I think I saw the Killing Fields (1984) when it came
out, but I really don’t remember. I may have seen it on video afterwards. It’s
a film about the Cambodian genocide that took place between 1975 and 1979. I
don’t remember the details of the film, but I remember the ending. John Lennon’s
Imagine plays over the final scenes and the credits. A friend of mine at the
time remarked about how powerful the song was. I don’t know what the intention
of the filmmakers was, but I always thought the opposite. Surely, they were
pointing out the irony of the song’s lyrics juxtaposed with an attempt to put
them into practice.
I was reminded of this the other day when a group of
Hollywood actors and actresses filmed themselves singing Imagine. They must
have thought that a feel-good lefty hymn is just what the world needs right
now. But they demonstrated once more how actors are paid to pretend not to
think.
Let’s analyse the song:
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
This has been the goal of every Communist regime. The
aim of Communism is to create Heaven on earth by abolishing the idea of an
afterlife. Communists think that if they can only make people live for today
rather than dwell on their reward in heaven, then equality and abundance will
be possible.
But what has been the result. Every attempt to begin
the path towards Communism has led to Hell on earth. Communism is responsible
for more deaths than any other ideology. It has created poverty and it has
taken away people’s freedom. It has done so precisely because people think it’s
easy if you try.
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
This is straight out of the Communist hymn the Internationale.
After all the chorus of that song goes:
This is the final struggle
Let us group together,
and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be the human race.
In fact, the nation state and religion have been the
greatest opponents of communism. Those countries like Poland which kept their
faith despite Communist attempts to eradicate it were the least Communist. Christianity
is the foundation of Western morality and the idea that individuals matter, and
we are each responsible for our own actions. Only by abolishing Christianity
could Communism change human nature by changing our morality and in this way
bring about collectivisation. Faith and family were what prevented this. This
is why every Communist regime fought against them.
The result was not peace. The result was internal war
with Communist regime invariably fighting against its own people and the division
of the world into two armed camps armed with nuclear weapons. Imagine going
back to the Cold War.
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
The aim of Communism was always to abolish property. In
Britain we can frequently trace ownership back many generations. In formerly
communist countries the ownership of most buildings and most land began with a
decision by the state to steal it and reallocate it. But it was precisely the
attempt to abolish property and with it the profit motive (“Greed”), that meant
Communist countries were both poor and also hungry. Because people did not own
their own homes they didn’t look after them. Because land was owned
collectively it was frequently treated carelessly and spoiled. The Great Chinese
Famine (1959-1961) killed between 15 million and 45 million people precisely
because Mao attempted to make real the lyrics that John Lennon would rather
stupidly write a decade later.
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll
join us
And the world will be as
one
This is our problem. Too many people in the world are
dreamers. They are also hypocrites. They like to imagine that socialism which is
just a stage on the way to Communism will solve the world’s problems. It won’t.
It will make them worse.
The individual, the family and the sovereign nation
state with democratic government, free markets and a judicial system free of
corruption protects us from all dreamers and especially from rich actors living
in mansions pretending to want no possessions.