| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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| Rise Against – Re-Education (Through Labor) Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Consanguinity, What KenCat probably meant by "democracy" is government by free association. That is not what exists today under 'the state.' Contrary to the propaganda of statist apologists, citizenship is not a contractual or voluntary arrangement, and thus nation states are not voluntary associations. They are territorial, near complete monopolies on the initiation of violence. Compare w/ other violent organizations, liked the mafia; organized crime is not the state's polar opposite, but its competitor. "Anarchy," like "capitalism" and "democracy," has different meanings depending on who's speaking. However, in the long and rich history of anarchist thought, anarchy is defined essentially as the lack of an overarching, coercive authority or hierarchical social structure. Consider for a moment that, in the absence of law, neither you nor anyone you know would likely begin stealing, enslaving, or murdering. What you call social order is an emergent phenomenon arising from individual moral preferences. The state's law is ink on paper, backed by the guns of police. It neither creates nor protects social order, but continually upsets it w/ ridiculous laws (e.g. drug laws) and extreme inefficiency that could not last long in the private sector. It is likewise in any area of the public affairs; there is no one service rendered by the state that would not be better rendered by private individuals and companies. People do not need to be threatened by armies and police to keep them from one anothers' throats. There are not that many sociopaths in the world, and those that do exist would not be very dangerous except for the fact that they can take political office and use the state's vast coercive apparatus to their personal ends. With regard to peace the state and its armies are not an asset, but a liability. I can only try to distill the essence of anarchism here. You're going to have to do your own research if you want to know more about the movement, philosophically or historically. Among the authors you might like to check are Josiah Warren, Max Stirner, Lysander Spooner, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, Benjamin Tucker, Emma Goldman, Rudolf Rocker, Murray Rothbard, and Noam Chomsky. Before you do that, read as much as you can from Wikipedia and look around on Google books and YouTube as well. I'm sure you'll find quite a few articles and videos relating to anarchism or related topics. |
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| Brendan James – Hero's Song Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I'll never apologize for the United States of America. Ever, I don't care what the facts are. --George Bush (senior), commenting on the shooting down of an Iranian airliner by the U.S. warship Vincennes, killing 290 passengers. Quoted in Newsweek, August 15, 1989 |
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| Shinedown – Devour Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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jmb06010, don't you think calling astrokid248 "naive and stupid" is a little... accusatory? Anyway, Brent Smith, the lead singer of Shinedown, has explained this song is an address to President Bush, concerning US military involvement in the Middle East. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Fake Frowns Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This is how I see it: the singer is on trial for a DWI which must've ended in either a death or serious property damage. At the song's beginning, he's begging for clemency... "bent at the knees," although probably not literally. His pleas only agitate the court, worsening his situation. He thinks to himself that, once he's convicted (once he's "on the bus") he'll surely be turned out, as it were. That is, he'll be sodomized by the inmates. There is a seeming implication that he not only thought about this, but also mentioned it while begging. It's not just possible but fairly likely a remark like that would incense the judge and/or jurors. Sometimes people don't like to be reminded of what they're REALLY doing to another human being. It's easy to be morally superior to a criminal when you've never stood before the bench. Even second degree murder doesn't earn capital punishment, so the "judge and jury" are not actually "screaming to hang." We can assume he means that his case is obviously not a favorable one. Despairing and exhausted, he slaps his forehead, knocking away beads of sweat gathered there. His defense has collapsed; his attorney "shrugs his shoulders," for Christ's sake. As the trial winds it's way to the finish, the walls are definitely closing in on him. The court focuses in on every last detail of the prosecutor's statement; the state does a good job apparently, trying to make "each, one count" of the inditement. The judge is "keyed in" at this point, preparing to pronounce guilt (A magistrate is quite nearly the same thing as a judge. The use of the term could easily be a reference to the Salem witch trials mentioned by iknowmyonion). There are at least ten counts. All of them are bound to stick, and he knows it. He knows on account of all those stern, disapproving expressions in the jury box. They're all good, god-fearing people, right? That's the impression they give, frowning like that. But it's not who they really are, and he knows it as well as they do. However, he's not just talking about the jury. He's talking about everybody... acquaintances, friends, family. Everybody is sententious toward him and his drinking problem. Everbody is wearing a "fake frown," pretending they never drove drunk... they never committed a crime... they never wound up in court... they never did anything wrong. There are so many frowning, lying expressions in his life, he can't keep count. He "can't drive straight." That's why he never got over his drinking problem. That's why he's been charged. That's why they're about to put him in prison. It like a scene straight out of Camus' "The Stranger," or "A Happy Death." The defendant is dehumanized in the presence of his peers, transmogrified into an image of callousness and cruelty. By the story's end, the jury has no "interest" in the either the person himself or the criminal act, but only the idea and attached evil of the crime, the implied guilt. As modern day defendants are amplified in appearance, blown up to inhuman size and sound on our television sets, we cease to care about their innocence or guilt, human rights, and bodily safety and proceed to concern ourselves with their severe punishment. |
