Do you know what the phrase 'drinking the Kool-Aid' originates from?

[OddSox]

I did not know what it referred to until very recently. vote before you read the spoiler.

Spoiler:

In the Jonestown cult suicide, Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, had persuaded followers to move to Guyana and found the commune of Jonestown. In November 1978, faced with exposure of some of his misdeeds, he had the visiting U.S. Representative Leo Ryan killed and ordered the residents to commit suicide by drinking a flavored beverage laced with potassium cyanide. Those unable to comply, such as infants, and those unwilling to comply, received involuntary injections. Roughly 918 people died.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_kool-aid

Spoiler:

I'm guessing this is going to be closely correlated with age of respondents. I didn't know anything about the massacre either until the last year or so.

[Patience]

yes

[ShakeNBakes]

yes, despite the fact that the event happened before I was born.

[MightySchoop]

Originally Posted by ShakeNBakes

yes, despite the fact that the event happened before I was born.

ditto.

[Pseudolus]

Yup. The current usement kinda distorts the original meaning (e.g., the finality of it), which is one reason I tend to avoid it myself.

[Hero3128]

Yes, I'm old enough to remember hearing about that on the news.

[vividox]

Didn't know all the specifics, but knew it had to do with a cult and poisoned punch/kool-aid/beverage. If knowing is half the battle, half knowing is a fourth of the battle, right?

[Super Silver Haze]

Yes, I knew about it, and I'm about 90% sure we learned about it in high school.

[OddSox]

Originally Posted by Pseudolus

Yup. The current usement kinda distorts the original meaning (e.g., the finality of it), which is one reason I tend to avoid it myself.

I was kind of shocked when I found out the seriousness of the phrase's origin. reading about that incident sickened me in a way that not much else of history has, and it's made the phrase a lot more tasteless to me.

[OddSox]

Originally Posted by vividox

Didn't know all the specifics, but knew it had to do with a cult and poisoned punch/kool-aid/beverage. If knowing is half the battle, half knowing is a fourth of the battle, right?

I would count that as a Yes.