history of violence?? | Page 2 | Fab forum

I was just thinking about this topic today, as I'm almost halfway through Philip Norman's biography.  I just agreed to forgive John in advance for all the horrible things I was going to read, and to forgive the author if he was making things up.

I do have to say I have paused a few times to digest such things as John Lennon mugging a drunken sailor or beating someone almost to death.  It seems that his sense of humor and his cruelty are interrelated and form a strange dichotomy, much like his acts of violence and his campaigns for peace do.  He is a contradictory character, with a very strong dark side.

It seems to me that various authors are interested in maligning John's name, whether or not what they write is true.  I think after reading about John we are supposed to say, "Wow, what a hypocrite, he wasn't peaceful at all."  But I have actually grown to appreciate him more, I think, after having a look at his imperfections.  You can't really separate the good from the bad in a person, and I'm not sure I would like him as much if he were any less rebellious or anarchic.

mja6758 said
There was a quote from John, late 60s-early 70s, can't remember just where, where he said something like, "We are all Jesus and we are all Hitler, we just want Jesus to win." It's all about the inner struggle.

That's very true. And John freely admitted that he was a violent person and that's why he sought peace.

I can definitely sympathize both with John's search for peace and his later need for political revolution, to shake up the status quo and make the world a better place.

The Beatles, and especially the love between John and Yoko, have created in my imagination a kind of utopia, a mental space which Ono refers to in Grapefruit as the weltinnenraum (translated roughly as "inner world").  I feel that I have benefitted greatly from what John and Yoko created.  That is why when I read about John's violence I have an inner struggle to come to terms with it--I ask such questions as did it really happen, did it happen that way, and if so, does this mean I should stop liking him?  Did he feel remorse?  I think a lot of people today want us to stop liking John Lennon.

It's interesting the way his more radical pursuits are glossed over.  I think big brother doesn't want us to know that good people once talked about revolution…I didn't know anything about how the FBI targeted him until I began to research more about him.  "The U.S. Versus John Lennon" was a good documentary.  I also read "Who Killed John Lennon?" which ventures a little too much into hypothesis and conspiracy theory, but it does show that the government had sufficient motive to want him dead.  In one documentary, at the end, Yoko says "they finally got him." This seems to show that she too (and I think Sean has made comments as well) has her suspicions about who was really responsible for his murder.