Jim Jones; The People's Temple

There are six ways to check if a group will become dangerous or violent. This checklist was created by Eileen Barker. The first check is if the group moves to separate from society, geographically or socially. The second is if adherentents, or believers, become increasingly dependent on the movement for their preception of reality.The third is that important decisions of the adherents are made by others. The fourth is when sharp distinctions between "us" and "them" are made, and the distinctions are not open for discussion. The fifth is that the leader claims divine authority for their deeds and for orders to the followers. The sixth is that the leaders of the movement are focused unmovingly on a certain goal. A cult also has novel religious beliefs.

The People's Temple was led by Jim Jones. The People's Temple meets all of the checks for a dangerous group, cult. Here are some examples. Jim Jones Claims that he will be your God if you see him that way. The People's Temple seperated to Guyana. Jones began to make decisions for his followers. The People's Temple was interacial, which was a novel religious belief at the time. It challenged norms. Jones was not allowed to be challenged, if you did you were killed. Jones claimed that "society was evil." Jones claimed divine power by healing his secretary (who pretended to be sick). Jim Jones had a speaker system that was on for 24 hours 7 days a week that provided all the believers with false information/ news. Jim Jones and some members were distrusting of outsiders.

Jim Jones claims that all the reportes are liars and not to listem to them. Jim Jones gets famiies to turn on one another. Members had to give everything up to the church, they were made to feel guilty if they didn't. The ultimate goal of the People's Temple was to commit revolutionary suicide. There were constant services held as a control mechanism. Members began to surrender their rights and power to Jones. Leaving the church was considered the greatest sin of all. They had a new belief in creating a Utopian society. There were many loyalty tests.

Many members were forced to take cyanide. Jim Jones made members believe that they were against the U.S. People Temple's church caught on fire led to higher tension with society. Everyone to be socially and economically equal. Everyone is givenan allowance from the church.

Dalai Lama: Tibetans 'suffering' under China

The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama gives a speech in India criticizing the treatment of  the Tibetan's by the Chinese government. The Dalai Lama has been exiled to India, the suffering of the Tibetan Buddhists has gone one for 50 years. China accuses the Dalai Lama of trying to separate Tibet from China. The Chinese deny all claims that they are mistreating the Tibetans. The Dalai Lama says that the Chinese government has killed over hundreds of thousands Tibetans. The Dalai Lama is worried about the Tibetan culture disappearing, he says if not for the exile of 100,000 Tibetans to India there would be no remains of the Tibetan culture. 

A peaceful commemoration of the 1959 monks in the Tibetan capital, caused four days of anti-Chinese riots, in surrounding provinces. After the Dalai Lama gave his speech many Tibetans from Dharmsala came out and started to chant " China out! Tibet belongs to Tibetans!" Other protests around the world occured in Nepal, Seoul, South Korea, New York, London, Berlin, Vienna, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Canberra, the capital of Australia. China says they invaded Tibet to free the slaves of Tibet. The Dalai Lama supports a non-violent movement for change. 

It is not right for a government to control what religion its citizens may practice. It is not right that the Dalai Lama the leader of Tibetan Buddhism has to live in India, his people are in Tibet. The Chinese government should work with the Dalai Lama to come to a peaceful agreement. 

Facebook gets a facelift; Myspace loses

The "hot" site Facebook has redesigned their website. After this happened Myspace lost three executives. Facebook is making it easier for its members to share information and making the information flow faster. Facebook is also giving users more control of how to share information. Instead of a status bar, Facebook has created a "Twitter box, with a question like what's on you mind. Myspace has made no comment on whether or not they are going to replace the three executives. Myspace says that it is expecting to have a big year this year. Facebook outranks Myspace by 175 million users worldwide, compared to 130 million. However, Myspace out ranks Facebook 76 million users in the U.S. compared to 55 million users on Facebook. Most of the worlds online revenue comes from the United States.

Myspace came around as one of the first major social sites, Facebook was tehn created. At first Facebook was a knock-off Myspace. Now Facebook is starting to generate its own ideas. Will this knock-off site put an end to Myspace? I do not think so because so many people in the U.S. have a Myspace instead of a Facebook.