Miklós Fehér died during a live broadcast of a soccer match on January 25, 2004.
The 24-year-old striker collapsed on Sunday during a league game against Vitoria Guimaraes -- the victim of an apparent heart attack.
Feher was the second international to die on the field of play in seven months after a heart condition killed Cameroon's Marc Vivien Foe at the Confederations Cup in France last June.
Portuguese television showed repeated footage of Feher smiling at the referee after receiving a yellow card. He leaned over with his hands on his thighs, then slumped backwards onto the pitch.
The video below shows the impact of a suspected suicide bomber who blew himself up in the Iraqi parliament cafeteria today.
An Iraqi security official said two MPs and a parliamentary official died and 20 people were wounded, around half of them MPs, when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt walked in carrying a briefcase.
On April 27, 2007 WWE Films will release a movie called The Condemned. The movie's story goes like this:
"An adrenalin-charged action thriller, "The Condemned" tells the story of Jack Conrad, who is awaiting the death penalty in a corrupt Central American prison. He is "purchased" by a wealthy television producer and taken to a desolate island where he must fight to the death against nine other condemned killers from all corners of the world, with freedom going to the sole survivor"
The hook?
These 10 people are all on death row in prisons around the world, and instead of the state killing them, they sell them to a television producer that puts them on an isolated island to kill one another. The island is full of cameras and all the action is televised online.
An interesting concept. DSM would like to see how the audience for the show within the movie is portrayed. Generally, the audience will flock toward the show and it will be popular, although I know the movie's focus will mainly be on the prisoners and especially the main character, Conrad, played by WWE Superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Promoters of make-believe violence, the WWE is always popular with young males and with their new movie studios have extended the violence into their movies.
These videos found on Revver and on the movie's official home page (WatchThemDieLive.com) show clips of people getting killed. They are teasers for the movie and represent the mindless curiosity in death Internet audiences might have.
Today, Toronto film critic and film programmer of the Toronto International Film Festival, Cameron Bailey visited Humber College to speak in a lecture series.
His lecture was entitled "YouTube Apocalypse: Watching Death on Demand".
Bailey commented on much of what Dead Sea Media has been discussing the past few weeks. However, with a focus on the popular YouTube online video sharing service, Bailey demonstrates how death is available to us with a click of a mouse. He used video clip examples during his speech and DSM will choose and discuss these videos.
Bailey began his discussions on the Saddam Hussein hanging video as captured by an official with his cell phone.
The video raised questions about public executions and how they have been pushed back into culture through a website as public displays of the spectacle of death. Public hangings were the most popular method for European and North American executions well into the mid 1960's. However, some countries had to stop public displays because they were inciting blood lust. Saddam's execution was popular because it was not what mainstream media forced us to watch, a choreographed, staged execution. People showed favour toward a video that was outside the public norm and ripped in social fabrics created by the mainstream media.
Saddam's hanging was compared to this hanging by American troops in WWII. This video shows fixed camera positions and even the final drop. Unlike the Saddam video, this was professionally and probably government filmed. Brings up questions of how things are changing, how almost any moment in time can be documented and put on display for the world to see.
This video was the last execution by guillotine in the public, and came at a time when executioners toyed with filming their actions. But public executions did not last. People had become desensitized to the display.
The Vietnam War brought visuals to the tube of Americans as reporters joined soldiers on the front lines. Along with visuals protests against the violence and cries to remove soldiers spread. This television video captures the same 1968 moment Eddie Adams' Pulitzer Prize winning photograph captures. You can see the flash go off before the man is shot in the head.
Question of Authenticity
When looking at death videos on YouTube one may question authenticity. This staged film of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots from 1895 was horrific in nature, almost too real to be true at the time.
Now, when a video is posted, debates rise over the authenticity of the footage. People argue as if they are disappointed, angry even, that they did not witness an actual death caught on film. Why would people stage these events anyway? Mocking the beheading of journalists and soldiers, people (mainly male youth) comment on death through humour, but not respectable humour. They are mindless and ignorant displays.
