John Lennon Slams Socialism & Presidential Hero Worship

[TheThumper49]

Thatcher said it best. "the problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other peoples money." Yup.

[homicidal1]

he doesn't dismiss socialism at all but he does dismiss idol worship. However, I have heard him say "Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people sharing all the world"

[tehatemachine]

@homicidal1 john Lennon in his later years turned republican. He loved Ronald Reagan.

[Derekrife1]

@tehatemachine Really? Because Lennon was assassinated before Ronald Reagan even won the election, and the man who claims he was a republican, Fred Seaman, was the same person who later broke into Lennon's house after his death, and later sentenced to 5 years because of it.

And Lennon's last political activity was a public statement on behalf of the Teamsters in LA advocating for equal pay for Japanese workers. The Teamsters are hardly republicans.

[tehatemachine]

@Derekrife1 He knew Ronald before his death. Note how i never said after he became president. Lennon was a closet republican who sold alot of his stuff to mainstream liberals. In fact he didn't like most of his fans.

[Derekrife1]

@tehatemachine He met Reagan once at a football game, but that hardly constitutes as "knowing" him. Also, what indication do you have about Lennon being a closet republican other than the testimony Seaman gave? I can show Lennon's entire professional career which suggests he was very left leaning. I just cited his public statesmen on behalf of the Teamsters Union.

This whole claim just reeks of jealousy on the right, all they have is crap like Ted Nugent and Kid Rock.

[tehatemachine]

@Derekrife1 he was left leaning to start with. But as he got older he realized some of his views where indeed wrong, Either Way Milton Friedman > all

[Derekrife1]

@tehatemachine You keep saying he changed, and you offer no evidence that he changed. Way to be a winner.

Also Friedman's a joke, and the reason why wages haven't risen since the 70's.

[williamkanegateshead]

I never heard him "slam socialism". Didn't think I would. A great man who was more left-wing than you know!

[glennberkusa100]

The problem with socialism is, pretty soon you run out of other people’s money. Look at Greece and the rest of Europe.

[velvetguitar95]

@glennberkusa100 Nice quote, stole that from Thatcher i see. hmmm its not true.

[thunderbirdscarlett]

My Momma Says Obama-Occupy 

[CzechAvailabilitie]

Sounds more like an anarchist to me.

I mean he was friends with Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party and Marxist, and Abbie Hoffman, co-founder of YIP and libertarian socialism.

[FlourescentPotato]

@CzechAvailabilitie I'm not sure, it seems borderline to me. Maybe libertarian.

[CzechAvailabilitie]

@FlourescentPotato

Well from the mid 19th century up until the mid 20th century "libertarian" was used to describe anarcho-communists and anarcho-syndicalists. The hijacking of the word by minarchist capitalists is very recent.

[FlourescentPotato]

@CzechAvailabilitie i wouldn't call your definitions accurate.

[CzechAvailabilitie]

@FlourescentPotato

The first use of the word in political terms was in 1847 when anarcho-communist Joseph Dejacque wrote a letter criticizing fellow anarchist Proudhon for his sexism,racism and his belief in public property and a market system. Dejacque said that Proudhon was "A liberal not a libertarian".

Outside America the word still holds most of it's former meaning. For example the Movimiento Libertrio Cubano, or Cuban Libertarian Movement, is fiercely anti-capitalist.

[ffairlane57]

That's somne crazy rant......almost as if he was starting to hyperventilate and foam at the mouth.

[thunderbirdscarlett]

MY MOMMA SAYS OBAMA ! is a film that draws historical parallels between the activism that fueled the civil rights movement and the peace movement, we find incredible inspiration in today's landscape from the great passion and profound social conscience of these activist down on Wall Street and now all over the world.

[EmitFlestiKY]

He's absolutely right about JFK! JFK is lionized and overrated because he died young! He was already on his way to being a mediocre failure, like Barack Hussein Obama...being assassinated was the best "career move'" JFK ever made!

[Hurqq]

His whining voice sounds like something from Monty Python

[COMMUNISTPHILOSOPHY]

'John Lennon Slams Socialism'

'... that period wwhen they had those dreams of socialism answering everything, right? And their dreams fell to dust after the war...'.

He was speaking about Orwell, Spain, and the 1930s. What he states here is confined to that context and nothing more. Thus the title of this video is arguably misleading

[MrFunkyDutch]

@COMMUNISTPHILOSOPHY  Exactly what I was thinking.

[runelord37]

@COMMUNISTPHILOSOPHY no he summarily dismisses socialism as a failed ideology in one well fell swoop of a sentence. there are partial social controls that coupled with a pure free market economy would be as close to perfect as we can get. capitalism coupled with federal control falls into facism, just as we are seeing the fruits that the globalists are now sowing. again one or true socialist practices in specialized cases amended properly would be fine. the Constitution is the final say on this

[RealLiveDebates]

Awesome!



[PHAEDRIDER]

1:18 WIN!

[mukmakumkum]

I personally find the title very misleading. It is true that Lennon appears to be criticizing "Presidential Hero Worship" among other things. Hnowever, equating leader worship with Socialism is not fair. Many Libertarian Socialists or Demcoratic Socialists would agree that hero worship is a bad idea. Many would also agree that Socialism should come from below, not from above. Lennon here demonstrates that he is against "Socialism from above," but not necessarily against "Socialism from below"

[xxbingo]

@mukmakumkum Socialism, cannot work from below. It must by its nature, take what it's ones to give to another. Unless, as Christians believe, it's god induced, it'll take force to make it happen. Thus, at some point, it must come from above. And the ability to make it happen, typically needs an idolization from some figure, whether it's hitler, or Stalin.

