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"Neutralizing" John Lennon: One Man Against The "Monster"
Submitted by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,
“You gotta remember, establishment, it’s just a name for evil. The monster doesn’t care whether it kills all the students or whether there’s a revolution. It’s not thinking logically, it’s out of control.”—John Lennon (1969)
John Lennon, born 75 years ago on October 9, 1940, was a musical genius and pop cultural icon.
He was also a vocal peace protester and anti-war activist and a high-profile example of the lengths to which the U.S. government will go to persecute those who dare to challenge its authority.
Long before Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden were being castigated for blowing the whistle on the government’s war crimes and the National Security Agency’s abuse of its surveillance powers, it was Lennon who was being singled out for daring to speak truth to power about the government’s warmongering, his phone calls monitored and data files collected on his activities and associations.
For a little while, at least, Lennon became enemy number one in the eyes of the U.S. government.
Years after Lennon’s assassination it would be revealed that the FBI had collected 281 pages of files on him, including song lyrics, a letter from J. Edgar Hoover directing the agency to spy on the musician, and various written orders calling on government agents to set the stage to set Lennon up for a drug bust. As reporter Jonathan Curiel observes, “The FBI’s files on Lennon … read like the writings of a paranoid goody-two-shoes.”
As the New York Times notes, “Critics of today’s domestic surveillance object largely on privacy grounds. They have focused far less on how easily government surveillance can become an instrument for the people in power to try to hold on to power. ‘The U.S. vs. John Lennon’ … is the story not only of one man being harassed, but of a democracy being undermined.”
Indeed, as I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, all of the many complaints we have about government today—surveillance, militarism, corruption, harassment, SWAT team raids, political persecution, spying, overcriminalization, etc.—were present in Lennon’s day and formed the basis of his call for social justice, peace and a populist revolution.
For all of these reasons, the U.S. government was obsessed with Lennon, who had learned early on that rock music could serve a political end by proclaiming a radical message. More importantly, Lennon saw that his music could mobilize the public and help to bring about change. Lennon believed in the power of the people. Unfortunately, as Lennon recognized: “The trouble with government as it is, is that it doesn’t represent the people. It controls them.”
However, as Martin Lewis writing for Time notes: “John Lennon was not God. But he earned the love and admiration of his generation by creating a huge body of work that inspired and led. The appreciation for him deepened because he then instinctively decided to use his celebrity as a bully pulpit for causes greater than his own enrichment or self-aggrandizement.”
For instance, in December 1971 at a concert in Ann Arbor, Mich., Lennon took to the stage and in his usual confrontational style belted out “John Sinclair,” a song he had written about a man sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing two marijuana cigarettes. Within days of Lennon’s call for action, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Sinclair released.
What Lennon did not know at the time was that government officials had been keeping strict tabs on the ex-Beatle they referred to as “Mr. Lennon.” FBI agents were in the audience at the Ann Arbor concert, “taking notes on everything from the attendance (15,000) to the artistic merits of his new song.”
The U.S. government was spying on Lennon.
By March 1971, when his “Power to the People” single was released, it was clear where Lennon stood. Having moved to New York City that same year, Lennon was ready to participate in political activism against the U. S. government, the “monster” that was financing the war in Vietnam.
The release of Lennon’s Sometime in New York City album, which contained a radical anti-government message in virtually every song and depicted President Richard Nixon and Chinese Chairman Mao Tse-tung dancing together nude on the cover, only fanned the flames of the conflict to come.
The official U.S. war against Lennon began in earnest in 1972 after rumors surfaced that Lennon planned to embark on a U.S. concert tour that would combine rock music with antiwar organizing and voter registration. Nixon, fearing Lennon’s influence on about 11 million new voters (1972 was the first year that 18-year-olds could vote), had the ex-Beatle served with deportation orders “in an effort to silence him as a voice of the peace movement.”
Then again, the FBI has had a long history of persecuting, prosecuting and generally harassing activists, politicians, and cultural figures, most notably among the latter such celebrated names as folk singer Pete Seeger, painter Pablo Picasso, comic actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, comedian Lenny Bruce and poet Allen Ginsberg.
Among those most closely watched by the FBI was Martin Luther King Jr., a man labeled by the FBI as “the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country.” With wiretaps and electronic bugs planted in his home and office, King was kept under constant surveillance by the FBI with the aim of “neutralizing” him. He even received letters written by FBI agents suggesting that he either commit suicide or the details of his private life would be revealed to the public. The FBI kept up its pursuit of King until he was felled by a hollow-point bullet to the head in 1968.
While Lennon was not—as far as we know—being blackmailed into suicide, he was the subject of a four-year campaign of surveillance and harassment by the U.S. government (spearheaded by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover), an attempt by President Richard Nixon to have him “neutralized” and deported. As Adam Cohen of the New York Times points out, “The F.B.I.’s surveillance of Lennon is a reminder of how easily domestic spying can become unmoored from any legitimate law enforcement purpose. What is more surprising, and ultimately more unsettling, is the degree to which the surveillance turns out to have been intertwined with electoral politics.”
