Imagine - John Lennon (Warning, slightly long question)
Asked by
belakyre (
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December 8th, 2009
As the title says, I want to ask what you guys think about the song Imagine by John Lennon. Before you go on though, please try to not be biased. We know that Lennon was a great musician, but I was puzzled about how people interpreted his song on the Internet.
Apparently, Imagine says that in order to have and maintain a world of peace and Utopia, we have to have a place where there is ”...nothing to kill or die for. A brotherhood of man.” thus implying that we must be apathetic to everything in order for peace to be bestowed upon us.
I for one, think that Lennon’s intentions were not so when he wrote this classic, as Lennon lived and loved his share of life. However, this little argument was intriguing. What do you think?
(See the original argument on http://www.debate.org/debates/John-Lennons-song-Imagine-reflects-a-bleak-existence-rather-than-a-socialist-utopia./1/)
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18 Answers
I have always thought that song was ridiculous. Crazy, pie-in-the-sky hippie crap.
I thought it was about the end of all “Us versus Them” Ideologies (religion included) and instead the universal view that we are all in the same boat. Good stuff.
I always viewed it as more peaceful, than apathetic. Nothing to kill or die for because those things that drive evil within man have ended. No one killing because of color, class inequalities, land disputes or the want of what another has.
Overall I think the song is about being accepting and respectful of your surroundings – rather than possessive and controlling.
But what I always found more interesting is the way he suggests that the more personal it becomes, the harder it is to imagine….
“imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try” very remote and ambiguous, so it’s not so hard to change your attitude….....“imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can” when it’s that close to home, people are a lot more stubborn and afraid to change.
The “nothing to kill or die for” line is in the context of “imagine there’s no countries”, so he’s talking about an end to nationalism, not an end to caring.
I don’t at all get how the song implies a need for apathy. It implies a need for people to realize that all the differences we ascribe to each other are pointless. Your nationality is nothing more than a function of where your parents lived when you were born. Your religion is nothing more than what you were taught as a child. People are just people, we are all the same, and killing each other over stupid self-identified differences like that are the reason we don’t have peace.
I mean, how long are you going to just stand there while someone keeps hitting you in the face? I know we’ve fought some wars over less-than-noble causes, but then there’s the whole DEFENSE issue. How do you think America would respond if the military just told everyone “Hang, on. Maybe they’ll stop killing our innocent citizens pretty soon and we can all go back to normal”?
Lennon crafted this song around communist ideals, but he didn’t embrace them completely. It is a wonderful song, though.
@stratman37 you’re not listening. Lennon’s saying EVERYONE has to decide war/violence/whatever isn’t worth it. The theory doesn’t apply if there’s one person (the guy hitting you in the face) who doesn’t subscribe to the philosophy.
@MrItty, right! A sound THEORY. It’ll never happen, ‘cause you’ll always have the bad guys to hit you in the face. I’d LOVE for his song to come true. But until it does, what’s your plan?
The whole point of the song is to ”IMAGINE”…
Lennon’s whole point of the song was a kind of “what-if”. I tend to agree with @ragingloli on that.
@stratman37 I don’t think peace has had a chance for a long time, if ever. And I don’t think peace will experience a chance anywhere in the near future.
@stratman37 what part of the word “Imagine” is unclear to you? He’s saying “Imagine how it would be” “Wouldn’t it be nice?” “I wish it was like this”. No where in the song does he claim that it’s reasonable, likely, or even possible.
Not about apathy, and I recently saw the documentary for Imagine, which shed some light on the personal side of John Lennon. In much of what he said in the film, he was more of a pacifist, and that he wasn’t trying to promote the idea that others should live like him, but that his lifestyle and philosophies were what was right for him, given his unique life experience.
@stratman37 In the perfect world, that Lennon was IMAGINING, there wouldn’t be anyone hitting anyone, no need to hit back. Its abstract. Nobody’s saying this is a place we can get to, nobody needs a plan to get to this place, the only thing anyone is saying is “wouldn’t it be nice?”
I think it’s a nice song but it’s also non-true. the world it describes never existed and it never will (if people will keep on doing all those awful things they do today)
and I’m not sure if a world like that would be ok. it wouldn’t. I mean, there wouldn’t be any wars, or violence and everyone would be happy and that’s a good thing, but, see, life would be boring. imagine it. no anger, no fights, nothing for you to fight for. and we would all be the same. I don’t like it as an idea. a life in peace would be nice, but too much peace would be…. boring.
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