guyana after drinking Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. Even if it was all suicide and not a trick by Jim Jones, why does it make it OK to use this phrase?

And don't forget Congressman Leo Ryan and some of his staff, who was killed by this cult's security squad on his way back to the United States.

 

[laurie31]

When I've heard the phrase used, it was meaning someone willing to follow someone else so blindly that they used no independent judgement to discern what they were actually doing, or just going along with what everyone else was doing/saying without having a clue.

As language is a living thing, always changing, I think this phrase has evolved a bit, to mean things less drastically horrible, but still used to describe someone willing to follow the crowd, without knowing where the crowd is headed.

I don't think anyone means disrespect to those who died initially, but it does get the point across in only a few words. If I say, "XXX is drinking the KoolAid" everyone knows what I mean.

I'm sure the Kool Aid company is less than thrilled with the association, though.

 

[Imzadi]

Why does a phrase have to be "positive" in order to become acceptable?

There is also the phrase, "being paid 30 pieces of silver," which is what Judas Iscariot was paid for betraying Jesus, which is also a negative, but very powerful phrase. (Not turning this into a religious discussion.) These phrases represent a whole idea, in the same way symbols are used. Some symbols are positive, like peace signs, some negative: swastikas.

 

[klj27]

It's just like the phrase "soup nazi". Drinking the koolaid doesn't bother me because of the same definition an earlier poster gave, but using the term nazi to be funny is not funny to me.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Why does a phrase have to be "positive" in order to become acceptable?

Even then, wouldn't you say it's gotten to the point where it's being used in a context that's drastically different than a mass suicide?

"I drank the Kool-Aid and read Twilight."
"I drank the Kool-Aid and finally got an iPad."

How is this even close to the same thing?

 

[Imzadi]

Even then, wouldn't you say it's gotten to the point where it's being used in a context that's drastically different than a mass suicide?

"I drank the Kool-Aid and read Twilight."
"I drank the Kool-Aid and finally got an iPad."

How is this even close to the same thing?

It's NOT. That was what Laurie said, which I agree with her, BTW. Today's meaning, used in the context you used, isn't at all close to the original origin of it, other than that it is a euphemism for thoughtless brainwashing, mass following, or unexamined mind control.

It's no disrespect to the original situation in which created the phase, just the "guts" of the idea plucked out of it.

 

[Aisling]

Even then, wouldn't you say it's gotten to the point where it's being used in a context that's drastically different than a mass suicide?

"I drank the Kool-Aid and read Twilight."
"I drank the Kool-Aid and finally got an iPad."

How is this even close to the same thing?

While I believe that people should be able to say whatever they want, acceptable or not, it's sort of disrespectful to use it like that. But most people probably don't even connect it to Jonestown. For me, it's a phrase I never use. It just doesn't feel right.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

While I believe that people should be able to say whatever they want, acceptable or not, it's sort of disrespectful

"Disrespectful" is probably more accurate to what I was asking, anyway. I'm not one for banning phrases, it just seems in poor taste to use the phrase.

 

[SandrA9810]

i'm not exactly a fan of poor context a phrase or word is used in.

it seems almost anything is acceptable and holds less meaning to it than before. And people don't seem to care about where it came from or how people suffered.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

To be honest, I bet a lot of people don't even know where that phrase comes from, particularly younger people. The only reason I know about the Jonestown Massacre is because I did a report on cults for school and that was one I researched. I'm not sure I would really know enough about them had I not done that report to connect the phrase with what happened.

My guess is a lot of younger people know what it means but have no clue where it comes from, as they were either not alive or did not know that Jonestown happened.

We use a lot of phrases or euphemisms that could potentially be offensive:
-nuclear or going nuclear. Thousands of people died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
-WWIII. The first two World Wars saw the deaths of millions of people.

I know there are tons more, but it's late and my brain isn't working. The point is, languages evolve over time. Often times by the point a euphemism or phrase enters the popular vernacular, many people do not know the origin of the phrase or do not connect it to the originating event.