Compilation Videos
Two videos discussed were edited products and not just raw clips. The video below shows dramatic footage by soldiers in Iraq as a suicide car bomber blows up on an Iraqi street. However, most interesting is the build-up to the event and the how well documented it was. For it to be available online seems to show favour of these type of events and how they can be visually captivating. A music track is put behind the images, making commentary on the events through song.
[The footage could not be embedded please click here to watch]
Bailey brought this compilation of car crashes and cars striking pedestrians to the forefront.
Comments about the music, Radiohead'sKiller Cars, suggested someone decided to make a music video using car crashes as the focus. Why not? Right? What strikes me most, is the fact they used the live version of the song, so you can hear fans cheering them on as they perform or cheering on the drivers as they weave in and out traffic before coming face-to-face with their bitter end.
The Humber College presentation was very suitable for our subject here at Dead Sea Media and I would like to thank Cameron Bailey for taking his time to speak with me personally.
Watch out for another video compilation video soon by DSM. The video will compare images of death through history and how art and reality clash in modern times.
Talks between South Korea and the United States about a possible free trade agreement sparked a flurry of protests outside the hotel where delegates met.
One man set himself on fire and shouted "Stop the Korea-U.S. FTA" according to the New York Times. The man suffered third-degree burns all over his body. Below is a video of the man being extinguished and carried out by ambulance.
Burning Against War
This event invokes the memory of a photo that emerged from the American support of South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm. Buddhist monks were heavily involved in protesting the suppression. But in the early morning of June 11, 1963, two monks got out of a car, poured gasoline on Thích Quảng Đứcand set him ablaze. Quảng Đứcburned to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon, Vietnam.
I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being;his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think.... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him.
I've been asked a couple times whether I could have prevented the suicide. I could not. There was a phalanx of perhaps two hundred monks and nuns who were ready to block me if I tried to move. A couple of them chucked themselves under the wheels of a fire truck that arrived. But in the years since, I've had this searing feeling of perhaps having in some way contributed to the death of a kind old man who probably would not have done what he did — nor would the monks in general have done what they did — if they had not been assured of the presence of a newsman who could convey the images and experience to the outer world.
That same day the photo was shown to John F. Kennedy, soon after the American involvement with the Ngô Đình Diệm regime ended.
"I had my hands over my head, tears rolling down my cheeks and my heart was overwhelmed with grief" - Nabi Yaya Sesay, Sierra Leonean
"I recall that even at 6 years of age I understood that to many Texans it was a huge effort to show courtesy to this exotic fellow from the damnyankee north." - Keith Grantham, USA
"I was standing talking to my cousin Brian in the back yard of the school... Suddenly Jerry, one of the tougher young lads in the school, ran out from inside, halted next to Mr Desjardins and yelled, "Holy [f-word]! Kennedy's been shot!" - Jim Diamond, Canada
These are some reactions found on BBC's On This Day website. For many who were alive in 1963, most can say they remember where they were, what they were doing and how they reacted to such shocking and socially-ripping news. John F. Kennedy died 35 minutes after being shot during a Presidential parade down Elm St. in Dallas, Texas.
For those of you unaware of the events, here is a compilation video Dead Sea Media has put together, which includes available footage of the president before he was shot, the infamous Zapruder film of the bullets striking him and the chaos and confusion that occurred after. It can also be found on MetaCafe.
Abraham Zapruder's film was one of 14 known videos taken that day. The others are not as clear and as close to the action as Zapruder. All videos have been recovered except the one by a woman who can be seen in the Zapruder and Orville Nix films, nicknamed the "Babushka Lady" for the clothes she was wearing.
Lee Harvey Oswald was immediately accused of taking the fatal shots from his location in the Texas Schoolbook Depository, although there are a lot of evidence suggesting there were, in fact, two shooters. In any case, four separate US government investigations (including the Warren report) found him guilty of killing President Kennedy and officer J. D. Tippit.
