From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<Its OK to have statues honoring warmongers (OK - a
product of his time but a warmonger all the same) but
not someone who wrote quite a few good tunes and
certainly enlightened more lives that Nelson
ever did and will do?>
Assuming that Neil Francis is serious in preferring
John Lennon to Nelson, it seems a somewhat contentious
preference. Lennon was a fair tunesmith - gutsier than
McCartney - many of whose songs enlivened our youth, but
otherwise unremarkable. Viscount Nelson, on the other
hand, far from being a warmonger ("A person who seeks
to promote or bring about war" - Shorter OED - such as
Napoleon, perhaps?) was a brilliantly able and
charismatic sailor who served his country nobly when it
was threatened by an enemy every bit as dangerous as
the Third Reich. And one is much more free to be
"enlightened" if one's country is free; I think Nelson
did rather more to ensure our freedom than did John
Lennon. Neither am I sure that Lennon brought us much
enlightenment anyway - cf the drippy, shallow, intensely
irritating "Imagine"... He was an entertainer, for
goodness' sake, not remotely to be compared with Nelson,
who was worth a dozen Lennons and fifteen Tony Blairs.
Quite right about Faraday, of course - now if only he'd
been a pop star...
--
I have to say this whole debate is a bit silly, because
to suggest that "monument" in Trafalgar Square is in
any way a tribute to John Lennon is laughable.
Yoko Ono is a "UN goodwill ambassador" and is largely
responsible for the one outside the UN HQ in New York.
This is actually Yoko Ono and some artist in Sweden
conspiring to do things in the name of John Lennon
because Yoko Ono wants to show the world what a
great gal she is, when in fact it is personal vanity,
and this artist in Sweden wants to make a name for
himself.
John Lennon is largely irrelevant to the proceedings
other than being a limp excuse for cluttering up
Trafalgar Square.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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