Banish Lennon's "Woman is the..."

[linclink]

I'm sorry you find it offensive, but NO I do not agree with any of your statements.
The power of that song is that it makes a number of statements...of course it speaks to the feminist perspective about the horrors that women undergo in a world of out of control patriarchy, but it also uses a word, that speaks to another historical disenfranchisement...that of African Americans. It should be noted that while I'm sure that there were individual people , like yourself (and you have every right to be) who were taken aback or offended, that not only were there no groups at all, not one, ever who spoke at at being offended by it, but quite the opposite, many women's & Black groups came out in huge vocal support of the song, noting the power & grace & intelligence with which it made it's many points.
A friend of mine on FB, recently picked the 5 greatest songs he knew, he himself is a lifelong songwriter with a Master's in English with concentrations in the areas of litreature of the disenfranchised/outsiders, and he, quite literally, specializes in women's & American Black literature...he chose this song as one his 5 greatest songs ever. He is also VERY left of center, to say the least politically. If that doesn't speak volumes about both the intent, and effectiveness of the song. I don't know what does.
You have every right to your opinion, and while the severity of the method Lennon chooses, is powerful...it is so by choice...he did it to mirror the severity of the conditions about which he wrote. Sometimes John dropped the F bomb to make a point, because he felt so strongly, here he dropped the N bomb...in any such cases most people got that he wasn't being lewd, or making any slurs...quite the opposite, he was being eloquent, extreme maybe, but eloquent, in the interest of advancing the truth about justice that was needed somewhere it was lacking.
Maybe you might think about the song from the perspective I've outlined...you may still find it noxious...as I said taht is your right, but after thinking about how the majority of people encounter it, maybe you'll reconsider your request to have it banned. If not then all I can say is that I not only don't support your request here, but I am very opposed to what you are requesting. It is an important song, that needs to be heard, and banning it would an ironic, and unfortunate choice, to the extreme.
Here is John handling answering criticisms such as yours...I hope this helps...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5lMxWWK218
Blessings!!

[Scott Dossett]

I'm sorry you find it offensive, but NO I do not agree with any of your statements.
The power of that song is that it makes a number of statements...of course it speaks to the feminist perspective about the horrors that women undergo in a world of out of control patriarchy, but it also uses a word, that speaks to another historical disenfranchisement...that of African Americans. It should be noted that while I'm sure that there were individual people , like yourself (and you have every right to be) who were taken aback or offended, that not only were there no groups at all, not one, ever who spoke at at being offended by it, but quite the opposite, many women's & Black groups came out in huge vocal support of the song, noting the power & grace & intelligence with which it made it's many points.
A friend of mine on FB, recently picked the 5 greatest songs he knew, he himself is a lifelong songwriter with a Master's in English with concentrations in the areas of litreature of the disenfranchised/outsiders, and he, quite literally, specializes in women's & American Black literature...he chose this song as one his 5 greatest songs ever. He is also VERY left of center, to say the least politically. If that doesn't speak volumes about both the intent, and effectiveness of the song. I don't know what does.
You have every right to your opinion, and while the severity of the method Lennon chooses, is powerful...it is so by choice...he did it to mirror the severity of the conditions about which he wrote. Sometimes John dropped the F bomb to make a point, because he felt so strongly, here he dropped the N bomb...in any such cases most people got that he wasn't being lewd, or making any slurs...quite the opposite, he was being eloquent, extreme maybe, but eloquent, in the interest of advancing the truth about justice that was needed somewhere it was lacking.
Maybe you might think about the song from the perspective I've outlined...you may still find it noxious...as I said taht is your right, but after thinking about how the majority of people encounter it, maybe you'll reconsider your request to have it banned. If not then all I can say is that I not only don't support your request here, but I am very opposed to what you are requesting. It is an important song, that needs to be heard, and banning it would an ironic, and unfortunate choice, to the extreme.
Here is John handling answering criticisms such as yours...I hope this helps...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5lMxWWK218
Blessings!!

I have no problem with John's song and I truly understand what he's trying to say...Heck, my wife LOVES the song...I like it too...My problem is that I play MACCA radio while at work...In my workplace, I'm at least 30 years older than everyone else and most, if not all of my co-workers, have never even heard the song so I usually end up running across my office to hit the mute until its over...I do the same for Working Class Hero too eventhough its probably my favorite Lennon song...they're both just too hard to explain to these youngsters

[james1985]

I find John Lennon's "Woman is the..." to be offensive. I advocate banishing it from Macca Radio. Those who wish to listen to it can purchase their own copy. If it is not banished, the time of its playing should be announced in advance, so listners can avoid it. There is no reason for playing this among the best music in the world. Who's with me?

I think no-one's with you.

It's a great track, it's a powerful message.

