Review of The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006) by Brian V — 15 Jul 2008

I saw this on the train from NYC-Syracuse yesterday, and on the heels of WALL-E the day before and the upcoming election, and what can I do about all of the bad stuff going on in the world questions....I appreciated the juxtaposition of his musical genius (undeniable) and his truly good-intentioned peace advocacy with his celebrity allowing him to get away with whatever he wanted, reinforcing his anti-authority anarchy advocacy. I fear he is seen as an all-good martyr, his "us vs. them" philosophy echoed in the liberal vs conservative, peace vs. war, life vs. death dyad. It is just not that simple! John Lennon is a perfect example of a complicated, quite flawed, quite brilliant, quite scary individual. When group mentality can be flared by an inciting influence who acts recklessly and seems to not see the complex ripple effect of his actions, it is scary.

I appreciated hearing the varying opinions, fleshed out by the extras on the DVD, of those who worked with, for, and against Lennon, including Geraldo Rivera, a journalist whose credibility seems questionable to me now, and now a Fox News correspondent (!), Lennon advocate in the day; this man's words are especially confusing to me on how we shall handle the dangerousness of free speech and the media's misadventures, and the responsibilities we all have to be peaceful, true, fair, and, well, responsible.

John Lennon was not responsible. He behaved and gave voice to his egocentrism, narcissism, that he could do whatever he wanted, he was right, so that was all there was to it. How dangerous is that?

On the other hand, how dangerous was Nixon et al. then, and Bush et al. now?

I think they are all crazy.