Why Did John Refer to the Vietnamese People as "Gooks"?

I've been listening to the new CD of recycled Lennon songs called "US
vs. John Lennon" and there's a live version of a song called "John
Sinclair" in which John deliberately and blatantly refers to people of
Vietnamese nationality as "Gooks".

My understanding is that word is a very derogatory epithet for people
of Vietnamese extraction. He refers to "shooting Gooks in Vietnam" in
the song's lyrics.

Anyone care to defend John's use of what appears to be a racist
epithet?

Franco...

The answer is quite simple really. Back in the 70's terms such as gook
& nig-nog where not deemed to be racist in Britain; offensive maybe,
but not racist. This is highlighted in numerous British comedy shows of
the time that where quite blatently racist in some of it's content. It
would most certainly be not acceptable nowadays, but back then people
thought nothing of it.

fattuchus...

What is a nig nog?

Franco...

A Darkie !

DanKaye...

He was singing from the point of view of the soldier or the Army
commanders: "shooting gooks in Viet Nam"... He wasn't calling them
gooks himself, he was saying it from the soldier's point of view, for
effect.

Nola...

Because chinks and slopes were already taken.

Horatio...

You are truly despicable.

fishandchips...

John was a working class hero with a working class mouth. He wasn't
dainty with his words but we love him none the less. I think we all
could use a bar of soap at times.

abe slaney...

I can't believe that anybody would think John was being anything but
ironic when he sang that line.

F Parella...

He also privately referred to Japanese as "nips." Yes, *that*
Japanese.

terra...

Yes, you two were so close. And you cite inimpeachable sources.

He was anything but politically correct. In some ways, he was boorish.

fattuchus...

He used the word "nip" on TV (Dick Cavette I think)

Bip Bop...

Isn't Nippon another word for Japan?

Sean Carroll...

Actually, 'Japan' is another (foreign) word for Nippon.

terra...

*cough*

Uh huh. This from the most genteel poster in rmb?

Bip Bop...

My two cents. I Love John Lennon.

In the 60's we wondered why we were fighting the war in Vietnam and in
the 90's I found out. Being a teacher (although I just retired this
year) in came the Vietnamese students and it was then that I realized
because of their manner and intellect and the quality of their work
that they were perhaps the most beautiful people on earth! They shamed
other cultures who had been here all of their lives and still could not
speak or write or express themselves in a coherent way! After a couple
of years the Vietnamese students were speaking and writing in fantastic
ways! That's when it hit me! We were fighting in Vietnam because the
Vietnamese people were and are so wonderfully beautiful and creative,
representing and ancient culture devoted to ethics and Love!

Rich...

I guess he could never be a Senator.

Godzilla...

Ever hear him speak in private? He had a filthy mouth.