As Lennon’s FBI file shows, memos and reports about the FBI’s surveillance of the anti-war activist had been flying back and forth between Hoover, the Nixon White House, various senators, the FBI and the U.S. Immigration Office.
Nixon’s pursuit of Lennon was relentless and in large part based on the misperception that Lennon and his comrades were planning to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention. The government’s paranoia, however, was misplaced.
Left-wing activists who were on government watch lists and who shared an interest in bringing down the Nixon Administration had been congregating at Lennon’s New York apartment. But when they revealed that they were planning to cause a riot, Lennon balked. As he recounted in a 1980 interview, “We said, We ain’t buying this. We’re not going to draw children into a situation to create violence so you can overthrow what? And replace it with what? . . . It was all based on this illusion, that you can create violence and overthrow what is, and get communism or get some right-wing lunatic or a left-wing lunatic. They’re all lunatics.”
Despite the fact that Lennon was not part of the “lunatic” plot, the government persisted in its efforts to have him deported. Equally determined to resist, Lennon dug in and fought back. Every time he was ordered out of the country, his lawyers delayed the process by filing an appeal. Finally, in 1976, Lennon won the battle to stay in the country when he was granted a green card. As he said afterwards, “I have a love for this country.... This is where the action is. I think we’ll just go home, open a tea bag, and look at each other.”
Lennon’s time of repose didn’t last long, however. By 1980, he had re-emerged with a new album and plans to become politically active again.
The old radical was back and ready to cause trouble. In his final interview on Dec. 8, 1980, Lennon mused, “The whole map’s changed and we’re going into an unknown future, but we’re still all here, and while there’s life there’s hope.”
That very night, when Lennon returned to his New York apartment building, Mark David Chapman was waiting in the shadows. As Lennon stepped outside the car to greet the fans congregating outside, Chapman, in an eerie echo of the FBI’s moniker for Lennon, called out, “Mr. Lennon!”
Lennon turned and was met with a barrage of gunfire as Chapman—dropping into a two-handed combat stance—emptied his .38-caliber pistol and pumped four hollow-point bullets into his back and left arm. Lennon stumbled, staggered forward and, with blood pouring from his mouth and chest, collapsed to the ground.
John Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. He had finally been “neutralized.”
Yet where those who neutralized the likes of John Lennon, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy and others go wrong is in believing that you can murder a movement with a bullet and a madman.
Thankfully, Lennon’s legacy lives on in his words, his music and his efforts to speak truth to power. As Yoko Ono shared in a 2014 letter to the parole board tasked with determining whether Chapman should be released: “A man of humble origin, [John Lennon] brought light and hope to the whole world with his words and music. He tried to be a good power for the world, and he was. He gave encouragement, inspiration and dreams to people regardless of their race, creed and gender.”
Sadly, not much has changed for the better in the world since Lennon walked among us. Peace remains out of reach. Activism and whistleblowers continue to be prosecuted for challenging the government’s authority. Militarism is on the rise, with police acquiring armed drones, all the while the governmental war machine continues to wreak havoc on innocent lives. Just recently, for example, U.S. military forces carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan that left a Doctors without Borders hospital in ruins, killing several of its medical personnel and patients, including children.
For those of us who joined with John Lennon to imagine a world of peace, it’s getting harder to reconcile that dream with the reality of the American police state. For those who do dare to speak up, they are labeled dissidents, troublemakers, terrorists, lunatics, or mentally ill and tagged for surveillance, censorship or, worse, involuntary detention.
As Lennon shared in a 1968 interview:
I think all our society is run by insane people for insane objectives… I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal means. If anybody can put on paper what our government and the American government and the Russian… Chinese… what they are actually trying to do, and what they think they’re doing, I’d be very pleased to know what they think they’re doing. I think they’re all insane. But I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.”
So what’s the answer?
Lennon had a multitude of suggestions.
“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”
“Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It’s quite possible to do anything, but not to put it on the leaders….You have to do it yourself. That’s what the great masters and mistresses have been saying ever since time began. They can point the way, leave signposts and little instructions in various books that are now called holy and worshipped for the cover of the book and not for what it says, but the instructions are all there for all to see, have always been and always will be. There’s nothing new under the sun. All the roads lead to Rome. And people cannot provide it for you. I can’t wake you up. You can wake you up. I can’t cure you. You can cure you.”
“Life is very short, and there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friends.”
“Peace is not something you wish for; It’s something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.”
“If you want peace, you won’t get it with violence.”
“Say you want a revolution / We better get on right away / Well you get on your feet / And out on the street / Singing power to the people.”
And my favorite advice of all: “All you need is love. Love is all you need.”
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Brother, that is one fucked up point of view.
Somehow he entirely missed the Lewis Carroll poem on which the song was based. Now that's thorough!
