John Lennon saw religion, property and nationalism as being roots of evil in the world. |
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What do these lyrics mean? Was he talking about communist china and how it is bad? |
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Last edited by Sandform; 09-22-2007 at 02:57 AM.
John Lennon saw religion, property and nationalism as being roots of evil in the world. |
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On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
--Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.
--Chinese Proverb
Raised Jdeadevil
Raised and raised by Eligos
Dream Journal
The Fine Print: Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed are MINE.
I guess I agree with him, aside from property being bad. I think boundaries are necessary, and who can make better boundaries on what is to be done in what places and on what objects than those who own them... |
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I don't think its atheism necessarily, and not even really communism. I think all it is is the ideal of not having anything to fight over. Religions and land and governments are the things that humans fight over, so without them (theoretically) we would all be peaceful. Personally, I think its placing blame on the symptoms instead of the causes. Instead of doing away with the things that people currently fight over, I wish to do away with the urge to fight and inability to identify with the rest of the human race. Otherwise, people will just find new things to fight about. |
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I don't think he was singing about very specific things (like atheism or china). He might have given examples of some things, but I think overall, it's a song about unity, in a "Imagibne a world where humans live in harmony" kind of way. |
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John Lennon was ridiculously rich. His estate is worth money in the billions now. He was such a hypocrite. "Imagine all the people sharing all the world." I guess the song should have been titled "Imagine" because all he did was IMAGINE it. Maybe he should have followed the song up with one called "Act On It" where he declared that he was about to donate more than 99% of his money to charity, just before actually doing it in real life. He was not the socialist he tried to sound like. I would not be saying this if he just illustrated the idea in a song because he thought it made a good artistic concept. He ran his mouth about that junk and other junk in public all the time at the end of the days of the Beatles and through the first years of the 70's. |
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Last edited by Universal Mind; 09-23-2007 at 02:26 AM.
How do you know you are not dreaming right now?
He's rich beyond anyone's dreams, but he has tons of charities and donates loads of money. |
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A little weird to read that in the present tense. |
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He was like Angelina Jolie, Barbara Streisand, and a lot of other mega-rich entertainers. He gave to charity, I assume, but he wasn't exactly sharing his money with everybody who could use it. If you have a buffet plate and give one of your french fries to a homeless person, you aren't exactly "sharing" your plate with him. Those entertainers don't give away income percentages that rise to the level of socialist percentages. Not even close. |
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How do you know you are not dreaming right now?
Well there is one problem with your reasoning. If you give away all your money, it becomes much more difficult to make more money and thus have more money to give. Assuming a constant interest rate of 5%, if you were to maintain a constant $5 million, you could donate 250 thousand dollars a year indefinitely (and thats ignoring quarterly compounding interest), but if you were to just donate the 5 million dollars you would reach an end to your philanthropy. Within just 20 years you would have become less generous than if you had remained rich. |
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Explain that to the socialists who disagree with you. Barbar Streisand isn't saying, "Hey, let's set up an investment system where we get 5% of what the rich make." She is saying, "Let's take the majority of what the rich make." "Sharing all the world" is not the idea you are illustrating. It is the kind of idea capitalists like me believe in. |
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How do you know you are not dreaming right now?
Who's talking about Barbara Streisand except for you? The thread is about John Lennon and his song Imagine, and although the image may be used by socialists to further their own agenda, as far as I know John Lennon was not a socialist himself. Tell me, what percentage of your own income do you donate to worthy causes? |
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I talked about Barbara Streisand because I lumped John Lennon in with such celebrities who talk about socialistic ideas yet remain incredibly rich. "Imagine all the people sharing all the world" is a socialist message. |
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How do you know you are not dreaming right now?
I gotta ask Universal, how long did it take to get so jaded? Whats the need to put so many negative twists on otherwise fairly innocent threads? |
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One point you are all forgetting is that there is a distinction between the author of a creation and the "speaker" of the creation, the imaginary person that is the one who say the words that comprise the creation. |
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A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service
and compassion are the things which renew humanity.
Buddha
҉
҈҈My music҈҈
Sometimes people disagree. That is illustrated by what goes on in discussion forums. But, as you might have noticed, I did not initiate personal attacks against people posting here, like you just did and almost always do. Did you read the incredibly positive things I wrote about John Lennon? |
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How do you know you are not dreaming right now?
UM - |
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Last edited by Oneironaut Zero; 09-25-2007 at 03:57 AM.
Dream Journal: Dreamwalker Chronicles Latest Entry: 01/02/2016 - "Hallway to Haven" (Lucid)(Or see the very best of my journal entries @ dreamwalkerchronicles.blogspot)
Oneironaut, I wasn't saying there's anything wrong with being rich and keeping most of your money. I know I would. What I think is hypocritical is pushing for socialist ideas and keeping most of your money. That is what a lot of celebrities do. A person is not a true socialist unless he keeps only enough to get by and have a bit of extra spending money and gives the rest to charity. That is how Barbara Streisand wants how she wants most Americans to live. But she is nowhere near living like that. That is what I am talking about. As for Lennon, I am saying that "sharing all the world" is very different from "sharing 50% of their income". |
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How do you know you are not dreaming right now?
Why is asking you about your jaded-ness an insult? |
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Last edited by Universal Mind; 09-25-2007 at 08:45 AM.
How do you know you are not dreaming right now?
I don't know that Lennon ever tried to classify himself as a "socialist," officially (but, then again, I don't know very much about the man). I can sympathize with that, though, because - even though I really wished in a world were things were given and shared with reasonable level of equality, I know that it is not how the world works and, because of the separation of wealth and power being as far-gone as it is, now, it never will be. Though I might make art that expresses a desire for the world for a more "equal" world, to suppress myself into mediocrity for a defeated (although commendable ideal), would make me a deluded fool. I don't think it really makes him a hypocrite. It may, just as much, make him a realist. Maybe his music just expresses his desire for things to be different. |
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Dream Journal: Dreamwalker Chronicles Latest Entry: 01/02/2016 - "Hallway to Haven" (Lucid)(Or see the very best of my journal entries @ dreamwalkerchronicles.blogspot)
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