Someone a Little More Real

Coming to the conclusion that the media, as a powerful tool has caused much of the breakdown, and confusion of today's society, lead me to the search of positive outcomes of media events. John Lennon's participation in the peace movement, his words of wisdom through music, and his dedication to make a differnce have both overwhelmed and touched me, and left me thankful for his courage.

John Lennon, “ The politically most active rock star of his generation... was shot dead outside his own home by a killer who was merely a tool, a human gun used and controlled by others to destroy a uniquely powerful radical figure who was likely to prove a rallying point for mass opposition to the policies soon to be implemented... by the new United States government headed by Richard Nixon.”
Lennon brought millions to join in the promotion of peace and the protest of government policies. He traveled the world promoting peace through his music and promotional “bed-ins” where he and his wife Yoko would stay in bed for weeks at a time, letting their hair grow, until peace came. Opposing war, Lennon's political activism can be seen in songs such as, “Give Peace a Chance," "Power to the People,""Working Class Hero."and “War is Over if you Want it.”


Imporatnt lyrics to note:
"Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV. And you think you're so clever and classless and free. But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see"

In an interview published in Rolling Stone , Lennon states that “The people who are in control and in power, and the class system and the whole bullshit bourgeois scene is exactly the same except that there are a lot of middle-class kids with long hair walking around in trendy clothes... The same bastards are in control, the same people are runnin' everything... They're doing exactly the same things, selling arms to South Africa, killing blacks on the street, people are living in fucking poverty with rats crawling all over them. It's the same. It just makes you puke."

Lennon created “Bagism,” which can be understood by the equation:"Love + Peace = Bagism." The physical act of putting yourself in a bag, which he and Yoko demonstrated, teaches you to “slow down the rhythm of the world, to make it peaceful.” Lennon says we’re all in our own bags and we “… come out and look at each other every now and then, but we don’t communicate. If people did interviews for jobs in a bag they wouldn’t get turned away because they were black or green or long hair, you know, it’s total communication.”

Acting as a propagandist, Lennon describes selling peace like a product: “…like people sell soap or soft drinks, you know, and the only way to get people aware that peace is possible, and it isn’t just inevitable to have violence, not just war - all forms of violence. People just accept it and think ‘oh they did it, or Harold Wilson (British prime minister at the time) did it, or Nixon (US President) did it, they’re always scapegoating people. And it isn’t Nixon’s fault, we’re all responsible for everything that goes on, you know, we’re all responsible for Biafra and Hitler and everything. So we’re just saying SELL PEACE, anybody interested in peace just stick it in the window, it’s simple but it lets somebody else know that you want peace too, because you feel alone if you’re the only one thinking ‘wouldn’t it be nice if there was peace and nobody was getting killed', so advertise yourself that you’re for peace if you believe in it.”

Works Cited

http://www.john-lennon.com/whokilledjohnlennon.htm

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/carousel/pob07.html