You Say You Want A Revolution... [how Beatles music helped hollow out communism]

Newsweek ^ | September 22, 2003 | Jonathan Alter

[ejdrapes]

You Say You Want A Revolution...
In the Middle East, unlike in the U.S.S.R., young rebels are the enemies of the West. Bin Laden’s picture is the forbidden icon

Edward Teller and Paul McCartney didn’t know each other, but maybe they should have. The nuclear physicist and father of the H-bomb, who died last week at 95, was the model for Dr. Strangelove. A fierce anti-communist, his advice to Ronald Reagan to launch Star Wars is credited by some conservative analysts with sweeping the Soviet Union into the dustbin of history.

AND THE CONNECTION between Teller and the Beatles would be... what? That Ringo starred in a movie with Peter Sellers? Actually, many Russians themselves believe that the Western cultural forces symbolized by Beatles music helped hollow out communism, slowly eroding its authority until it collapsed. That it disintegrated without a huge war is the greatest blessing of the last half of the 20th century. In other words, “hard power” (Western strength and resolve) and “soft power” (Western ideas of freedom) worked together, with plenty of help from brave refuseniks, a pragmatic, bumbling and ultimately peace-loving Mikhail Gorbachev—and the numbing effects of vodka.

[Vigilanteman]

It starts out as an interesting perspective, but ends up as a polemic work trying to give the Beatles credit for what Reagan, Thatcher and other conservative leaders accomplished.

[JOHANNES801]

If you go carrying pictures of chairman moa,you arnt going to make it anyhow.

[AmericaUnited]

One of the main planks of communism for destroying the West is via "moral decay." The Beatles started the "moral decay" revolution of the 60's.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Ok, what's fair is fair.

If we are to give the Beatles credit for toppling the iron curtain (maybe partially justified), then they have to take blame for being rotten influences to the young people of the 60s and leading many to destruction (definately justified). The Beatles lead many to experiment with drugs by their bad example.

I love the Beatles music but as role models they were terrible. It used to make me cringe when I saw Ringo Starr on a childrens program knowing his past.

[JOHANNES801]

AmericaUnited you are 100% correct.It continues to get worse.

[JENINMO]

Ironically, the "message" in the Beatles' music was hardly democracy, it was the opposite. The Beatles were constantly searching for something they never found in a spiritual sense. But, don't mind me, I've never liked the Beatles, never liked their music.

[DoctorMichael]

My take:

The Beatles started with "Silly Love Songs" such as 'I Want to Hold Your Hand', etc. They began to be taken seriously by both themselves and were seized upon by the nascent New Left.

In the end their original message of LOVE was transmuted into the same old message as Rousseau, 300 years before that was part of the scene prior to the French Revolution, "Gefult ist alles" {"Feeling is everything"}. There was no place for REASON; Passion was the most important.

They followed their 'Love Songs' to their ultimate philosophical end state and 'Imagine(d)' no God and no Country as stated by Marx. Perhaps the author is 'projecting' in a grand Freudian slip?

[NutmegDevil]

What I do know about the topic - jonathan alter did absolutely nothing for our side during the fight against communism. He sucks.

[colderwater]

I find it hard to believe that a Hungarian jew who escaped the Nazi terror would be the model for Dr. Strangelove....

-c.w.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It was the Gipper (assisted by Pope John Paul and the Polish shipyard workers union) who whupped the Rooskies without fireing a shot (or drafting a single young man).

[Skooz]

bump for later.

[SamAdams76]

In a very weird sense, Ronald Reagan was to communism what Yoko Ono was to the Beatles.

[Agnes Heep]

The nuclear physicist and father of the H-bomb, who died last week at 95, was the model for Dr. Strangelove. I thought "Dr. Strangelove" was a funny and well-made movie, and it tried to distribute the satire between both parties to the cold war. But come on; Strangelove, like Col. Batguano, was a total whack job; a manipulated character whom no one could believe in. It's a good thing they relegated him to a minor role in the story.

[Mr. Bird]

He was vilified by the Left after he assisted in the investigation that led to the yanking of Oppenheimer's clearance. However misplaced the caricature was, it's no surprise that Kubrick would have hated him, at least at that point in time.

[boris]

IMAGINE
by John Lennon

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 isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
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 I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

[WOSG]

"In a very weird sense, Ronald Reagan was to communism what Yoko Ono was to the Beatles."

-LOL, I nominate that for 'quote of the week'!

[ejdrapes]

then they have to take blame for being rotten influences to the young people of the 60s and leading many to destruction (definately justified). The Beatles lead many to experiment with drugs by their bad example. Exactly how did they lead people to experiment with drugs? What specifically did they do that encouraged people to become drug users? What songs of theirs promoted drug taking?

[King Prout]

oooo!

[King Prout]

even when I was a stupid little kid, I thought that song was about the dumbest load of puckey I had ever heard.
Now, in my maturity, that assessment has solidified to the approximate density of neutronium.
IMHO Lennon was a comsymp gassbag who died several years too late.