Did Yoko...?
Did Yoko brainwash John as to Paul, influencing the animosity that John had towards Paul from '69 onwards? For those Beatles fans who aren't fond of Yoko, this has always been suspected or believed; but I've never seen this topic discussed on a message board, and I would like your opinions. Let's look at some evidence...
For one thing, while John's resentment of Paul and his role in the group went back to the time of recording Sgt. Pepper, it was not at all long-lasting and likely had more to do with John's mood swings because he was taking so much acid and his moods were swinging from high to depressed for months on end. I've read a couple of books on John and Paul, and they all say that John was actually at his happiest in the second half of 1967, starting right around the time that Sgt. Pepper was released. He was still taking a lot of acid, but he was happier.
Yoko herself had resentment towards Paul, coming from her experiences with the band during the recording of the White Album and in early '69. Paul, George, and Ringo were irritated with her sticking her nose in the Beatles' music, you know offering suggestions and bringing her bed into the studio. She was a conniving and manipulating personality anyway, so after the Beatles broke up and she had John all to herself, she probably coupled her own resentment of Paul with the inklings that she got from John and his resentments and fed John a distorted picture of Paul's 'intentions' which he was only too willing to accept.
There also seems to be a clear connection between the timing of John's resenting of Paul and his increasing drug use. And, behold, that increasing drug use (moving on from acid to heroin) began right around the time that John and Yoko hooked up. Certain types of drugs will poison your mind and it seems improbable that, had John not become heavy into harder drugs, John's minor resentments of Paul from the Sgt. Pepper era would just blossom into full-blown animosity in barely two years' time. When they were in their drug fogs, holed up in the house, John and Yoko had plenty of time to stew over all of the perceived slights that they had gotten from people over the years, not the least of which from Paul, and that bond that John and Yoko had, influenced by drugs, served to insulate them from others, even people who were very very close to them (Paul, to name one). Now I am not knocking John and saying that he didn't think for himself, I love John, I am just offering what I know to be true regarding the influence of heavy drug use on a person's mind and the fact that Yoko was a conniving manipulator of the first order.
So folks, what are your thoughts on this?