How do you think Jim Jones was able to manipulate so many individuals and eventually lead them to commit mass suicide?

The Jonestown Massacre was a cult related mass suicide taking place during the 1970s, revealing the darker side of fringe social groups taking root in US society. How do you think Jim Jones was able to manipulate so many individuals and eventually lead them to commit mass suicide? Do you think such groups are inevitable in a free society or are there ways to reduce the number of such cults? If so, how? Make sure the writing assignment is one page in length, double spaced.