Let's Stop Saying, 'Don't Drink the Kool-Aid'

Judging by how often it gets thrown around these days, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid" seems to have become a "staple of self-righteous public discourse," writes Meghan Daum in the Los Angeles Times. It's a trendy way to ridicule people who blindly follow a particular ideology. It's also time to give this phrase a rest, writes Daum. Remember that it comes from the 1978 tragedy in which more than 900 Americans drank cyanide-laced punch (it was Flavor-Aid, not Kool-Aid) at the behest of the messianic Jim Jones in Guyana.

"There's something grotesque, even offensive, about comparing public figures or members of opposing political parties or nonviolent activists to followers of a deranged, murderous cult leader," writes Daum. Tomorrow is the 33rd anniversary of the Jonestown massacre. "Maybe it's worth marking the occasion by trying not to say 'drink the Kool-Aid' for at least a day." Click for the full column. (More Jonestown massacre stories.)