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Originally Posted by Cajungirl
Can someone tell me what "drinking cool aid means"...
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Good morning Cajungirl,
The expression "drinking the Kool-aid" refers to the Jonestown Massacre of 1978 in Guyana. It was a mass suicide of more than 900 members of Jonestown, a whacked out cult. (I think "whacked out cult" may be a bit redundant.)
Anyway, Jim Jones was a seriously major American whackjob. Jones was born in a lovely Indiana town. Those who knew him deemed him strange from day-one almost. When he grew up, his obsessions and need for control drove him to become a cult leader. And away they all went to Guyana. I think the cult was called The People's Temple. But it is usually referred to as Jonestown.
Anyway, the cultists gave up all original thought, as cultists are wont to do. Finally Jones led the cultists to the ultimate expression of whackjobness when they committed mass suicide under his direction. Jones told them to drink Kool-Aid with cyanide in it. (I have heard the Kool-Aid was grape. I have also heard it was the red stuff. Don't know.)
It was an absolute horror. Not to mention the effect on that beloved smiling Kool-Aid pitcher that we have all known since childhood.
So anyway, that's the tragic tale of the reference point for the allusion "drinking the Kool-Aid."
The use of the expression in our language now means to completely embrace an idea or philosophy, refusing to see anything even remotely negative.
There has been somewhat of an evolution of the expression "drinking the Kool-Aid" in that it has been watered down quite a bit. Now when people say it about themselves, it can sometimes mean something closer to "Don't worry. Be happy." Or in some cases maybe it means, "Pick Your Poison." Answers will vary.
So that is Boomer's storytime for today.
Boomer