John Lennon's Success - Sarah Osborne
The John Lennon documentary was very eye-opening because I’ve heard those songs so many times – “Revolution� and “Imagine� – and never really considered the impact Lennon’s songs and actions had on America at that time.
Like we saw in the week 3 lecture and Sahara, during WWII any public forum was edited by the OWI to make sure it was in support of our country and the war. Then came the Vietnam War, and a different attitude took over. There was no attack on our country, and many people were confused and upset that we had troops in Vietnam. All of a sudden people like Lennon, Hoffman, and Rubin weren’t afraid to expose the injustice that was occurring. As Perone discusses in “Music and Radical Politics,� Lennon even goes as far as to compare what was going on in the US to Germany around WWII. His message in the radical political Sometime in New York City album says, “Don’t think they didn’t know about Hitler,� which was in reference to how the German officials kept the deaths of millions of Jews a secret from the citizens so people would support Hitler.
I don’t believe Lennon’s efforts were at all in vein. He was one of the most popular people in the world and wasn’t even an American citizen – he was just so passionate on creating a peaceful, just world. In one scene of the documentary he said something along the lines of, “this is not me, this is just an image.� People might have thought he was crazy, but I think he just knew that was the easiest way to get to people. Although his efforts weren’t considered successful after Nixon was re-elected in 1972, I believe there was a lot gained through his form of protesting. Lennon gave young people a voice. There were many teens and young people who became very politically active during this time. Also, I don’t believe Lennon’s only goal was to prevent the re-election of Nixon. His efforts to get John Sinclair out of prison through the concert worked. I think all of his other protests, songs, and speeches were just too vague to get anything accomplished. “All we are saying is give peace a chance,� was the song that he chanted. He didn’t give specific goals, or work to get anything changed, he just wanted people to be aware of what was going on. Lennon wanted Americans to know that they had a right to speak up and protest for what they believed in, and he undoubtedly succeeded at doing this.