Yoko Ono

[yallerdawg]

[img][/img]

https://www.facebook.com/yokoonopage/photos/a.10150157196475535.335529.10334070534/10154655824920535/?type=3&theater

[ghostsinthemachine]

1. The one and only time my Dad ever made any sense

Was the day after John was murdered. He said "maybe it's time to think about gun control".

[CountAllVotes]

3. This fool I worked with at the time said ...

Oh HIM. Wanted to tell the freak where to go but would have lost my crap $5.00/hr. job had I done so.

36 years later ... and nothing has changed.

Poor Yoko -- long time to be a widow!

[calimary]

26. One of the guys I was working with got into a shouting match with me in the middle of the newsroom

about it.

I was at NBC at the time. I said the loss of John Lennon was EPIC. Ranked up near or AT the top of the "loss of the century" category. This dude on the assignment desk vehemently disagreed. We were actually yelling at each other. And I have to admit - it affected how I regarded him, professionally, from then on. In the negative, that is.

I also felt the same toward the veteran newsman Edwin Newman, who had one of the daily one-minute featurettes that fed out to radio affiliates with the feature package that was made available several times a day. I remember sitting at my desk - and literally GAPING at the little closed-circuit monitor whose sound I had turned up, because I was listening for a couple of items I needed for my shift that day. Edwin Newman spent that day's 60-seconds complaining that too much had been made of John Lennon's murder, and questioned the reasoning for so much airtime given over on radio and TV to the death of the former Beatle. I'll NEVER forget it as long as I live. Somewhere in there, Newman opined that "granted, Lennon had SOME talent..."

"SOME talent?????" WHAT THE FUCKIN' FUCK???? "SOME talent?????????"

Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?????? I remember just staring at the monitor, stunned, with my jaw falling toward the floor. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was literally in shock. And from Edwin Newman? Someone I'd watched covering the Kennedy assassination, the space program, all those political conventions at which he was one of the star floor reporters along with such legendary heavyweights as John Chancellor, Sander Vanocur, Cassie Mackin, and Frank McGee - and their anchors of eminence - Chet Huntley & David Brinkley? I idolized those people! Every last one of 'em. Wanted to grow up and be like them, and maybe even do that thing they were doing for the Nightly News every dinner hour! Edwin Newman was one of my idols - until that day. I never felt the same about him after that. All I could think of was "shame on you, Mr. Newman. SHAME on you!"

[CountAllVotes]

34. I'll admit it

I got drunk that night and listened to his LPs late into the night. I was devastated and I still am devastated. He was one of a kind we shall never see the likes of John Lennon again, that is for certain.

As for the haters out there, ya'll can all go fuck yourselves IMO for hating a genius!

[calimary]

41. Shit - I still miss him.

It happened on a Monday night. Shit, CountAllVotes - you take me back! 1980. I was working at NBC Radio in Burbank and had put in a full day's shift already. I was home with my husband, done for the day, eating dinner in my bathrobe. The phone rang. It was the night-side assignment desk guy in Burbank. This crusty-but-benign rumpled ol' dude who everybody loved, and teased for his growly voice, and quirky sense of humor, and how he was always a good sport and game for everything. Every one of us in the bureau, male and female, could do an impersonation of him. But he was also kind of out-of-it as far as keeping up with pop culture.

He called me at home and alerted me - that "uh, New York just called. One of the Lennon Brothers just got shot."

Okay, anybody old enough to remember the Lennon Sisters of "Lawrence Welk Show" fame - three pretty young virginal look-alike sisters with lacquered hairdos who were adorable in a classic 1950s way, whose singing style was this soupy-but-perfect three-part harmony? I froze for a moment. Kinda dumbfounded. Turned to the phone and just gaped at it. "'One of the Lennon Brothers just got shot'...'Lennon Brothers'"? And then - "nah... he couldn't possibly be talking about JOHN Lennon of the Beatles? Nah, couldn't be... ... ...could it?" And boom! I was back on the clock, throwing my clothes back on and grabbing my car keys to hightail it out to Burbank to work react on the unfolding story - for most of the rest of the night.

