The FBI has released the last 10 documents from its secret files on slain Beatle John Lennon that had been withheld for 25 years on the ground they could prompt “military retaliation” against the United States, campaigners for their release said on Wednesday.
The files turn out to contain only well known information about Lennon’s ties to left-wing leaders and antiwar groups in London in 1970 and 1971, said Jon Wiener, a history professor at the University of California, Irvine, and the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Today we can see that the national security claims the FBI has been making for 25 years were absurd from the beginning. The Lennon FBI file is a classic case of excessive government secrecy,” Wiener said in a statement.
The released documents include one that states Lennon “encouraged the belief that he holds revolutionary views … by the content of some of his songs.”
Read through the article and reflect upon a bureaucracy that feared “…military retaliation against the United States” if it released these files.
Wow, what a radical terrorist he was! It’s lucky the US is still here, considering how long this commie-pinko-terrorist lived here!
He was a rock-in-roll singer, that was outspoken, sang about peace and all that, did a few drugs….classic example of a radical terrorist that wanted to corrupt all our youth!
Yeah, well, they killed Socrates for corrupting youth, didn’t they? This time they let someone else do the wetwork…
*yawn*
So he wasn’t a terrorist. I still don’t dislike his trademark ode to communism any less.
Stay safe with NASCAR music, Mike.
Lol, “ode to communism”. That’s classic.
Yeah Mike, stick to NASCAR music, and those bumper stickers with the “they can have my gun when they pry it from my cold,dead fingers” on your pick-up. Yuck yuck yuck! Give that man another PBR!
That hippy that played that bug-music was a threat I tells ya! Singing about peace and imagining worlds without the things that start wars. How DARE he imagine anything like that!
“So he wasn’t a terrorist. I still don’t dislike his trademark ode to communism any less. ”
dont dislike- double negative means- like.
Mark – yes, but in context you have the rest of the modifier which is “dislike any less” so that would make it “like any more”
Which still makes sense. Not that I can think of a song of his that is an ode to communism (when he in fact spoke out against it).. but who needs facts nowadays?
Heh, touchy, touchy. You can always count on Lennon fans to get bitchy because you are critical of his magnum opus. I’d rather imagine a world where property is recognized and protected, because societies that do not are societies with very little rights. And since you have that pesky little problem of scarcity, there will never be universal peace as long as one person has something the other doesn’t but wants. That’s half the reason you need an authoritarian government to enforce this idealistic fantasy in the first place.
But, it is a pleasant enough melody…
It is amazing that all these liberal luminaries were assassinated by people who were described as “lune nuts”, had copies of Catcher in the Rhy, and wait for it….
Connections to George Bush.
Coincidence theorists Agree!!! An amazing series of coincidences!
#9 There will never be universal peace because of different religions.
In Lennon’s flower child fantasy world there is no strife, meaning no competition, meaning no one get’s to be “wealthy” or have more of anything than others because we’re all brothers and sisters and all the same. Real people see through that crock so of course, Lennon wasn’t “dangerous”.
However, Look at what went on around the Beatle’s and how Lennon could have had any hot babe(s) he wanted. Instead he chose Yoko Ono! The guy didn’t just do some drugs, he obviously did enough mass-quantities to irreparably damage himself.
Our transformation into a Neo-Rome is almost complete.
#12 — well, some clarification I’m certain we all needed. That is — you’re you’re younger and more ignorant than many of us may have presumed.
Gregory, most fundamentally, communism is a system where everybody lives communally. It is possible to write a song that promotes that ideal (which “Imagine” does) yet still be against Mao Tse-Tung’s or Joseph Stalin’s communist governments.
I fundamentally disagree with the idea of communism, so I will continue to dislike the song for that reason.
Yawn.
And I was a major Lennon fan back in the day. That the US Government was after him was no secret even when he was alive. But he has been dead for 26 years. (Instand Karma!)
The only thing this does is confirm how silly our government was (and still is). Carrying on for decades after John’s death in pursuit of proving they were after him seems pointless.
The music, and a lot of it was excellent, lives on.
Dave
A listen to “Working Class Hero” may prove of value. Lennon cogently opines “…Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV.”
That line coupled with the title ‘Whatever Gets Your Through The Night’ seems to capture the essence of a Zen-like acceptance/rejection of many things.
As well, ‘Imagine’ may be a dream, but the title itself implies a mental projection rather than reality.
Choosing Yoko over Cynthia likely was a soul connection.
#15 – I’ll take your rejection of communism more seriously when you demonstrate that you understand what communism actually is – and not what you imagine it is.
Communal living is fun for a summer when you are 19. Everyone share their pot, you wash clothes in the stream, you knock up your girlfriend and name the baby Starchild… Good times… but it isn’t the cornerstone of a communist form of government.
#14 – I have a feeling I wish I were as young as you think I am. 😉
If being fundamentally opposed to communism and the flower child mentality makes me ignorant, I’ll wear that badge proudly. Communal property is a necessary evil that should be minimized. Ownership of private property is the foundation of true freedom.
Back to the OP – I agree with everyone else that the gov’t keeping this stuff classified is ludicrous.
#18, you are comparing an implementation of an ideal to the ideal. communism is the ideal, a communist government is an implementation. Your statement is like mocking republicanism because you dislike the Republican party.
All it took was looking at the info on the first ducument that shows that even those trying to get the papes quoted the government as saying…
“can reasonably be expected to inter alia: lead to foreign diplomatic, economic and military retaliation against the United States.”
This is boilerplate for we got info from a friendly government which we had an agreement to not release information to the public that we get from them.
#20
In #15, you said, “…most fundamentally, communism is a system where everybody lives communally.”
I’m not comparing anything to anything. I’m saying, “no, communism is not a system where everyone lives communally.” In other words, I am saying you are wrong.
Communism is an economic system that favors a centralized government and state control of the means of production, and an equitable distribution of wealth and services.
I’ll agree with anyone who wants to claim it doesn’t work, because, obviously, it doesn’t. But as long as we are talking about what doesn’t work, the very least we can do is know what it is we are saying doesn’t work.
If Christ were around today, the FBI would would have a team on him 24/7. Lets face it, there’s no one more dangerous than a guy with long hair preaching, peace, love and tolerance for his fellow man.
#28, Mike
Once again you are showing just how little you actually know.
Fascism is a very strong government controlled economic system. All industry, while remaining in private hands, produce for the good of the country. The Dictatorship that controls the country (the political system) drives industry in the direction it wants to take. They will do that by convincing company directors, using moral suasion, setting quotas, or outright directives to have the companies produce what the government needs. Usually, the government and top industry execs are on the same page.
In modern society politics and economics are usually intertwined. Just because government is involved in or owns a company doesn’t make it communist. Otherwise, Amtrack would surely mean Bush is a commie.