I drink the kool-aid

[AstaLaVista]

I have seen this more than once on this forum.. what does it mean? ( not to sound too stupid I hope )  :-?

[Brewman]

Generally speaking, it means to blindly accept something without considering it for youself.   Somewhat parallel to brain washing.  

I think it first came out when Jim Jones got all those people who followed him to Jonestown (Guyana?) to committ suicide by drinking Kool-Aid laced with cyanide.

That was maybe in the late 1970's.

[AstaLaVista]

ahhh okay.. I thought it might be something like that... thanks for the enlightenment!  

[Vanguard]

Many times Hot Spring dealers are said to have drunk the Kool-Aid.  This is in reference to the folks down in Jonestown when they drank the Kool-Aid given to them by their leader, Jim Jones.  A somewhat morbid way of saying they fully believe in their brand.

Of course Jim Jones is said to have brainwashed his followers into thinking they had to kill themselves and tested them by giving them non-poisonous "kool-aid."  Then, after an investigation had started, he went through with the mass suicide/murder.  Nice, huh?

[Richs100]

It tastes like grape.


 

[Brewman]

Many times Hot Spring dealers are said to have drunk the Kool-Aid.  This is in reference to the folks down in Jonestown when they drank the Kool-Aid given to them by their leader, Jim Jones.  A somewhat morbid way of saying they fully believe in their brand.

Of course Jim Jones is said to have brainwashed his followers into thinking they had to kill themselves and tested them by giving them non-poisonous "kool-aid."  Then, after an investigation had started, he went through with the mass suicide/murder.  Nice, huh?

That whole suicide thing was just plain nasty.  He had to chase down dozens of his cult members who wouldn't take the cyanide, and used a syringe to force it down their gullets.  He also had several non cult memebers killed by gunshot when they were in the process of flying back to the states after their investigation of his cult.
Nasty business.  
Photos were in Newsweek, etc.... and were totally gruesome.

[Richs100]

I beleive that when Congressman Leo Ryan was gunned down on the tarmac at Jonestown, it was the first and only time a member of Congress has died while performing the duties of his or her office.  

(A couple of them have gotten hernias from lifting a suitcase of money, but no one has died from it)

[Micah]

Most sales people on this board firmly belive in the product they sell.  About a year and a half ago one salesman took it a little to far by implying that the product he sold was "perfect" and they never had warranty problems.  At that point I made a comment that "he needed to lay off the Kool Aid".   Terminator then followed it up with a Kool Aid man with a H.S. logo on his chest.  I was refering to the brainwashing, not the mass suicide.
The comment was meant to be light hearted.  If anyone feels it is morbid or of bad taste I appoligize.  

[Richs100]

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the expression.  It seems it pre-dates Jim Jones....

From Wikipedia:
The idiomatic expression, “drinking the Kool-Aid”, was originally a reference to the Merry Pranksters, a group of people associated with novelist Ken Kesey who, in the early 1960s, travelled around the United States and held events called “Acid Tests”, where LSD-laced Kool-Aid was passed out to the public (LSD was legal at that time). Those who drank the “Kool-Aid” passed the “Acid Test”. “Drinking the Kool-Aid” in that context meant accepting the LSD drug culture, and the Pranksters’ “turned on” point of view. These events were described in Tom Wolfe’s 1968 classic, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.[4]

It is also now closely associated with the 1978 cult suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, convinced his followers to move to Jonestown. Late in the year, he then ordered his flock to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Flavor Aid laced with potassium cyanide. In what is now commonly called the "Jonestown Massacre," a large majority of the 913 people later found dead drank the brew. (The discrepancy between the idiom and the actual occurrence is likely due to Flavor Aid's relative obscurity, compared to the easily recognizable Kool-Aid.) The precise expression can be attested in usage at least as early as 1987[4]. One lasting legacy of the Jonestown tragedy is the saying, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid." This has come to mean, "Don’t trust any group you find to be a little on the kooky side," or "Whatever they tell you, don't believe it too strongly."[5] It seems to be in this sense that commentator Bill O'Reilly uses the expression. He calls those who disagree with him "Kool-Aid drinkers" when he wants to imply that they accept an incorrect point of view without question, or that they have no understanding of the facts or reality of a situation.

[Vanguard]

Trust me Micah, the Kool-Aid reference to Hot Spring has been around much longer than that.  That was not the first reference to Hot Spring dealers drinking Kool-Aid.  

The other reference is that Hot Spring dealers bleed Teal Green.  That is in reference to one of the colors in their logo.

[Spatech_tuo]

Most sales people on this board firmly belive in the product they sell.  About a year and a half ago one salesman took it a little to far by implying that the product he sold was "perfect" and they never had warranty problems.  At that point I made a comment that "he needed to lay off the Kool Aid".   Terminator then followed it up with a Kool Aid man with a H.S. logo on his chest.  I was refering to the brainwashing, not the mass suicide.
The comment was meant to be light hearted.  If anyone feels it is morbid or of bad taste I appoligize.  

I think everyone understands the term has become about as generic as calling an adhesive bandage a Band-aid® and besides, I'd venture to guess the term was probably used many times before then on this site since its so common. In fact, I think Al Gore first came up back in the 60's right around the time he was perfecting the deep fried Twinkie®.

[orbitaljoe]

 the term has become about as generic as calling an adhesive bandage a Band-aid® .

Or as they do in these parts...
Call all hot tubs "Jacuzzis"
That's gotta be tough on the HS dealers

*** Hey, a buddy of mine just bought one a them Hot Springs Jacuzzis ***

[IlliniFan]

They are pretty much all Jacuzzi's here as well.  Of course, I will also offer you a coke, even though it might be pepsi.

[Vanguard]

Or as they do in these parts...
Call all hot tubs "Jacuzzis"
That's gotta be tough on the HS dealers

*** Hey, a buddy of mine just bought one a them Hot Springs Jacuzzis ***

I beg to differ.  I'd think it is harder on Jacuzzi.  They are the company with the name that is used as a generic.

Can you say Cellophane?  Used to be a brand name, now generic.  Can you say Scotch Tape?  Same thing.

If I were Jacuzzi, I'd make a bigger deal than they do.

If I sold hot tubs and and someone asked me if I sold jacuzzis, I'd say, yep, I sell the _____________ brand.

Most folks would never know the difference.

[Brewman]

 Al Gore first came up back in the 60's right around the time he was perfecting the deep fried Twinkie®.

Well he needed something to do prior to inventing the internet.