John Lennon once said he believes the world is run by maniacs. Has much changed since then?

Has much changed since then? Insane people are carving off bigger slices for themselves than they were. On the good side, some of them are “giving back” a little to appease a few people.

Well, he was killed by one, so there’s that amount of confirmation…

@CWOTUS Yes you have a point there

“Imagine no possessions” wrote the millionaire pop star with a mansion, white rolls royce, trophy wife etc…
Lennon was full of shit, typical scouser then.

He must have been speaking in general, not specifically. Specifically, now there are more maniacs.

Aaaagh…I’ll never forget Lennons murder, it was like the 9–11 of the early 80’s. Yes, the world is run by maniacs, and as @CWOTUS said, poor John, the irony of that statement ey?

@ucme

Came here to say something along the same lines. Well done.

I can totally understand the objection to Lennon asking us to imagine no possessions; considering his wealth.

However, I am willing to look past this flaw within his philosophy. Why? Well quite frankly Lennon was very inspirational in terms of his political views and take on human rights. He was still a human being and far from perfect. The song “Imagine” was mainly about promoting peace within humanity. It’s all about looking at the bigger picture of what Lennon was attempting to promote. I still consider him to be the first humanist to inspire me.

The more important quote from Imagine, we should be considering is: “imagine all the people, living life in peace…”

I’d say that there’s a fundamental insanity endemic across human cultures, namely the failure to grasp the interconnectedness of everything. On an individual level, this manifests as selfishness. On a corporate level, this manifests as greed and exploitation. On a national level, this manifests as colonialism, oppression, war. These are all behaviors that come from not seeing the fundamental unity. That’s a distortion of reality, which is a workable definition of insanity.

It’s not surprising that those who get to positions of “running the world” tend to be those who thoroughly buy into this delusion. To advance your own interests (or those of your stockholders or electorate) over the interests of others requires the power that comes with being at the top of the heap.

Things have changed, but many aspects of society have gotten more insane. Fortunately there is also more and more awareness of the insanity, and more and more development of sane countermeasures.

I’m having a hard time not going ad hominem on @ucme. Seems to me there’s at least as much ad hominem irony to be dumped on a pro-material-wealth-amassment commentator, for criticizing an artist pointing to society’s madness for having accumulated some wealth.

Suffice it to say there are also reputable psychiatrists who also say our society and politics have become pathological.

When someone feels the need to translate the very easy to understand, clunky lyrics of Imagine to me, then it’s pretty much time to make like a xmas present & wrap things up.
Oh & @Zaku please may I suggest you give your head a wobble?

Lennon’s command that we Imagine is a somewhat pretentious thing.

It’s not a challenge at all for me to envision concepts such as world peace, a Star Trek like moneyless utopia, the obliteration of famine, poverty, etc.

Who wouldn’t be for such things?

Lennon had the means to become a resident of the US. The musician lounges in his white bed espousing pacifism while enjoying the safety and security that comes from a strong and well supplied military.

Sure. World peace would advance our global society by enormous bounds, but it’s only going to work if EVERYONE gets on board.

Some societies have made it clear they have no interest progress thanks to their stupid, bloodthirsty god.

You’re preaching to the wrong people John.

@SecondHandStoke To be fair it was not a command, it was a request.

@SecondHandStoke So much pop music uses the imperative voice, and that does slightly irritate me, when it’s something like “Shake your booty!” or “Everybody dance now!”, let alone “ev’rybody Wang Chung tonight”.

Feeling compelled by the invitation of “Imagine”, like ucme’s reaction, seems to me like the song is doing what it was designed to – to bring out what we’re attached and defensive about, that gets in the way of people being their natural loving true selves.

I am the eggman…

@ucme Good for you! I am the walrus :)

A big horny bastard?

Nope.