The second shooter was on the grassy knoll. The CIA sells crack for profit. Roswell, N.M. The moon landing. Sept. 11, 2001 was an inside job, don't you know? Conspiracy theories are fun and, in an age of ""The X-Files"" and ""24,"" it's easy to find yourself second-guessing even the most straight-forward information. When I recently saw the trailer for the new documentary, ""The U.S. vs. John Lennon,"" a bell went off somewhere in the back of my mind about some vague conspiracy surrounding his shooting. I'd never really bought into it, but I'd never really investigated it, either.
What do you know about Dec. 8, 1980? This is the sum total of what I knew before reading more on the subject: A man named Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon in front of his apartment building, as he and Yoko were returning home from a recording session. I knew Chapman was labeled as ""insane"" and that he'd been reading ""Catcher in the Rye."" And that's about it. As it turns out, that's all I or anyone really need to know. However, an entire Internet subculture disagrees with me.
While there's a lot of truly bizarre conspiracy theories floating around—Yoko did it!, or Paul McCartney masterminded it, the full-fledged conspiracy theory goes something like this: Mark David Chapman was a ""Manchurian Candidate""-style, CIA-trained, mind-controlled assassin drafted and let loose by the radical right wing under the orders of newly elected U.S. President Ronald Reagan and/or former U.S. President Richard Nixon.
This theory actually is supported by many people, particularly one Fenton Bresler, who actually conducted a journalistic investigation that would have made Frank and Joe Hardy very proud. In his book ""Who Shot John Lennon?"" Bresler paints Lennon as an anti-establishment activist who, understandably, was frowned upon by the establishment.
Bresler then, less understandably, argues that the FBI, under orders from Reagan and/or Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover and (I swear to God) Strom Thurmond, tried to have Lennon deported (you can't trust the English) and put under constant surveillance while in the country.
But they went much further than this. Because of Lennon's radical agenda to undermine the government (""All You Need Is Love""), one or all of these Stalin-esque despots ordered Lennon be ""taken care of"" by their Gestapo (i.e.: the CIA and/or FBI). The evidence? After Chapman's arrest, the shooter claimed he had shot John Lennon ""to gain prominence to promote the reading of ‘Catcher in the Rye.'"" Bresler concludes that ""Catcher"" must have been seminal to the Chapman's CIA brainwashing—in fact, it may have been J.D. Salinger's novel that was the triggering device. Why else would a man hear a voice commanding ""Do it! Do it! Do it!"" in his head without provocation (other than, perhaps, listening to Cherish or watching a Nike commercial)?
So how does Bresler establish evidence for this claim? Psychiatrists, after talking with Chapman, found he was a ""paranoid schizophrenic,"" suggesting nothing about brainwashing. But the doctors work for the state, argues Bresler, so they can't be trusted. A jury ended up finding Chapman competent to stand trial, which means he wasn't crazy at all, so apparently Bresler has never once seen an episode of ""Law & Order."" So if he wasn't crazy, Bresler muses, he surely must have been brainwashed.
Maybe I'm just a skeptic, but I have trouble believing this assassination theory. There simply isn't enough real evidence to back it up. But I do agree that Chapman is innocent. Holden Caulfield doesn't preach murder—he preaches bitterness and arrogance and angst and quietly cursing under your breath. No, a true ""Catcher"" fan wouldn't kill anyone. Me? My money's on Yoko.
