It's sad that the most unhelpful response to the story about John being a "closet republican" has come from the person who likely knew him best - Yoko. On Twitter, Yoko asked followers to submit questions to her, after which she would post her replies. One such exchange went as follows:
Is it true that John was a closet Republican? Media claiming he supported Reagan.
How could you even ask that question? John would be appalled. Nothing was kept in his closet. Whatever he believed in, he said it all out there. Do you think they would kill a closet republican? Think!
These are unfortunate words, to say the least. First, Yoko needs to clarify who exactly "they" are, because, from what I can gather, Mark David Chapman was and remains only one person. Is she insinuating that a conspiracy or cabal of some kind was behind John's murder? If so, she should be upfront about this instead of hiding behind an anonymous pronoun. Second, the implication of her statement is that John's political views were a contributing factor in his death (carried out by "they"). As Yoko well knows, by 1980 (and even much earlier) John had disengaged from radical politics and was comfortably living out his life as a family man; he posed no threat to the American political establishment (then in the hands of a Democrat). It begs the question: why would he be targeted then? Once again, Yoko didn't feel compelled to square this matter with her idle paranoid musings.
At the end of her response, Yoko implores her fan to "think." Indeed - heal thyself, Ms. Ono. Or, at a minimum, explain thyself.
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