1. a) Find instances in which perception played a role in Jones’s development of his movement and his own identity.

b) How can the history of Jones’s movement help scholars better understand religious and social movements?

Things to ponder:

As our chapter discusses identity as a highly abstract, dynamic, multifaceted concept that defines who we are. Like building a LEGO set out of LEGO pieces, we start putting pieces together from the very early stage of our lives to build our identity. Identity is acquired through interaction with other members of your family—one’s parents, siblings and extended family members—and as our interaction with others grow, our identity changes as well.

Concepts of identity within the same group can change over time. When we notice major identity differences, we even face conflicts such as ethnocentrism. In this global word we live in, identity conflicts bring dysfunctions and harmony as well.

Even though, certain aspects of our identity can be decided at conception; if one wants to change one’s religion, gender, skin color, and many other identity related things, it can be changed. Here I would like to bring in a unique group of people called Hijras in India. Hijras are a group of people who are born as men; however, they change their gender later in life. They have historically been considered India’s third gender. Please follow the link below to find more about this group.

India’s Transgender Community:The Hijra | Style Out There | Refinery29 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)

Now think how in one culture transgendered people have the difficulty of expressing their identity, yet in another culture, they may be looked up to as a source of receiving blessings. Don’t forget, sometimes, these groups are mistreated, as any other subculture may be, due to differences in what we believe.

As we know we all have multiple identities. With your parents, you behave one way; with your friends you have a different identity. With your professors you have yet another identity.

Now think about your cyber/fantasy identity. You can be completely one person this morning, and you can hit the delete button and create a new persona with completely a new identity.

Stereotyping occurs when people categorize experiences about another group of people and allow those categorizations to guide behavior. Stereotypes are applied to the behavioral norm of an entire group of people, not merely individuals. This is a topic brought up by most of you during last week’s discussion. My kids are ethnically/racially mixed; but, I always tell them not to believe that being a minority in America somehow limits what they can achieve—rather the contrary. They have the same access to all the school resources as all other students at their schools. They take the same exams as others at school, and they take the ACT. Their identity cannot disable them for reaching the top. I believe that if we teach our children that due to their identity, there are certain things that they may not be able to reach, they will use that as an excuse and program themselves to believe they are handicapped in life.

Now look at Jim Jones and how his perception played a role in the development of his movement and his own identity. As a little kid, Jim Jones had difficulties. He used religion as a vehicle to reach certain people. By looking at the documentary, we see the people who followed him were mainly young and old people. Many racially mixed families were not treated well in the 1970s, and through openly preaching against “isms,” Jones attracted like-minded folks to his flock. Unfortunately, his real beliefs were fair less altruistic. He saw a niche market, and he exploited it for his own self-promotion, preying on the less fortunate and the gullible. There is a similar movement that has taken hold in some Christian churches (primarily Catholic) in South and Central America. Known as liberation theology, it is essentially communism repackaged as scripture and peddled by activists masquerading as priests to the poor and illiterate masses. It is a classical case of foco strategy, as formulated by the mass murderer Che Guevara, who believed popular uprisings would not follow traditional European-style communist revolutions but instead would gain strength in rural areas and would overthrow the regime. Guevara’s ideal vanguard guerrilla was supposed to bolster the population’s morale, not to take control of the state apparatus itself and this overthrow would occur without any external or foreign help. In doing so, operatives would infiltrate and assume control over popular organizations not typically associated with communist movements. Being among the strongest cultural influences in Ibero-America, the Catholic Church was a logical target for such infiltration.

We talked about history and how historical movements could create nationalistic feelings. Jim Jones’s story could be a good lesson for us to avoid falling for similar fraudsters. However, did similar things not happen after Jim Jones’s case? How did media handle the Jim Jones case? Keep these in mind and let us look into this week’s discussion question.

1. a) Find instances in which perception played a role in Jones’s development of his movement and his own identity.

b) How can the history of Jones’s movement help scholars better understand religious and social movements?

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