Re: Interesting,you're the second one who has used that kool aid
by
Varian
04/13/2008, 4:18 PM #
If you're interested in the actual origin of the Kool-Aid phrase, rather than the authorized left-wing version, try starting with Wikipedia:
The idiomatic expression, "drinking the Kool-Aid", was originally a reference to the Merry Pranksters, a group of people associated with novelist Ken Kesey who, in the early 1960s, traveled around the United States and held events called "Acid Tests", where LSD-laced Kool-Aid was passed out to the public (LSD was legal in the U.S. until 1966). Those who drank the "Kool-Aid" passed the "Acid Test". "Drinking the Kool-Aid" in that context meant accepting the LSD drug culture, and the Pranksters' "turned on" point of view. These events were described in Tom Wolfe's 1968 classic, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.[1]
Currently the term is mostly associated with the 1978 cult suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, convinced his followers to move to Jonestown. Late in the year, he then ordered his flock to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Flavor Aid laced with potassium cyanide. In what is now commonly called the "Jonestown Massacre", a large majority of the 913 people later found dead drank the brew. (The discrepancy between the idiom and the actual occurrence is likely due to Flavor Aid's relative obscurity, compared to the easily recognizable Kool-Aid.) The precise expression can be attested in usage at least as early as 1987[1]. The saying "Don't drink the Kool-Aid" now commonly refers to the Jonestown tragedy, meaning "Don't trust any group you find to be a little on the kooky side," or "Whatever they tell you, don't believe it too strongly."[2] Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly is famous for using the term in this manner. [3]
"Drink the Kool-Aid," is now also corporate-speak for immersing oneself in a cultlike culture. Appearing in the 1980s and later applied to many a dotcom staffer, the persistent expression clearly wasn't just the flavor of the month. The authors of Hard Drive (John Wiley, 1992), a book about Microsoft, quoted one employee observing of his coworkers, "If Bill [Gates] said drink Kool-Aid, they would do it." And The New York Times cited one analyst who said of certain Time Warner executives: "The AOL guys have got to stop drinking the Kool-Aid and get on the team."
Having "drunk the Kool-Aid" also refers to being a strong or fervent believer in a particular philosophy or mission -- wholeheartedly or blindly believing in its virtues.
You're welcome.