[mukmakumkum]

@xxbingo You seem to assume that Socialism necessarily involves "taking from some, and giving to others." I see that you clearly dislike the idea of taxation and public spending, but that is not necessary for Socialism. All that is necessary is that the means of production are publicly or commonly owned. Anyway, can you picture the concept of voluntary socialist communities, where the people organize themselves in such a way? BTW, no idolization of any figure is needed for this.

[xxbingo]

@mukmakumkum How do you get there, if not by force???

[mukmakumkum]

@xxbingo Hmm, well the fact is that presently the means of production are not democratically owned. How do we get there? Well, all workers will organize and decide who gets paid what in a factory. People with harder jobs would be payed more than the average worker, but because this is democratically decided, it will not be many many times more than average workers. Force is already involved in taking from the workers. Even if a "voluntary contract" was involved, workers had no real choice.

[slobomotion]

I sort of knew John and Yoko, 1979-1989, via a fine arts non-profit where I was in the avant-garde film program. My immediate superior went there for a meeting at the Dakota. Rich Richard de Palma, their secretary, had to write all their correspondence longhand. People think John was rather indecisive toward the end and Yoko more take-charge, but based on the observations I heard, that's not how it was. An interesting time.

[Atheeizm]

I think it is a stretch to believe that John was becoming strictly anti socialist. I think he - like all of us - would not want a fully fledged socialist society but he certainly would not stand for the obliteration of socialist tenets that are required for a capitalist and free nation to survive.

[LadybugsTX]

Actually, this was before revisionists got a hold of the text books and people knew that communism/socialism ends in death camps. Anybody born after 1980 are clueless to this fact and just assume John was a revolutionist hippie. Have you ever listened to the words "Revolution"? "Carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make with anyone anyhow". And please look up the Youtube video of an interview with Dick Cavett. John Lennon was VERY anti-socialism.

[blackmichael75]

@LadybugsTX what are you talking about. First of all, socialism doesn't always end in death camps. That's good old authoritarian nationalism that produced them. You say you want a revolution, dont you know that you can count me out- IN. Power to the People. etc. Also, it matters not a bit what John Lennon thought about anything. He was, more than anything else, a pacifist, and not even consistent in that.

[PHAEDRIDER]

@blackmichael75 .. yeah,, look at peoples republic of china .. they have death camps and they haven't ended..

[pdmac46]

John ,a fine entertainer,a bloody awful observer of humanity and politics,what lead you to believe, that your opinion on life was worth listening to,sorry but you spout bollix,as most celebs do !

[ursprach]

A bit rambling: "1984 big brother monsters controlled by robots". But not drifting right. Not endorsing leftist wet dreams of socialist utopia either. Sounds more like he's railing against whiners and those too weak to decide for themselves. (Okay, that part could be construed as anti-communist.) I think Lennon was wise enough NOT to believe that 100 years of failure and 100 million dead proves nothing. 21st century socialism? Some folks never learn.

[attguy98]

Imagine.

[smedleylt]

I highly DOUBT that John Lennon would be a tea-bag swinging/Fox News watching/Limbaugh loving/ right-winger today. As as a big fan of John Lennon, it makes me sick that anyone would twist his words around to fit their conservative point of view.

[dancingrizz]

He peed on some Nuns. Big man right off the Dakoda. love him all you want. I've no use for him. My aunt was a nun in China during the cultral revolution.

[customstratguy]

Americans are so ignorant and stupid, they couldn't `t tell a communist from a zebra... America is being stolen from them as well as they`re freedom... as we speak... and they are too busy squabbling back and forth to stop it !!!!!!

[AlexandreSchwarz]

Slamming socialism? Quite the contrary! He was talking about the need of radical organization, of a radical democracy led by the people, instead of "superheroes".

But, of course, the right-wing mind can't understand this.

[MikeHelbick]

He didn't slam socialism--misleading title. He's advocating a more participatory democracy--the same thing president Hugo Chavez and the 65% of Venezuelans that voted for him advocate throughout their ongoing construction of 21st centuray socialism. Viva Lennon!

[GoldenSlumbers04]

i didn't hear him slam socialism... 

[tonyrosam]

He was very wise, like a renaissance man of the 60's.

[customstratguy]

OBAMA is a communist... The End !!!

[GoldenSlumbers04]

@customstratguy a communist who gives tax cuts to the rich?

[HBK344356]

@customstratguy And In The End the Love you take is equal to the Loooooveee you makeeeee

[yakuzelizard]

LOVE IT! Thanks for posting....I wonder how the Left felt when their poster boy for a Socialism Utopian Society... started going Right...

[GoldenSlumbers04]

started going Right? He was talking about responsibility, he was trying to tell people it's not easy, it's something you have to continuously fight for.

[yakuzelizard]

@GoldenSlumbers04 You need to listen again....he is going AGAINST Socialism....moving to the right.

[GoldenSlumbers04]

@yakuzelizard can you quote him in here where he's going against socialism, cause ive listened to it twenty times and havent heard it.

[noldorian86]

@yakuzelizard sooo...no quote ? :D

[LODGE4444]

@yakuzelizard Moving to the right ??? That's Fascism. There are two kinds of socialism - Fascism ( right wing socialism) and Communism ( left wing socialism) Hitler was the ultimate conservative - that's why the Nazis had the word socialist in their name - Fascists = right wing socialists. No country has ever had real Communism - Russia, China, North Korea were/are totalitarian governments - not liberal by any means. A true Communist Country ( left wing socialism) has yet to happen.

[politicalzone]

I'm opening this up for comments and I'm staying out of it. Try to keep it clean, OK? I don't have time to monitor it. John was a free speech guy so here we go!