| Brand New – Desert Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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At first, they came for the racists, and I said nothing, because I was not a racist. Then they came for the sexists, and I said nothing, because I was not a sexist. Then, they came for the homophobes, and I said nothing, because I was not a homophobe. Then, they came for transphobes, and I said nothing, because I was not a transphobe. Then, they came for the pronouns, and I said nothing, because I wasn't sure what pronoun to address them by. I think the song is written from the point of view of an evangelical conservative. Obviously, much of what he says is distasteful, and the very last line "God is Love" is meant to highlight some level of hypocrisy, but the lines just prior to that are interesting. Regardless of how oppressive we may find the character's views, we must admit that they are an integral part of the norms and expectations that form his culture and way of life. That culture and way of life would reasonably seem to him as increasingly under threat as progressive morality pushes itself onto small communities and subcultures, and so the character reacts as if under threat: "Last night I heard a voice that said, “Don’t give up your gun” ... Those bleeding hearts come marching down my road Well I’ll be waiting right here at my door" Next, the character admonishes the listener with "Don’t come running to me when they come gunning for you." Which is a fair warning. At some point, maybe a decade ago, the character's views were normal and good in the context of his community's social expectations. Now, forces entirely outside of that community, and beyond the control of that community, demonize him for those once normal views. Ultimately, no community is inherently immune to this sort of mass encroachment or projection of one-size-fits-all morality. And it is indeed the case that forcibly changing the moral norms of a community can cause serious damage to that community. And so, if the listener is part of any community, the listener is in theory quite prone to suffering the same fate. |
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