Sheesh what a night. We worked at an experimental young-adult radio news network, one that served rock stations, so this was a HUGE story for us. It was the ONLY story for a week. The full-on tragedy of it didn't hit me til Friday of that week.

I'm still not over it, either. Many times through the years I've thought back to his political activism and courageous outspokenness, and wonder what he'd think if he were still here. Up to as recently as last night.

[malaise]

35. That assassination was huge

Agree

[calimary]

36. I thought it was comparable to the death of Picasso.

Of that magnitude. John Lennon was a giant. He transcended. He was SO much more than a popular rocker, and man was he a colossus among popular rockers.

[malaise]

37. Agreed

Imagine was and is my anthem-my vision of our planet

[calimary]

38. I made an art glass concrete paver of the first couple of measures.

The glass is kind of rainbow-y. Seemed fitting. It's out front! I made a series of them. Fire, Earth, Air, Water; the Sun, moon and Earth, and the first two bars of "Imagine" - with the little glass pieces forming the musical notes. I remember using a piece of sheet music, but everything had to be in reverse, because you embed the surface design at the bottom of your paver frame, and then pour the "Quick-crete" on to cover it. And when it all sets, you flip it over and remove the frame and there's your design right there on top!

[KatyMan]

39. Very interesting!

Can you post a pic?

[calimary]

43. I think I just figured out how...

[img]?3[/img]

Yep!

imgur.com works differently than the last time I used it. Had to seek guidance within the "Welcome and Help" forum here!

Thanks, demmiblue! http://www.democraticunderground.com/125612037

[calimary]

44. Here are the others in what my husband calls the "Magic Path":

FIRE:
[img]?1[/img]

EARTH:
[img][/img]

AIR:
[img]?1[/img]

WATER:
[img][/img]

COSMOS:
[img]?1[/img]

[KatyMan]

46. Those are all great,

thanks for the pics! Nice work.

[malaise]

40. That must be beautiful

Wow!

[wordpix]

42. Lennon was a genius as are McCartney and Harrison

and maybe Ringo held them together. Whatever, they're geniuses

[Vinca]

2. Chilling. I had no idea it was as high as that.

Poor John - I miss him.

[Lucinda]

4. ...

[treestar]

5. powerful symbol

[ZoomBubba]

6. Unfortunately ...

... the right stance is the wrong one to take politically. It sucks, but vocal support of gun control isn't going to help Democrats win seats in 2018 and that's what matters above all right now. Guns make people who own them feel like they can protect themselves from dangerous people they perceive being on all sides of them ... unless the perception changes, the number of gun deaths and school shootings aren't going to amount to many gains politically outside areas that already support such things. That's just the reality of it.

[yallerdawg]

7. Yoko says...

Dear Friends,
Every day, 91 Americans are killed with guns.
We are turning this beautiful country into a War Zone.
Together, let's bring back America, the green land of Peace.
The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience.
After 36 years, our son Sean and I still miss him.

Yoko Ono Lennon
8 December 2016

[hfojvt]

14. actually

the homicide rate is way down from what it was in the 1980s and 1990s.

So, we are NOT "turning this country into a war zone". We are far more peaceful now than in those days.

[yallerdawg]

19. Last 72 Hours - not a war zone and much more peaceful.

http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/last-72-hours

[NCTraveler]

21. Thanks for the link. Wow. nt.

[hfojvt]

23. yep - there are always gonna be some homicides

homicide rate by year

1980 - 10.2
1985 - 8.0
1990 - 9.4
1995 - 8.2
2000 - 5.5
2005 - 5.6
2010 - 4.8
2015 - 4.4

Clearly, the facts say we are "turning in to" a much less violent place than we used to be in 1980-1995, although really just getting back to pre-1970 levels.