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| Peter Gabriel – Shock The Monkey Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Really? Thanks! I'm going to look for that streaming video. And here I could've sworn PolesApart76 (1st post) had it right. The lyrics seem to allude to the invention of the wheel and the discovery of fire , not to mention being knocked "out' the trees," lol. They would seem to depict evolution, both biological and cultural, in a negative light, processes of "learning" that "the monkey" would rather go without (e.g. "don't like it" or "I can't take any more"). If you decide to watch the video, which is availiable on Gabriel's site, you'll notice he appears as a well-dressed man, before him a desk littered with papers; he's in a dark room watching what appears to be a documentary film on primates. He acts in angry, vexed sort of way, at one point slamming his fists into the desk. He's also shown panicking in several situations: as the room grows smaller around him, as he runs through the woods, presumably being pursued, and as water rains down from the ceiling. These various effects, I believe, serve to show the discomfort of modern man, the proud descendent of primitive man, as he gracelessly surrenders to the pokes and prods of modern life, the mass neurosis that is civilization. If you're at all familiar with the idea of learned helplessness, you'll understand what I mean when I say that "the monkey" has likely been "hurt" too many times to believe that he could ever better his lot (If not, I think you still get the picture.). At least, this is what we have been led to think, by the middle of the song! There is, however, a ray of hope. Note his repeated cries to his "darling," which I think would be either his god, mother earth, his system of living (family, job, the whole bit), or all three. Note also his repeated pleas for "cover" perhaps clothing, shelter (for the primitive monkey) or salvation (for the modern monkey). These cries and pleas are obviously for naught, as the monkey continues to be shocked (and complain about it too, lmao). Yet, throughout the video one sees Gabriel in an alternate setting, a far brighter room, in lighter colored clothes, wearing whitish-colored tribal face paint. This setting appears with increasingly frequency, until we find it's the original office-worker who's wearing the face paint, staring determinedly into the camera! Instead of simply being shocked, the monkey has been "shocked to life"! Well, it made sense to me. I'm not sure about masturbation; I would bet that the Pop Up Videos was just poking fun at the lyrics, not interpreting the song. |
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| Moving Pictures – What About Me Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| myotismon, what made you think they didn't write this song? They did. | |
| The Union Underground – Killing The Fly Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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"Marijuana has not been confirmed to be physically addictive, unlike nicotine, alcohol and even caffeine, nor has it been proven to have any long-term maleficent effects." http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1998/jun/06-01-98/edit/edit1.html As for the song, I think it's about getting revenge on all the fucks who've had it coming for a long time. |
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| The Union Underground – Natural High Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Man, you probably just hypnotized yourself. But... yeah, I don't have a clue about this song. |
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| Weezer – My Best Friend Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Honestly, this sounds like something I'd sing when I'm really drunk. Also, I don't think dogs cry. Do they? |
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| Weezer – We Are All on Drugs Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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This song is fucking hilarious. I read up on how he was living on the strip when he wrote it. That's awesome, just wakin' up with the thought, "We're all on drugs!" I especially like "But the world don't care/ if you are or are not there." Often people purposefully drown out thir own thoughts... muffle the noise in their heads, with loud music, fast cars, booze, pot, bein' cool, and other stuff. But the world ain't about to tone it down for them or anybody; it'll just go on with or without 'em. |
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| Weezer – Freak Me Out Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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When I first heard this song I thought exactly what vanweener thought. I mean, a lot of straight guys tend to treat gay guys in a sort of awkward, almost hostile way. I imagined some dude getting absolutely pissed when a gay guy comes on to him, then trying to explain himself and apologize. Anyways, that's what came to mind for me. |
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| Chevelle – Another Know It All Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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OK, I don't know about this GWB stuff. The bit about the record label sounds reasonable. When I heard the song for the first time, I pictured some "dull," angst-filled kid reading Nietzsche for the first time. He smirks in smug satisfaction, as if it had all been written JUST for him... reading his private thoughts into it, justifying his bitterness with it, filling the gaps in his understanding with his own fancies. The kid believes he's reading the works of "the Chosen," some mountain-top mystic "holding several thoughts," all for the taking. Of course, he takes everything not "bolted down," all of these awful, antiquated thoughts. He borrows his "hate." He tends carefully to these readings, admiring the wounds of Western history, caused by the amoral ideas of sick minds. He doesn't really understand any of it, but he still wishes to attain this unreal idea of perfection that he cooked up in his own fantasy... to add his own wounds to history. He proceeds to project his own qualities on the writer, and furthermore begins to think of himself as the new "Chosen," never wrong. When it comes down to it, the kid really does become "the Chosen," just as a great number before him. He mentally isolates and idealizes himself, and he favors the notion forced recognition, of imposing on others the hateful mantra he's lately taken up. This is a bit much, right? Yeah, probably, but it's what I thought. I envisioned a kid that can't get along with his own brother, can't help but create some line of neutrality to ward him off, though it won't last. Just sibling rivalry, right? Well, maybe, 'cept in the 40's those quickly-changing lines were national borders. And, hiding behind each of those borders, countless destructive ideas possessed by countless deluded people, each his own "Chosen." So, just another teenage "know it all," right? Wrong. Misled intellectualism was the impetus behind Nazism, fascism, communism, and a thousand other tragedies. |
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