[RickStark79]

I personally don't like the song. I don't like the word being used a descriptive term towards any form of people and it's melodically boring to me.

That being said, if I don't wanna hear it, I just turn it off. I suggest you do the same thing Alfreden. I do not endorse any form of censorship.

[chris]

if you don't like it, turn it down or turn it off. what...are you going to decide what we can read now too? sorry, censorship blows. go somewhere else if you don't like hearing the songs mike plays.

[JumpinJoe49]

I personally don't like the song. I don't like the word being used a descriptive term towards any form of people and it's melodically boring to me.

That being said, if I don't wanna hear it, I just turn it off. I suggest you do the same thing Alfreden. I do not endorse any form of censorship.

I agree Rick..............To each his own............That is why there is an off button......volume button.......or just rip the cord out of the wall. People have a right to listen to whatever they want or do what they want......If someone does not like something, it is their choice. If all of us start to ban something we don't like................Hell, we might just be listening to a dozen songs or so. Censorship is not good in music or LIFE....

[jjs]

I find John Lennon's "Woman is the..." to be offensive. I advocate banishing it from Macca Radio. Those who wish to listen to it can purchase their own copy. If it is not banished, the time of its playing should be announced in advance, so listners can avoid it. There is no reason for playing this among the best music in the world. Who's with me?

If you want to banish it because it's a tuneless piece of crap I'm all for it. I can't stand the song. If you want to banish it because the word N igger offends you, then you are what should be banished.

Banning a song, a word, a book, a poem or whatever because it contains a word that "offends" you, doesn't make the rest of us any better off.

[jjs]

I find John Lennon's "Woman is the..." to be offensive. I advocate banishing it from Macca Radio. Those who wish to listen to it can purchase their own copy. If it is not banished, the time of its playing should be announced in advance, so listners can avoid it. There is no reason for playing this among the best music in the world. Who's with me?

I think no-one's with you.

It's a great track, it's a powerful message.

I think it's tuneless, festering pile of crap. I'll bet you anything Yoko wrote it. The message is BS. After all the woman's lib and woman's equality, the majority of women "paint their faces and dance" to please men (not that they'd admit to it) by their own choice. Amazing how that all worked out.

But the quality of the song is not the point, is it? The point is should it be banned because it contains the word n igger.

[jjs]

I'm sorry you find it offensive, but NO I do not agree with any of your statements.
The power of that song is that it makes a number of statements...of course it speaks to the feminist perspective about the horrors that women undergo in a world of out of control patriarchy, but it also uses a word, that speaks to another historical disenfranchisement...that of African Americans. It should be noted that while I'm sure that there were individual people , like yourself (and you have every right to be) who were taken aback or offended, that not only were there no groups at all, not one, ever who spoke at at being offended by it, but quite the opposite, many women's & Black groups came out in huge vocal support of the song, noting the power & grace & intelligence with which it made it's many points.
A friend of mine on FB, recently picked the 5 greatest songs he knew, he himself is a lifelong songwriter with a Master's in English with concentrations in the areas of litreature of the disenfranchised/outsiders, and he, quite literally, specializes in women's & American Black literature...he chose this song as one his 5 greatest songs ever. He is also VERY left of center, to say the least politically. If that doesn't speak volumes about both the intent, and effectiveness of the song. I don't know what does.
You have every right to your opinion, and while the severity of the method Lennon chooses, is powerful...it is so by choice...he did it to mirror the severity of the conditions about which he wrote. Sometimes John dropped the F bomb to make a point, because he felt so strongly, here he dropped the N bomb...in any such cases most people got that he wasn't being lewd, or making any slurs...quite the opposite, he was being eloquent, extreme maybe, but eloquent, in the interest of advancing the truth about justice that was needed somewhere it was lacking.
Maybe you might think about the song from the perspective I've outlined...you may still find it noxious...as I said taht is your right, but after thinking about how the majority of people encounter it, maybe you'll reconsider your request to have it banned. If not then all I can say is that I not only don't support your request here, but I am very opposed to what you are requesting. It is an important song, that needs to be heard, and banning it would an ironic, and unfortunate choice, to the extreme.
Here is John handling answering criticisms such as yours...I hope this helps...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5lMxWWK218
Blessings!!

I have no problem with John's song and I truly understand what he's trying to say...Heck, my wife LOVES the song...I like it too...My problem is that I play MACCA radio while at work...In my workplace, I'm at least 30 years older than everyone else and most, if not all of my co-workers, have never even heard the song so I usually end up running across my office to hit the mute until its over...I do the same for Working Class Hero too eventhough its probably my favorite Lennon song...they're both just too hard to explain to these youngsters

If they don't mind the fact that you're playing this fogey music to begin with, they won't mind either of these songs.