I’ve heard this reference, but don’t understand it. Couldn’t find it in a quick web search. Enlighten me please.
“Drinking the koolaid” = Jonestown Mass Suicide reference.
“Blue” = color associated with Democrats.
Just a WAG, but I assume it’s a variation of the “Drinking the Kool-Aid” cliche (from the Jonestown Massacre (although that wasn’t actually Kool-Aid)). And blue is the color of democrats these days.
Remember when the dems were commies and commies were red? Ah, for simpler times.
Jim Jones was a cult leader in Guyana who persuaded hundreds of followers to drink poisoned Kool-Aid[sup]TM[/sup] with him to commit suicide en masse. (They may have thought this was an exercise in faith and did not really expect to die, since he had done this before without real poison.) Since then, “drink the Kool-Aid” has meant to buy whatever the leaders are selling without applying any critical thought.
It still doesn’t make any sense to me. A letter in the paper today made a reference to “blue Kool-Aid drinking liberals”. Why would liberals be associated with suicide or Kool-Aid? And why would the drink have to be blue? Or is it saying blue liberals who drink Kool-Aid? And why would anyone care what they drink? Why would Kool-Aid make one more liberal? It’s stupid and it makes my head hurt; maybe that’s the whole purpose.
A near simulpost. I remember the Guyana mess, but I still don’t see why this has now become attached to the left, since both sides seem to be equally gullible.
It’s not attached to Liberals, it just happens to be used against Liberals in this case.
“blue Kool-Aid drinking liberals” = non-thinking liberals following the “blue” party line.
It means what it means - language (particularly expressions like these) don’t follow logic so trying to dissect it or read more meaning into it is a waste of time.
Let’s try to spell it out a little more clearly:
As explained with the Jim Jones references, the Kool-Aid refers to the method he used to kill his followers. They foolishly acted on complete faith in their leader, whose motives were impure and who was taking advantage of people who trusted him. They drank the Kool-Aid as instructed and the consquences were dire.
Thus, the modern-day allusion is to political leaders who lead their followers astray and the people who blindly accept whatever they are told and do as instructed. To say that someone “drank the Kool-Aid” implies that he foolishly took his political leader’s statements and instructions without questioning or criticizing or trying to think for himself. The phrase suggests, of course, that the political leader in question is wrong, even dangerously so.
The “blue” is merely a reference to the fact that blue is now the color associated with democrats (from the blue and red states shown on voting result maps). The speaker is talking about democrats “drinking the Kool-Aid” and trying to be even more cutesy by calling it blue Kool-Aid.
So it’s not really about actual Kool-Aid or what anyone actually drinks. It’s just a trite, arch reference that people use when they think they’re being clever and insightful.
Hence the word “blue” sandwiched in there.
-joe
Actually, Jones used grape Flavor Aid.
Certainly. An article from the other end of the spectrum would bash “red Kool-Aid drinking neo-cons”.
From the “Eminent Domain - Give Bush Some Credit” thread:
From In the Pockets of the Saudis:
From Were Nazi Death Camp guards any more “evil” than Gitmo guards?"
From RFK Jr. files whistleblower suit against Dieblod
It’s a nice little bit of ad hominem: by calling someone a “Kool Aid drinker”, you’re insinuating that they don’t think for themselves, but instead are perfectly happy swallowing what their leaders hand to them, no matter how self-destructive or poisonous it is; just like they did at Jonestown.
Calling it “blue Kool Aid” is probably just trying to reinforce that it’s following the Democratic Party leaders that you’re talking about.
Thank you. As a former editor and fact-checker, it drives me slightly bonkers when people refer to “drinking the Kool-Aid.”
I imagine it drives the good folks at Kool-Aid slightly bonkers, too.
Actually it wouldn’t need the “red”. “Drinking the Kool-aid” is a common phrase on liberal websites to describe the behavior of conservatives of all stripes. It’s been widely used in the blogosphere for years. It’s interesting that the other side is starting to pick it up and use it.
Some Conservative/Right and/or Republican talk-show hosts, with much broader audiences than the Left, made the “Kool Aid” references popular, so that no matter who ‘started it’, it is safe to say that conservatives like Rush and Bill “I never said I was a Conservative” O’Reilly are most responsible for pushing the lingo into pop culture.
Sure, but now I must know how much cash the cult saved by buying the cheap knockoff instead of quality branded goods.
“Drinking the blue Flavor Aid” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
I don’t think this phrase was particularly associated with any particular leaning in the past. For example, a “The West Wing” episode titled “Manchester Part II” which initially aired on October 17, 2001 (rebroadcast in 2002), used the phrase to refer to the Democrats who actively worked in Bartlet’s first presidential campaign. The show was produced (and the episode written) by the self-avowed active liberal democrat Aaron Sorkin, and was watched by an estimated 17 million viewers each week in the 2001-2002 TV season. Though the show didn’t explain the reference, the audience didn’t seem to have any difficulty understanding.
Going back to its roots, I think it had a strong subtext of “cult of personality” which is either lost or d-emphasized today and in this thread. I recall the term, and the concept it embodied, being applied to the Administrations of both Democrat Jimmy Carter (who was president during the tragedy itself) and Republican Ronald Reagan (his successor) – both considered themselves ideological reformers with a strong faith-based following and had staffs with strong personal loyalty to the President. I don’t have any specific recollection of it being applied to the elder President Bush (not best known for his personal following) but I the same sentiments were bruited about the inner circle of the Clinton Administration.
I think the “cult of personality” subtext --completely befitting the Rev. Jim Jones metaphor-- is the key. That charge is best laid at the feet of those in power, and for six years, that’s been the Republicans. The prospect of a shift in power has made the Democrats a more suitable target for this particular metaphor. I’d expect the predominant color of the kool-aid to follow the party of each Administration, with a frequency of use related to its relative power, along with the personal charisma and mass support of each individual President.
It’s been used apolitically as business jargon for even longer, for example: “if you don’t drink the six-sigma kool-aid, you can’t get a job there.”
“Drinking the kool-aid” == “having a cultish belief in something”
Now that we’ve flogged this one to death, maybe we can set straight the politico-jargon use of the word “mantra”?