However, five days before the Warren Report was issued by the United States government, and two days after JFK's assassination, Oswald himself was shot dead by a man named Jack Ruby(born Jacob Rubenstein) during a jail transfer. It was also caught on camera.
Rubentein was a Dallas Nightclub owner and had links to the mafia, but when he publicly shot and killed Oswald, Rubenstein claimed he was avenging President Kennedy's death.
The killing silenced Oswald and inspired much controversy and conspiracy theories into JFK's assassination.
President Reagan Assassination Attempt
On March 30, 1981 President Ronald Reagan had been president for a total of 70 days, when leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel was shot by John Hinckley Jr.
The last of Hinckley's six shots fired hit President Reagan under his left arm and barely missing his heart. He underwent emergency surgery and recovered quickly. Also injured was White House Press Secretary James Brady, police officer Thomas Delehanty and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy.
The events were captured by television network camera man and most recently CBS released the footage below showing the events during and after the shooting.
Death of a President
Do you remember where you were when President George W. Bush was killed?
The 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush was killed on October 19, 2007.
The fictional documentary Death of a Presidentby British director and writer Gabriel Rangecreated a movie based on this premise. Although criticized by media and the Texan Republican Party, it played off a true reality in any president may fear. Many US theatres refused to play it and the film was blasted by Senator Hilary Clinton.
Distributed in the US by Newmarket Films (who also distributed The Prestige and Monster) the film won the International Critics Prize at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival.
Below is the assassination sequence of President Bush, where the film used archive footage, CGI and and staged actors to complete the scene.
The scene lacks the impact an assassination attempt on a President should have. A sniper made the shot, and he died later in hospital. The film was more focused on the politics surrounding the killing than the moment Bush was killed. Surely, in today's online video age, there would be more video evidence of the shooting. More graphic and chaos is expected for the death of a president of Bush's stature. Even in 1963 there was 14 different films available used as evidence. Today, that number would at least double. There would be witnesses everywhere and footage would dominate television news all over the world.
Although we may never see another assassination so real and graphic as JFK's was, the web 2.0 video sharing age allows us access to the front-of-the-line and more frequently makes us witnesses to horrific violence and death everyday of our lives.
On January 19, 2007 Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist and editor, was killed by a young male on the streets of Istanbul in broad daylight. Outside the newspaper offices where he worked, Dink's body was covered by a white sheet and blood trail visible to the public.
Dink wrote a weekly column at Agos, a Turkish newspaper. Dink spoke out about the 1915 massacre of Armenians in which he claimed Turkish government refuse to recognize as genocide. In the months leading up to his assassination, Dink received multiple death threats and wrote about the fear he was living with in his final column.
Assassinated for Ideas
Dink's life was taken by the hands of a radical, a person who built up enough hate to kill him. He was first assassination of 2007, adding him to a long list of people killed for sharing their ideas and opinion.
Wikipedia has a list of people assassinated throughout history. The list is full of political figures including presidents, prime ministers, leaders of political parties, celebrities and, more recently, journalists.On that list are many individuals whose words and ideas could have prevented war, inspired peace and become legendary. Rather, they are known for their death and as victims of extreme measures of hate.
Mahatma Gandhi
Almost 60 years ago, on January 30, 1948 Gandhi was shot dead at point blank range by Nathuram Godse, an activist with a Hindu nationalist organization.Gandhi lived through his political visions of truth and non-violence, derived from strong spiritual and religious views. He condemned both World Wars and taught his followers his founding principles.
"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for". - Gandhi
Praised by many, Ghandi's killing came as a shock to the public. One of his biggest followers and first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, broadcasted this message on All India Radio on the day Ghandi was shot.
On January 31, 2007, Muni Jaitly, a young journalist sat down with his grandfather for CBCNews.com to talk about the assassination. Shri Dharam Jit Jigyasu was 33 when Gandhi was shot. By Jit Jigyasu's side at the public prayer was Godse, who, after bowing down and praising Gandhi, shot him three times. Jit Jigyasu says he held Gandhi in his arms as he died. See the interview below.
