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| Mitch's Mind: The U.S. vs John Lennon |
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 I just watched the U.S. vs John Lennon on DVD and it made me sad. It made me sad for my country because we're suffering the same kind of nightmare again. It made me sad for the ignorance of our so-called leaders (both past and present), the fear that ignorance produces, and the violence that fear ultimately unleashes on innocent people both at home and abroad. I actually got choked up at one point during this DVD, not because I was sad actually, but because I thought it was really beautiful (can real men use that word?) that John Lennon was able to inspire such noble tendencies in so many people at once with songs lilke "All You Need Is Love","Revolution", "Working Class Hero", "Give Peace A Chance", "Happy Christmas (War Is Over If You Want It) "Gimme Some Truth", "Instant Karma" and on and on.
Click "read more" below.
At the time it was going on I was a bit too young to really understand the implications of what he was saying and doing, what with the bed-ins and "bagism" and ultimately causing the Michigan Supreme Court so much embarassment that they reversed themselves and set John Sinclair free (he was doing ten years for giving two joints to an undercover cop). But in retrospect, and contrasted with everything that's going on in America since 9/11, Lennon's legacy seems truly inspired.
We need inspirational messengers like Lennon; fearless and unconcerned with how it will reflect on their "image" or their financial future. We need heroes who will speak truth to power, not because it will get them on the weekend talk-shows or sell a million books or get them elected, but because it's the right and decent thing to do. Lennon blew kisses to the merchants of death, lies and war (Nixon, Kissinger, J. Edgar Hoover, G. Gordon Liddey, among others....Cheney, Rumsfeld; they were there too) because he knew that we could NEVER achieve peace by promoting violence. That hated him for that and tried to run him out of the country.
By the way, why is it that lovers and peacemakers are always considered the enemy of the state and organized religion? Do you remember the vitriol and venom spewed at Cindy Sheehan for wanting to end the senseless war that killed her son? Man, there's really something wrong with that shit. It's that patriarchal fear of weakness that brings out the absolute worst in some people. They're convinced the minute they let down their guard the world is going to roll them for everything they've got and leave them bleeding in the gutter - because secretly, that's what they would do if given the chance - and do when given the votes and the weapons. I think that's called "projection".
Anyway, I wonder, since our present situation has so many parallels with the Viet Nam era, how will we the people, the dismayed majority, honor those who risked their ass to say and do what was right? How will we honor those who got their heads bashed in by jack-booted thugs weilding night sticks and pepper spray? How will we honor those who were murdered at Kent State for excercising their constitutional right to protest an unjust war? How will we honor those who demostrated to their elected officials that they were mad as hell and they weren't going to take it anymore?
We'll watch the DVD, ruminate on it a bit, post a blog or two, and then go back to our lives and jobs as usual. We're simply too busy to deal with all that right now.
During the early part of the documentary, Lennon says, "Apathy isn't it. We can DO SOMETHING!" It seems we've forgotton that lesson - much to our own peril. - Mitch
P.S. IMAGINE what the world would look like if we spent a trillion dollars a year making peace.
P.P.S. Seems the middle east could use their own John Lennon. Can you IMAGINE a figure who could inspire Sunnis and Shia to use non-violence to achieve their ends? Yusef Islam perhaps? I don't think even he is quite that brave.
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Re: Mitch's Mind: The U.S. vs John Lennon (Score: 1)
by wiki on Thursday, June 28, 2007 @ 17:31:47 MDT
(User Info | Send a Message | Journal) http://www.myspace.com/old27 | I'll have to rent this movie. I wanted to see it when it came to the theatres but missed it.
yeah, I think the US Government had John Lennon killed because they feared his power of uniting people for a cause. |
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