[yallerdawg]

24. Yep.

Statistics are so comforting.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. People whom live in such hyper-exaggerated fear of their surroundings

need to have their perceptions challenged once in a while. This is the USA, not Iraq, Somalia, or some war-torn third-world country. We should be so lucky to live in a relatively peaceful, stable country. Yet the NRA puts out this vision of our country as a lawless anarchy with roving gangs and drug dealers threatening a cowed law abiding populace and lawmakers respond to that in several states by continuing to add on to the already quite long list (in some places) that they want to see guns allowed, seemingly to the point that there are virtually no restrictions and guns are allowed everywhere. I mean, what's the logic of allowing people to carry guns in churches? Daycares? I think that advocating for background checks, licensure, etc. are tough sells for the public but I don't want to see us get to the point where a bunch of people show up anywhere and everywhere with guns. I'd also like to ask, when *would* be a good time to address the issue of gun violence in our society? How long do we need to keep our (gun)powder dry?

[ZoomBubba]

12. It's not going to happen ...

... for a long time. You can tell people all sorts of facts and it won't mean much. One of the problems we have in trying to make such a case is the lack of correlation between per capita gun ownership and homicide rates. Statistics are mixed — states with the highest ownership of guns also are among those that have the lowest homicide rates along with states with tight restrictions and low ownership and vice versa. If you try to expand control, you're going to run into that.

Plus, this is an issue that hurts us. If we want to win, then we have to de-emphasize it and let candidates take whatever position will win them office in their state. I mean, what's more important, winning and moving forward with baby steps or being right, but losing, which will at best keep us where we are right now or at worse, take us backwards?

[meadowlander]

9. Gun control is in part about changing that perception.

The more insecure people buy guns, the more everyone else feels insecure and like they need a gun.

It's like riding the bus. When everyone does it, it's cheap and efficient. The more people take cars, the slower the traffic, and the more expensive and infrequent the service gets, the more people buy cars.

We need to create a positive feedback loop where fewer people feel like they need guns. Let's make the conversation about "actually crime statistics have been dropping for decades and not every brown person is going to rape or kill you or steal your stuff" rather than "you can't have that gun, it's dangerous".

People need to see how silly and groundless a lot of the fears they've been living with are. What are the actual chances that the government is going to round them up into FEMA camps? Not very, on either side. Even with Trump in the White House.

We need to deescalate the rhetoric, starting with our own.

[rgbecker]

10. Well put. The fear in this country is what we need to fear the most.

I think FDR said something similar.

[ZoomBubba]

18. Problem is ...

... you won't be able to do that within the next few election cycles. That's an argument that will probably take decades to win out. Right now we have Democrats in pro-gun states that really need to win in 2018.

[meadowlander]

20. No reason why we can't do both.

I think you've missed the point of my previous post.

I'm not talking about arguing for taking guns away. We've been doing that for fifty years already and haven't gotten anywhere with it.

I'm talking about let's have a real fact based conversation about crime and risk in this country including terrorism, let's call out fear-mongering, and let's reality check ourselves when we're engaging in hyperbolic speculation about government abuse of power.

All of that just feeds into a loop where we all feel more and more afraid of each other when we should be working on the real problems like dealing with climate change and creating an equitable society that respects human dignity in an economy where more and more work is automated and there is less demand for unskilled labour.

Republican win by using racism and fear to split us apart and that same racism and fear is feeding the gun crisis.

[ZoomBubba]

22. That's a good place to start ...

... but where do you start? We live in a society where information is consumed by social media and we learned facts aren't very important there. Nor is conversation. We are at the mercy of Twitter and Facebook.

[meadowlander]

30. I'd suggest

challenging bullshit wherever you see it.

Everyone has a crazy Relative X who posts batshit stuff on Facebook and most people just say, "Oh that's crazy Relative X again, not worth responding to." Except it is because your responses are seen by everyone else on Relative X's mailing list and empowers other people to speak up to.