Inejiro was famous for speaking publicly about Socialism and economic and cultural opportunities. The footage of Yamaguchi's initial stabbing was later broadcast on national television and caused a strong rift between left and right wing politicians (see below).
Newspaper photographer Yasushi Nagao snapped the photo below as Yamaguchi withdrew the blade from his second stab. In 1961, Nagao won the Pulitzer Prize for the photograph.
Anwar Al Sadat
On October 6, 1981 during a victory parade in Cairo, Egyptian soldiers in a troop truck stopped in front of the Presidential stand. Sadat stood to receive his salute as air force jets flew overhead but instead, soldiers from inside the truck, emerged and threw grenades and fired rounds in Sadat's direction. Lead assassin, Khalid Islambouli, shouted "Death to Pharaoh!" as he ran towards the presidential stand and shot Sadat in the head. Seven others were killed in the attack as well as two of the attackers.
The soldiers were supporters of an Egyptian Islamist group who were against Sadat's peace talks with Israel. Sadat, since his presidential inception in 1970, sought for peace with Israel. However, after Israel refused to withdraw the land it captured during the six-day war, Sadat bulked up the Egyptian army and, along with Syria, surprise-attacked Israel on October 6, 1973 by crossing the cease-fire lines.
Sadat's initial victories restored Egyptian morale and renewed the nation's political significance. In November 1977, Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel and met with prime minister Menachem Begin to again discuss a permanent peace settlement between Egypt and Israel.
---------------------------------------- Tomorrow Dead Sea Media will bring you Assassinated: Part II - Presidents Killed. We will take a closer look at the murder of JFK and it's effects to mainstream media.
Photographs have an undeniable appeal. As if the camera takes advantage of the victims they shoot. But remember there is a person behind every camera taking that picture.
"The soft white underbelly of the net, eviscerated for all to see: Rotten dot com collects images and information from many sources to present the viewer with a truly unpleasant experience."
There are some disturbing pictures here and some may have you questioning your morals. But this is what you will not find in mainstream media, these are the hidden images people should see. Death is human, let us discuss it and not just fear it.
A northern Gaza sewage reservoir collapsed yesterday, sending rivers of human waste into a village, killing five people and destroying 200 homes.
The dead include two elderly women, two young children and a teenage girl, while hospital officials report 35 other injuries.
According to the Associated Press, rescue crews and Hamas gunmen scoured the flooded areas with paddle boats, in search of anyone that may have been buried. Others waded through the dirty water up to their hips.
Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh visited the village of Umm Naser but was welcomed by angry mobs and gunfire.
Gaza City Mayor Majid Abu Ramadan blamed residents of stealing dirt around the sewage basins so they can sell it to builders. However, with the population producing almost four times as much waste as treatment centers can treat, a large open sewer was built.
Here, mosquitoes breed and water-borne diseases develop. UN officials fear a public health disaster if more flooding occurs.
Iraqi Police Revenge Killings
Shiite militants and Iraqi police raided Sunni neighborhoods and homes in a northeastern part of Tal Afar Wednesday, killing around 60 people.
These acts of revenge come after insurgents blew up two trucks in Tal Afar yesterday killing at least 55 people and injuring 25 more. One bomb was hidden in a truck arriving at a market with a full load of food supplies. BBC reported.
According to hospital officials, the dead were men between the ages of 15-60 and shot in the back of the head.
According to the Associated Press, army troops have moved into the Sunni areas to stop the violence and a curfew was put on the town.
Dead Sea Media Commentary
In total over 100 people were killed in these cases of international death. Whether it be by a small village disaster caused by the flooding of human feces or large scale attacks on rival religious groups, many people have died.
Major news agencies in the world do not pay enough attention to these cases. The BBC article of the Iraqi attacks reads " Gunmen kill dozens in Iraqi town". The word "dozens" does not draw interest or read IMPORTANT. CNN tagged the story "Police accused in sectarian revenge killings" but does not stress how many people got killed. They are simply reporting it under the mask of an objective lens.
