Imagine

[MelissaB]

Imagine

At this critical period in the history of the world I think of the John Lennon song Imagine. One of the verses is:

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion to
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

When this song was released over 30 years ago, these lyrics created much controversy, but its wisdom has been confirmed, in my opinion, by the events that have occurred in the United States since 9/11.

There is a certain sense of fundamentalist religion, specifically Islamic, that has been perceived as the root cause of the problems we are experiencing today. The radical fundamentalist Christians have hijacked the Republican Party and want to turn the clock back to the “middle ages” when scientific advancement was considered to be heretical. Galileo was excommunicated from the Church for his belief in the Copernican theory of the solar system. The latest example is the challenge by these Christian fundamentalists to our school systems in their desire to teach “creationism” and “intelligent design” as an alternative to the Darwinian Theory. And the corporate media does nothing about this in spite of how preposterous this may be.

There was an initial strong sense of nationalism in America as our reaction to the events of September 11, 2001. The Bush administration has exploited this sense of nationalism to create an irrational sense of fear and self righteousness for U.S. foreign policy That is why the lyrics of Imagine may have more meaning today than ever before.

...snip

So I end this article by stating that John Lennon was not asking us to lack faith or not be patriotic to our species by imagining that there were no countries or religions. He was telling us that the countries and religions may create artificial senses of righteousness for which people unnecessarily die. In defining the human destiny and the nature of God, Maimonides would only say that God could not love any humans less because of religious beliefs and national interests.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheldon-drobny/imagine_b_10548.html

[Tesla]

1. My wingnut brother thinks this song is TERRIBLE!!!!

[ROH]

2. Small, but important, modification...

And no religion too

Thank you for posting these lines from Imagine.

[MelissaB]

3. Here are all the lryics.

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.



Writen by: John Lennon

Edited to add photo. I couldn't get the smaller one to post, and this is the one I wanted. :)

[Wilms]

10. Beautiful image, MB. n/t

[MelissaB]

11. Thanks, Wilms!

I had fun googling, but I'm finished now. It was an educational experience and I enjoyed it immensely.

[MelissaB]

4. I didn't notice that when I posted it.

It was on the HP blog. Maybe we should alert them.

[MelissaB]

5. I've been googling and found this quote. Hubby is the Lennon fan.

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace." - John Lennon

[MelissaB]

6. another

"It's fear of the unknown. The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that--it's all illusion. Unknown is what it is. Accept that it's unknown and it's plain sailing. Everything is unknown--then you're ahead of the game. That's what it is. Right?" - John Lennon

[MelissaB]

7. .

"It just was a gradual development over the years. I mean last year was 'all you need is love.' This year, it's 'all you need is love and peace, baby.' Give peace a chance, and remember Love. The only hope for us is peace. Violence begets violence. You can have peace as soon as you like if we all pull together. You're all geniuses, and you're all beautiful. You don't need anyone to tell you who you are. You are what you are. Get out there and get peace, think peace, and live peace and breathe peace, and you'll get it as soon as you like." - John Lennon

[MelissaB]

8. .

"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal." - John Lennon

[MelissaB]

9. and another

"Guilt for being rich, and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something."-1980 - John Lennon

[Wilms]

12. .

:cry:

[Wrinkle_In_Time]

13. Then you will hopefully enjoy this...

... ironic mash-up of _bush performing "Imagine" as mixed by Wax Audio. There's an audio clip of Lennon at the beginning:

*** WARNING: DON'T CLICK THESE LINKS IF SWEARING BOTHERS YOU ***

Link to "Imagine This" MP3
Listing of all Wax Audio tracks

There's another similar mash-up by rx which is also very well done:

Link to "imagine...walk on the wild side" MP3
Listing for rx album "thepartyparty" which contains other great tracks like "Dick is a Killer" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" -- all using _bush soundbites.

Maybe I should start a Research Forum thread on political audio...

[MelissaB]

14. These are great. Did you do these? n/t