Very few people, even on social media, live in an entirely hermitically sealed circle where they only post with like-minded people. And when you call them on their bullshit, you make them think twice about posting it again.

Positive peer pressure is actually really effective and I think a lot of people have been neglecting to use it because they feel shy, or don't have the time or energy, or don't want to harm the relationship by being "impolite".

And again, we all have the power to "be the change" we want to see in the world. My little 13 year old niece went to bed in tears on election night because she genuinely thought nuclear war was inevitable under a Trump presidency. That really drove home to me the need to be a bit more measured and cautious about what we say, even when it's gallows humour, because it does tend to feed into the general atmosphere of fear and mistrust.

[ZoomBubba]

33. There comes a point ....

... where you just have to let them have what they want so they can learn it's not what they wanted after all. If you choose to "challenge bullshit" at every turn, you're going to wear yourself down to a point where you just give up. People believe what they want to believe and you can march out all the facts and figures you want, it won't matter to them until they do it themselves.

[barbtries]

13. i disagree

and will continue to vote for gun sense candidates. people have to stand for something and the polls do not bear out your assertion that candidates should not be vocally supportive of gun sense in this country.

[ZoomBubba]

15. It depends on what part of the country they're in ...

... and no matter what the polls say, gun owners turn out in high numbers and is one of the contributing factors in the weakening of the Democratic Party in many states. Winning is the number one priority now and we can't do that if we make gun control a centerpiece, that's just a fact. We need to protect Senators and gain House members in some of the heaviest gun ownership states in the country in 2018 ... if the Democrats keep trying to put a focus on gun control, we will lose those states and the GOP will have an even bigger majority.

Our situation in the Senate is especially dire since Democrats have more than twice the number of seats in contention than Republicans. Half of those seats are in high gun-ownership states that went Trump. We have to shift focus away from that issue.

[yallerdawg]

25. More than 65,000,000 voters agree with you.

And "guns" comes up on no exit polls I've seen.

[calimary]

27. Welcome to DU, ZoomBubba.

As much as I wish (and OH! How I wish!) you were wrong, you're not. Sometimes I have to fight really hard not to feel like giving up on this country for just such a reason as this.

[ZoomBubba]

32. I don't think it's about giving up ...

... I just think that we can't expect to make broad steps at once. We're working against generations of culture here which is not only entrenched in white conservative politics, but spread across other races and political dispositions as well. If you go online, there are gun groups for blacks, gays, liberals and pretty much everything else under the sun. Right now, it seems almost impossible to find some sort of headway, especially when you can't even get incidents like Sandy Hook to change people's minds.

[spanone]

29. maybe they can't win seats, but they'll save lives...what's more important? that's the reality of it

[ZoomBubba]

31. If they don't win seats ...

... they can't really do much to save lives. It comes down to winning and possibly move forward one baby step at a time or losing and going backwards. There's not really any other option.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. If every single gun death got front page coverage in the newspapers

and was the lead story on the evening news, people might finally notice just how many die from guns every single day.

Some years back the Kansas City Star did a series where they wrote a story on every single person who died in a car accident there during one particular month. I forget how many it turned out to be, but it was quite shocking. And those were car crashes of various kinds.

Something similar needs to be done to bring attention to gun deaths. Including all the suicides. Often apologists for guns seem to think those don't really count, but most of those people wouldn't kill themselves if they didn't have ready access to a gun.

[sheshe2]

16. Tears

[George II]

17. That was a sad day in America, and I suspect we've gotten even worse (and sadder)

[Omaha Steve]

28. Thanks for posting

K&R!

OS

[H2O Man]

45. I love Yoko.

My son worked for her this summer and fall.

[yallerdawg]

47. John sure loved her, too.

Theirs is one of the great love stories of modern times.

All of us have a hole in our soul.

That hole has been echoed too, too many times.