Sure international news coverage may not have the impact like local news stories will. In order for this "ideal" world of "peace and unity" to be reached people must develop their knowledge in the news around the world. Globalization of companies have made international relations more important than ever, so a unity of profit-making solutions are on most organization's agenda. Not a unity of peace.
Today Dead Sea Media will try and recap the events through video after Smith, 39, collapsed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida on February 8, 2007.
Perper said Smith died of "combined drug intoxication" with the sleeping medication chloral hydrate as the major factor. She mixed the drug with other prescribed drugs such as methadone for pain, Valium, as well as anti-bacterial medication.
Paramedics rushed Smith’s body to Memorial Hospital after she collapsed in the hotel lobby but was announced dead on arrival at 2:29. This video on YouTube shows the footage of the final moments her life, which sold for more than $500,000 after a media bidding war.
News broke on Fox News after her death was confirmed by her lawyer.
During the course of the day, Smith’s body was moved to the Medical Examiner’s wing of the hospital. This is where she was initially examined by Perper.
After her death, many people turned to her boyfriend, lawyer Howard K. Stern, for answers. ET had an exclusive interview with him a day after Smith’s death.
Almost immediately after Anna Nicole’s death, a battle for her remains was brought to Florida court. Anna Nicole’s estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, wanted her to be buried in Texas, while Stern, wanted her remains laid to rest in the Bahamas next to her son, Daniel. The matter was further complicated by ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead, who claims to be the father of Anna Nicole’s new born daughter, Dannielynn.
According to the BBC, Judge Larry Seidlin heard from all three of the key players, plus witnesses including a former bodyguard. On February 22, he awarded custody of Anna Nicole’s body to her daughter and her guardian, Attorney Richard Milstein.
Speculation grew when Anna Nicole’s death certificate was leaked online on February 28, which listed Howard K. Stern "Nominated Executor" rather than boyfriend or partner.
As well, the video below that shows Anna Nicole covered in clown makeup and tending to a baby doll in a stroller. Many people believe the person mocking her in the video is Stern, saying, “This footage is worth money”.
On March 2, and after three weeks after deliberation over her remains, Anna Nicole was given a funeral carried out in the Bahamas and her body was laid to rest next to her son. He mother was booed by the crowds of people after trying to appeal the judge’s decision.
The ordeal is not over yet for Stern and Birkhead who both battling custody of Dannielynn, each of claiming to be her father. As well, many celebrities and video sharing users are mocking the trials with parodies of the situation.
Below a video that reveals that OJ Simpson claims to the father. Now that’s just ludicrous. Many more comedy spoofs can be found on YouTube, MetaCafe, and DailyMotion.
Stern’s and Birkhead’s DNA has been tested, and after court proceedings on April 3 the public will finally know the father of Dannielynn.
The 2007 Cricket World Cup is currently being held in the West Indies. It started on March 19, 2007 and will run until the final championship match on April 28, 2007.
This year, over 100,000 people are expected to make the visit to the islands hosting the games. So far, two unexpected powerhouses in Pakistan and India have been eliminated in the first round.
On March 18, 2007, a day after Pakistan's loss to Ireland, eliminating them from the tournament, their coach Bob Woolmer was found dead at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica.
After initial specualtion that the death was related to Woolmer's health (he was a type 2 diabetic and suffered from breathing problems), Jamaican Police announced he was strangled. His body was found in his hotel room, where he lay half-naked with only a towel on.
Now treating the incident as a murder, a Jamaican police officer told the Jamaican Gleaner "A bone in the neck, near the glands, was broken, and this suggests that somebody might have put some pressure on it."
There is speculation people involved in match-fixing were at the heart of the murder, but Woolmer's wife Gill denied these claims. "He had nothing to do with the match-fixing controversy and any such person being involved is highly unlikely. We never got any threats as far as I know"
Police interviewed and collected fingerprints and DNA samples from the entire Pakistan cricket team before letting them leave the country on March 24.