 

[bumbershoot]

OH I am SO with you.

It's all over the Dave Ramsey boards; so many people use it. And it's here to an extent as well. And it makes me sick every time I read it.

I commented on it in my pre-trip report once it was bothering me so much!


People use it to mean "I finally went along with what others were suggesting". Which is what I did with rewards sites, and later with Ramsey. But those are *positive* things. No suicide involved at all. Therefore, I won't use that ugly phrase.

I'm already "out there" enough as it is with my opinions...if I weren't, I would comment on it each and every time I read it online. It just puts such a nasty image into my head... It shouldn't be acceptable, because it comes from such a disgusting, non-positive, thing.


I don't like "Soup Nazi" (or grammar nazi, etc) much either, and if Seinfeld hadn't been such an incredible show with such funny people, it wouldn't have become a part of a group of relatively acceptable things to say.


What I wonder is....if people don't know where it came from, what do they think it really means, other than the context???

 

[bicker]

I am trying to wonder why this phrase became acceptable.

It didn't. And not (only) for the reason you gave. In my experience, use of that phrase almost always reveals a lot about the person using it, that that person is a generally arrogant and disrespectful person, either unable or unwilling to grant that someone could possibly disagree with them without being affected by a chemically-induced mania.

I'm not saying that there aren't cases where people delude themselves into thinking something (the intended meaning of the phrase) -- there are, and indeed it is quite often that that happens. I'm saying that when I've seen that phrase used it is almost always in a case where it is a situation where reasonable people disagree, and instead of agreeing to disagree, respecting the fact that someone could have an opposing viewpoint and still be worthy of respect, someone resorts to this inane, utterly offensive rejoinder.

(The place I saw it used yesterday -- it was an A/V forum -- the person who used it also used the term "gypped", indicating even more ignorance on their part.)

 

[cocodog]

There are plenty of phrases that are widely used that are inappropriate; not only that one.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

We use a lot of phrases or euphemisms that could potentially be offensive:
-nuclear or going nuclear. Thousands of people died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
-WWIII. The first two World Wars saw the deaths of millions of people.

How about "going postal?" That phrase started, because of all the post office shootings that happened over a span of a few years. There have been many workplace shootings, but it seems the post office is the one that won the phrase to describe someone losing their mind with anger or rage.

OP..unfortunately most of these phrases became popular because the event that happened was more than likely a tragedy.

 

[Jex]

It wasn't even kool-aid at Jonestown, it was flavor-aid.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

It wasn't even kool-aid at Jonestown, it was flavor-aid.

 

[JerseyJanice]

"Drinking the Koolaid" is a phrase I see all the time on message boards, but not one that comes up in real life conversation. It's the same with "helicopter parents" and "snowflake." I see these words here and on other boards, but I don't think I've ever heard these expressions said out loud in RL discussion.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

How about "going postal?"

I thought that about one, too.

 

[Imzadi]

How about "going postal?" That phrase started, because of all the post office shootings that happened over a span of a few years. There have been many workplace shootings, but it seems the post office is the one that won the phrase to describe someone losing their mind with anger or rage.

OP..unfortunately most of these phrases became popular because the event that happened was more than likely a tragedy.

There is supposedly a certain personality type that works at the post office, and also a certain type that then "goes postal."

Have you ever been in a post office after they have had a shooting? There is one in CA that has super thick, bulletproof glass and bars, like in a bank. The postal workers talk behind that enclosed glass and you hand over the mail to them in slots. It is a very freaky place!

 

[shortbun]

Stuff like this...if you don't like it you can choose not to use the phrase. I think most people look at the Jonestown followers as people who believed in something so much they were willing to commit suicide and include their children(who were innocent); this being a foolish thing. thus the comment becoming part of today's lingo: if you are so foolish that you are willing to follow blindly you 'drink the koolaid.' It's pretty easy to understand the reference and although I rarely if ever use it, I have no objection when it is used.