# Does bin Laden remind anyone else of Jim Jones? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 18, 2001, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-bin-laden-remind-anyone-else-of-jim-jones/82446 "2001-09-18T19:47:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enore\_Tsotset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Enore\_Tsotset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enore_Tsotset)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-bin-laden-remind-anyone-else-of-jim-jones/82446/1 "2001-09-18T19:47:38Z")
I’ve been bombarded with his image on CNN for the last few minutes and it got me thinking. He looks charming and resonable, but we know he’s out of his gourd. That reminds me of Jim Jones… Ladentown? Osamaville? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-bin-laden-remind-anyone-else-of-jim-jones/82446/2 "2001-09-18T19:59:24Z")
YES!!! Goddammit, yes! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-bin-laden-remind-anyone-else-of-jim-jones/82446/3 "2001-09-18T20:15:26Z")
Eh, not really. Pic. [http://www.rickross.com/groups/jonestown.html](http://www.rickross.com/groups/jonestown.html) He’s the one who is not Linda Rondstadt’s boyfriend. More pix. [http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown/pics.html](http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown/pics.html) Looks like a short, tubby record producer to me. Sorry, other than the fact that they’re both fairly swarthy, I don’t see much of a resemblance to a tall, thin, fiery-eyed self-appointed Messiah. 😃 No doubt you’re thinking of Powers Boothe? [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1009071/about.php](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1009071/about.php) He’s the one who is not James Earl Jones. ---
**Author:** ![Enore\_Tsotset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Enore\_Tsotset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enore_Tsotset)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-bin-laden-remind-anyone-else-of-jim-jones/82446/4 "2001-09-18T20:19:19Z")
I meant in character, presence and demenor, not in actual physical apperance… ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-bin-laden-remind-anyone-else-of-jim-jones/82446/5 "2001-09-19T03:56:54Z")
Overall, I think the Rev. Jim Jones was a man of better character than Osama Bin Laden. That’s not saying a whole lot, but I think it’s true. Jones did do some good things before he became criminally insane. He provided a hopeful message of racial tolerance and social justice to many, but ultimately gave into his darker side and in the final years, was a paranoid control freak and hypocrite. By contrast, Bin Laden has spent his life blowing through the family fortune by devising new ways to blow people up. I heard a rumor somewhere that when Jones was a politically powerful figure in San Francisco, he once lobbied the City Council to increase the height of the rails along the Golden Gate Bridge, as a means to lessen a spate of suicide jumps from the bridge. If that’s true, it’s a rather eerie irony. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-bin-laden-remind-anyone-else-of-jim-jones/82446/6 "2001-09-19T04:32:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Philosophocles \* > **Overall, I think the Rev. Jim Jones was a man of better character than Osama Bin Laden…** BWAAH HAH HAH… [_falls off computer chair laughing and forgets to read the rest of the post_] [sub]no, no, I’m okay, really[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Payne\_N.Diaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Payne\_N.Diaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payne_N.Diaz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-bin-laden-remind-anyone-else-of-jim-jones/82446/7 "2001-09-19T21:58:26Z")
Who he reminds me of is James Earl Jones in “Conan the Barbarian.” Remember the scene where Ahnie meets the evil king guy (JEJ), and said king motions one of his followers on the hillside to come on down, and the girl throws herself off the cliff? That’s bin Ladin, except his guys have bombs strapped to their butts. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-bin-laden-remind-anyone-else-of-jim-jones/82446/8 "2001-09-19T22:30:13Z")
Well, I guess for that matter, Darth Vader…