A Time magazine article focuses on the scandals Cricket has been involved in recently. Simon Robinson writes,
"Cricket is neither gentle nor even that noble these days. Over the past decade international cricket has been shaken by a series of scandals — match fixing, doping, illegal bowling actions (a cricket ball must be delivered with a straight arm; a bent elbow as in baseball's pitching action is impermissible) — that have sandpapered away much of the honor and decency that the game once embodied."
In the article, Robinson mentions that Woolmer was working on a book in which some commentators speculate would expose match-fixing within the Pakistani team.
The Associated Pressreported that authorities said there was no sign of forced entry, suggesting Woolmer likely knew the killer or killers.
Police are currently analyzing security cameras from the hotel to get a better idea of who was on the same floor as Woolmer's room at the time of the murder
A British man video streamed his hanging on a online chat room service, his body was found by police late Wednesday.
London's Times Online (also see London Lite's online story) described the course of action in their lead:
"Kevin Whitrick logged on to an internet chat room and announced that he was going to commit suicide. He then switched on his webcam, stood on a chair, smashed through his ceiling to expose a joist, tied a rope around his neck and hanged himself."
Whitrick created a chatroom group on the chatting service Paltalk.com called "kels FRIENDLY insult chat for evrbody [sic]". This type of "insult" chat room would be set up for people to join and insult each other with no hard feelings.
Whitrick, a 42-year-old electrical engineer from Wellington, England, was logged in with about 50 other chatters in room that combines people chatting via text, microphone or web cam. As Whitrick (whose Paltalk user name was shyboy_17_1and has almost 11,000 views) revealed his suicide plan when he stood on a chair, tore into his ceiling to reveal a joist and tied the rope around his neck, some users "egged" him on while others tried to convince him to stop. Whitrick is a father of two twin girls, but it was believed he was depressed after suffering serious injuries in a car accident in July 2006 and recently divorcing from his wife, Paula. He was also distraught from the recent death of his father.
Below is a picture leaked on LiveLeak captured by paltalk.com user puma121, whose profile lists as a 50-year-old male from Ireland. The capture shows Whitrick hanging from the rope while some disturbing comments on the left hand side show people's encouragement, concern and ignorance.
User GNAW_HER_BATTIE (no profile posted on Paltalk) comment was "Get done in ass hole" "itll help".
User KEL29 (a 41-year-old Male from the UK) said "call the police".
User angelofthenorth38_1 (a 57-year-old female widow from the UK) said "hope hes insured" "lol".
Although a chatter in the chat room did call Wellington police, who did not reach the man's house in time to resuscitate him, the lack of concern by most of the users is disturbing. Do people find online chat services act as "escape" from their real lives? Or is there a desensitization towards suicide in today's society?
Suicide rates of the men in the UK are falling according to Great Britain government statistics website. However, since 1997 the highest rates have been in the 15-44 age group.
Other Cases
This is not the first case of a live web cam-streaming suicide. The biggest case is of and has almost 11,000 views) revealed his suicide plan when he stood on a chair, tore into his ceiling to reveal a joist and tied the rope around his neck, some users "egged" him on while others tried to convince him to stop.
Brandon Vedas, who, on January 12, 2003 died of a overdose on prescription drugs while streaming his web-cam to a chat room on IRC. In this case, fellow chatters cheered him on while he overdosed on Klonopin, Restoril and a large amount of Methadone (used for the treatment of a narcotic addiction).
BradonVedas.com was set up by Bradon's brother Rich Vedas. On the site he sheds light on what happened that night by making the chat logs available to the public as well as describing how the people involved could have helped.
Rich Vedas said in an interview, "It seems like the group mentality really contributed to it. These people treat it like somehow it's not the real world. They forget it's not just words on a screen."
This incident raised concerns about the responsibility of online chatting services, but little has been done.
In Whitrick's case, chat room moderators on Paltalk closed the feed from his webcam once he was dangling from ceiling overhead.
