My response to a guest editorial on Oregon Live.
John Lennon said it best (scroll down for my response)
FYI… “Comments” feature should now be available on my site.
I am a big fan of the Beatles, but the band as a whole was bigger than the sum of their parts. The warm-fuzzy Ms. McDevitt feels for “Imagine” is fine and good, but Lennon as a drug-addled solo lyricist and performer was a far cry from his collaborative efforts with the Fab Four.
Somewhere in there, rock ‘n’ roll gave way to soft-rock. The philosophy advocated in the this song is indeed “simplistic” and though Lennon sponsors a world free of judgment, this relativistic and effortless way of thinking and acting is precisely the problem.
Sitting around contemplating a life free of worry, though, in Lennon’s case, with needle and spoon in hand, is no way to gain credibility as a social philosopher.
I’d agree with her premise that commercialism has put a bit of a negative spin on the holiday season. But no possessions? I’d like to think of at least the shirt on my back as something of mine. In this bi-polar world of socialism versus capitalism, it is bizarre that the Marxist-influenced ideology still pervades and that we are not to own anything. Is not a free society based on the ability to own and achieve? The irony here is that John Lennon was pulling down gobs of money while writing this tripe.
I’d like to see hunger eliminated and war wiped off the face of the Earth, too. But this takes much more than imagining. Hunger exists because folks don’t have access to food. It takes effort to open up that channel. War exists because humans are imperfect and have rather violent proclivities–no matter how much our society wants to closet them. Ignoring the violent nature of man and simply imagining peace is no way to solve problems.
So, are the lack of concrete principles and the paucity of morality really the way to go? Shall this nihilistic way triumph?
The song is melodic and easy to listen to–a soft-rock staple–but the call to love one another is much deeper than the Lennon’s version here. Love is active, not a “sentiment” and not just hugging. It requires giving of oneself, not just getting along with the next person on a superficial level.
I don’t like to be a killjoy, but if this song is the “base essential of living for today,” it is a troubling world.
