Pearl before Beatle
Has anybody else noticed that the murder of John Lennon has received more TV time this year than in year's past? Maybe it's just me - or the fact that I don't have the History Channel - but I just don't think so. December 7th is almost a holy day for me, a confessed WWII buff; normally there's a documentary or two, an airing of the crappy movie "Pearl Harbor", and an airing of the good movie "Tora, Tora, Tora." I saw none of that this past week.
Is this what we've come to in this country? That we've exalted the anniversary of a person's death to such a higher position than that of one of the truly defining moments of our country, where two thousand people died?
Now, I do realize that Lennon was no ordinary celebrity or rock star. He and the rest of the Beatles were a pop culture force that this country hadn't really seen since Elvis; except they had ideals. Lennon particularly was very liberal, and in his song "Imagine" laid out his utopia - no possessions, no religion, just everybody getting along merrily singing around a great big bonfire.
That may be one of the reasons that I detest the fact that Lennon's death has gotten more airtime than pearl Harbor - I don't like his ideals, mostly because it wreaks of socialism (also called anti-libertarian). The fact that he was murdered is tragic, but until this year, I couldn't even hazard a guess as to the date. Hopefully next year, things will reverse, and Pearl Harbor day will return as a staunch reminder of why the U.S. shouldn't wait until somebody else bloodies our nose.
Is this what we've come to in this country? That we've exalted the anniversary of a person's death to such a higher position than that of one of the truly defining moments of our country, where two thousand people died?
Now, I do realize that Lennon was no ordinary celebrity or rock star. He and the rest of the Beatles were a pop culture force that this country hadn't really seen since Elvis; except they had ideals. Lennon particularly was very liberal, and in his song "Imagine" laid out his utopia - no possessions, no religion, just everybody getting along merrily singing around a great big bonfire.
That may be one of the reasons that I detest the fact that Lennon's death has gotten more airtime than pearl Harbor - I don't like his ideals, mostly because it wreaks of socialism (also called anti-libertarian). The fact that he was murdered is tragic, but until this year, I couldn't even hazard a guess as to the date. Hopefully next year, things will reverse, and Pearl Harbor day will return as a staunch reminder of why the U.S. shouldn't wait until somebody else bloodies our nose.
posted by misawa at 7:58 AM
1 Comments:
Let's see, you don't like the fact that John Lennon got more airplay than Dec. 7 – I'd have to agree with you. I, unlike you, have a pretty good cable system and did not see any specials on Dec. 7. But I saw plenty about John Lennon's death. It was on just about every channel, which included ESPN. Now don't get me wrong, I grew up listening to the Beatles and like a lot of their songs. John Lennon was killed on Dec. 8, 1980 and the only reason I know this is because I saw ESPN's special during SportsCenter. Not mention that people at my work have been talking about it. We are here today because soldiers fought in War World II and died trying to defend our way of life. John Lennon did not save this country from the horrors of Japan or Germany. People like my grandfather (who passed away earlier this year) served in the Navy on battleships and came home never asking for a thing. It's because of people like them that John Lennon had the right to sing in America.
His death was tragic and does deserve some remembrance. A greater deal of rememberance should have been focused on the WWII soldiers who are sadly dying every day.
San Antonio
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