In the 1970's Jim Jones led his followers of the People's Temple to a remote area surrounded by forest in Guyana and settled in a place they called Jonestown.
Jones preached anti-communist messages under an affiliation of the Disciples of Christ, gaining more and more support, especially from the working poor. In the 1970's, the church began a plan of relocation, where People's Temple members moved to the site in Guyana and began building. Jones himself moved to the site in 1977, where 900 others joined him.
Published in Newsweek
The people were dedicated to the group, bringing them a sense of belonging and a "meaningful" life.
On random nights, Jones would call out "White Night" over the speaker phone, calling all the members to the pavilion (a tent-covered area where he gave sermons). During these "white nights", Jones and his followers would rehearse a mass suicide.
On November 18, 1978 Jones would call out the final "white night". That day, over 900 people (including over 200 children) would be killed or give their lives willingly on the command of Jones himself.
Weeks earlier, democratic Congressman Leo Ryan traveled to Guyana on a plane with 18 other people, including government officials, reporters, and members of the group "Concerned Relatives of Peoples Temple Members". All had joined in visiting the settlement, with the motive to ensure people were not being held against their will, and bring those who wanted to leave back home to San Fransisco.
Two days after landing, on Novermber 17, 1978, and after a few legal battles with the Jonestown lawyers and Jones himself, Ryan and the team of reporters were allowed to visit.
During this visit, only a few dozen people expressed their wish to leave. For many of them, this meant leaving other family members behind.
Jones was enraged by the "deserters" and, unknowing to the other faithfuls, ordered some of the loyal Temple members to follow the truck of deserters and shoot to kill anyone boarding the planes. These men were successful in killing Congressman Ryan, some of the reporters and deserters, while others ran and hid in the surrounding jungle.
Back at the pavilion, loyal doctors and nurses of the church mixed cyanide and Valium into a tub of grape-flavored juice. Children were forced the mix through injections into their mouths and many adults had to be forced as well, while others drank the juice willingly.
Jones did not kill himself willingly, he had to be shot by one of his loyalists.
Below is a video from YouTube, showing many pictures and video never seen in the public eye before.
This is the cover of Time magazine on December 14, 1978.
Below is a trailer for the film, nominated for three awards, as it is seen on YouTube.
Cineflix, based in Montreal, Quebec produced the docudrama Jonestown: Paradise Lost, which mixes recreated drama with archival footage of the events and interviews close members, including Jim Jones' son Stephan Jones. The docudrama aired in the US on the History Channel and on Vision TV in Canada, earlier this month.
Today I begin a series of posts on a sub-topic of death that may seem unknown to some readers. Mass suicides are tragic events that leave the media dumbfounded in its coverage and even now, years after many of these events have taken place, are given very little attention.
Heaven's Gate
Ten years ago, over two days (March 22-23, 1997) 39 members of this infamous cult committed suicide at a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California where the members lived and learned the teachings of the "Next Level" above human existence.
To pay for their living and learning expenses the members ran a successful web development enterprise based out of the mansion.
The decision to end their lives and free their soul from their human form (or what they called their "vehicles") came after a comet (Hale-Bopp) got too close to Jupiter, which altered the comet’s orbit so that it would return every 2,000 years. Within the comet's tail of dust and space matter, conspiracy theorists saw the presence of a UFO. Marshall Herff Applewhite (known to followers as DO), leader of the cult and the self-proclaimed second-coming of Jesus Christ, saw this as the indicator for them to leave their existence on Earth behind. A "Red Alert" message flashed across the top of the group's website, indicating their time had come.
On the first day, the first 15 members ate applesauce or pudding mixed with Phenobarbital and drank vodka - a deadly mix that first knocks a person unconscious, they then slip into a coma and, eventually, their circular-system collapses - which killed them slowly, but painlessly. The second day, 15 more performed the same passage, then seven and then the final two.
Followers made "Exit videos" just days before the mass suicide and below is one of those videos. The second video is Applewhite's (or DO) "Exit video" explaining why the time to leave is now. Click here for more videos.