Absolutely the truth Swave. Well said. No doubt he wrote some compelling lyrics tho.
If the gov conspired so hard to destroy the guy..you know he and his message is legit. From my own observation, I agree, this country is run by a bunch of bloodthirsty lunatics....and i challenge anyone to show different
I liked John Lennon (RIP) and I like John Whitehead who wrote the article, but Lennon was a foreign national and was violating the terms of his visitation by using drugs and being intentionally and overtly political.
I would be hard pressed to think of any government that would not keep a file and deport said persons. Lennon's fame let him do things mortals could not. He did some good things but did he ever protest against the domestic bombers like Bill Ayers? Or British Colonialism? And where was/are all the black MPs in the UK? First one was only elected about 5 years after Lennon was murdered, 1986.
"I don't remember saying that [the song] Revolution was revolutionary... You say that in order to change the world you have to destroy it. Ruthlessly. You're obviously on a destruction kick. I'll tell you what's wrong with it - people. So, do you want to destroy them? Ruthlessly? You seem to think it's just a class war... The lyrics still stand today. They're still my feelings about politics: I want to see the PLAN. That is what I used to say to Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. Count me out if it's for violence... What's the point in bombing Wall Street? If you want to change the system, change the system. It's no good shooting people." --JL
The poorest the lyrics, the most understandable for everyone and thus billions of fans plus an eternal fame if an influent sponsor, happening by, recognized the smell of money and molded the opinion .
Great post. I've written of the parallels between Lennon's treatment and former Pittsburgh Steeler running back Rashard Mendenhall's when he spoke out against the official story of 9/11.
http://spiritualfumbles.com/2011/11/14/is-rashard-mendenhall-the-john-le...
Many people refer to the "American police state" as though it only began a few years ago, mostly since 9/11. And it has certainly been ratcheted up since then. 9/11 provided the excuse to increase the speed of what was already quietly underway in disguise.
This reflection on the surveillance of John Lennon by the FBI et al, the assassination of JFK long before that and mysterious deaths of many other people over the years (whistleblowers of one sort or other), is confirmation that it all began a long time ago and is not new.
The change from freedom and political accountability to out-of-control totalitarianism rarely happens overnight but is a step-by-step process to avoid scaring the horses with unknown consequences.
All we are seeing today are big steps in that direction brought about by the financial/economic collapse.
Johnny, like his namesake, was a fucking dirty commie. What happened to him was the best outcome.
Lest we had this huge push towards communism a decade or two earlier earlier with his popular mouth to help it along.
Fuck john LENIN!
the US government is made up of absolute retards. they are the dumbest people i have ever met in my entire life. If i ever meet someone the monent they say they work for the government I know they are dumb and a threate to everything around them. I mean it! US government employee=DUMBASS COLDBLOODED COCKSUCKER EXTRAORDINAIRRE........................I could write a 50,000 word doc on just what i have seen personally to support my claim.............and if a government retarded reads it they will look at it and just say NO.........like it never happened................You can show these dumbasses stacks of proof and they immediately subconsciously dismiss the shit right in front of their face for their childish head up their ass I am right and you are wrong because I work for the government mentality .........................You are fucked you retards................Yes you.............You reading this............you are a dumb ass fucking coward
The US government is proof that god fucked up...............BIG TIME
These Lords who boast Thine aid at their high civic feasts, The ignoble shouting crowds, the prophets of their Press, Pouring their daily flood of bald self righteousness, Their poets who write big of the "White Burden."
Trash! The White Man's Burden, Lord, is the burden of his cash. There! Thou hast heard the truth. Thy world, Lord God of Heaven, Lieth in the hands of thieves who pillage morn and even. And Thou still sleepest on! Nay, but Thou needs must hear Or abdicate Thy name of High Justiciar - Satan
I saw a video were a cop spoke out againt the police. He said he called for backup and his buddy came flying up in his cruiser, jumped out and started kicking a guys head in while he was on the ground NOT RESISTING. The whistleblower said that he was supposed to arrest the guy, but BUT he works for the government so it like it never happened.............
Dumb-culture continues its fascination with pop musician personality cult narcissists as neo-messiahs.
Vote #1 Bono for Pope.
Yeah a powerless idiot was enemy number one. Only the totally fucking braindead thought this loser was anything but a string tosser.
But ... but ... he smoked pot and took mushies and LSD man ... he had really deeeeep thoughts ... between Asian rim jobs ... we should embrace his lifestyle and brainwaves man!
According to the YouTube documentary "Jimi Hendrix - the Last 24 Hours" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYEttnuZez0), Hendrix was done in by the U.S. government due to his anti-war leanings, worries about his moral support for black political activism, and especially by threats of physical violence against members of the (U.S.) government. His threats may have been hyperbole, but they crossed a red line and "they" decided to make an example of him, claims the video.
The documentary makes a convincing case, assuming that the information it presents is factual. Who knows.
The Real terrorists are the America and Europe
They even kill their own pop star singers