Click here for San Diego County Sheriff's Department tape of the scene where several bodies, dressed with Nike shoes and draped with purple cloth, lay in their mansion beds. Below is footage from a 1997 news report leaked on LiveLeak.
Sole Survivor Comes Forward Again
Just before the events in 1997, one member had an strong feeling, a feeling that he was not supposed to join his fellow followers in the "Next Life". Rio DiAngelo went to DO and shared with him the feelings he was having, similar in strength to the one that lead him to Heaven's Gate. DO felt this was a sign, a sign that he must stay behind and inform the media with the message and an understanding.
In 1994, it was this article in LA Weekly on the cult, known back then as "The Overcomers" lead by Applewhite and his wife Bonnie Lu Nettles, who died of cancer in 1985 (it was believed she was on the spaceship on her quest to retrieve the others) that lead Rio to the cult. So, earlier this week he went back to the same publication that lead him in the right direction before, to drop off a package of new information and contact in order for the paper to reach him.
Yesterday, Joshuah Bearman wrote an article in LA Weekly after speaking to Rio once more. Rio would not speak unless a prepared declaration was published which read,
“I am alive not because I rejected anything about Heaven’s Gate.
“I am alive because I have discovered something so extraordinarily important to the world that it needs to pass on to you in its most true and accurate form from ME.”
Rio still believes in the following of the cult and is not trying to force anyone to believe him. He is simply doing his job as the messenger. He wrote a book called "Beyond Human Mind – the Soul Evolution of Heaven’s Gate". Click here to read the statement of Rio DiAngelo as it was included in the information package delivered to LA Weekly.
Below is a video documentary directed by Sergio Meyers as found on YouTube. The documentary uses video taken by Rio of the dead members lying in their beds after "exiting", taken before the police arrived at the scene. As well, it uses video of the class's various field trips for us to get a better understanding of it all. Enjoy!
The country of Somalia has been plagued by political chaos over the past few years. Yesterday, that chaos brought back memories of the "Black Hawk Down" incident of 1993.
Fifteen people, including several soldiers of Somalia's transitional government and Ethiopia, were killed in the capital of Mogadishu after the soldiers convened in a neighborhood south of the city to disarm the gunmen. According to the New York Times article witnesses said, they were greeted by dozens of masked insurgents who blasted them with rocket-propelled grenades.
Bodies of the soldiers were grabbed by a crowd and dragged into the streets. Soldier's bodies, some still alive, were poured with gasoline and lit on fire as crowds chanted, "We will burn you alive!"
Somalia is a nation comprised of many clans and clan rivalries. Mogadishu alone is home to several of them. The transitional government is a multi-clan enterprise, but dominated by the Darod clan. This majority has marginalized many branches of the Hawiye clan, which traditionally controls Mogadishu.
When the Islamist movement in Somalia began there was a better sense of security and less violence. However, the US regarded the Islamist movement a terrorist threat and provided Ethopia with intelligence and a small amount of ground troops to overthrow them.
Since then, hospital officials in Somalia say more than 100 civilians have been killed in the past two months and that assasinations are on the rise.
Below is the North American Al-Jazeera news report on the events that took place yesterday.
The scene was similar to the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu which involved US troops and Somalian military and citizens and where two bodies of fallen US soldiers were dragged in the streets. Two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by rocket-propelled grenades and 18 US soldiers were killed in the battle. In 2001 Jerry Bruckheimer produced the movie Black Hawk Down based off the 1999 book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War written by Mark Bowden.
When searching "Battle of Mogadishu" on YouTube and sorted by number of view, this fan-made music tribute video by user leoleonardo is the first result. The video is compiled of clips from the Hollywood film and is, by nature of the film, very violent.
The problem here is it promotes a film, a Hollywood-made production that provides the audience with drama and entertainment instead of an educational understanding of the events. YouTube does not provide Internet users an easily accessed visual understanding of historical events that lead up to these situations in Somalia.
This is raw footage taken by Somalis in the 1993 attacks.
