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The Irrationality Of Rationality Lyrics

Frank, the new CEO had to answer to the board.
The board was getting anxious, and the shareholders were
on a bed, legs in air, ass-cheeks open wide
They were about to get fucked like it was their first time.
When one makes 20 million, ten thousand people lose.
What keeps that one from swallowing a shotgun?

Dan, the company man, felt loyalty to the core.
After 16 years of service, and a family to support
He actually started to believe the weaponry and chemicals were for national defense.
'Cause Danny had a mortgage, and a boss to answer to.
The guilty don't feel guilty, they learn not to.

Helen is living in her car, trying to feed her kids.
She got laid off at work, and her house was repossessed.
It's hard to think clearly when it's 38 degrees.
Desperate people have been known to render desperate deeds.
But when she shot that family and moved into their home,
The paper read she suffered from dementia.
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Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

Anyone that thinks the last verse of this song doesn't fit doesn't understand the song. As others have said already, it's what MAKES the song. There are 3 examples. The first one is a rich business man who exploits everyone helping to pay his salary for the benefit of himself. The second is a typical, middle class guy who goes to work, does his job, collects his check, and doesn't ask questions. He does it to support himself and his family. The final verse is the woman who has constantly had life shit on her. She finally decides to prey on someone higher up the 'ladder' to support her own family. She's deemed 'crazy'. What's the difference? Murder is a bit extreme, I'll give you that, but take murder out of it, and look at it as robbery. Is what the woman in the 3rd verse did different than the one in the first? Would she not still be vilified?

Two lines. The guilty don't feel guilty they learn not to. Desperate people have been known to render desperate deeds. The CEO, the shareholders, the company man and Helen...all guilty...and all desperate. They do what they have to do to survive. Survival is a basic instinct. Doesn't matter where you are on the social ladder.

Not Valid

While its true that people learn to not feel guilty at every level, and the lines reflect on all the individuals in the song not just the last woman. It is important to realize that the purpose of this song is to point out the injustice of the situation. While the CEO can screw over the shareholders without much backlash, the woman is deemed degenerate. Where the company man who makes horrible weapons that are used to only destroy, he isn't punished for it, just the same as the CEO. But the woman who does what...

Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

Hell no, the last part doesn't ruin the song! Acctualy it's a good part, becaus that's the way it goes when some people wants more, some gotta lose, and in this song, helen is the one loosing big time.. That's whats gonna happen in america, Rich people wants to get richer and richer, while the middle class looses on that.. And this song explains it in a good way, Acctualy Michael Moore's book Stupid white men is about all this and i'm pretty sure Fat mike has read it a couple of times

Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

The last part is the most important to me. In the first you have a guy who steals a lot of money and hurts a lot of people for his own good and probably only feels guilt that he was caught. The second we have a guy who lies to himself saying that working for a company that produces “weaponry and chemicals… for national defense”. Then in the last part we meet a woman who has done nothing wrong but bad things keep happening to her. To ensure the survival of her family she “shot a family and moved into their home” and “The paper read she suffered from dementia.” Funny, the woman who had no choice in the matter (ok, murder is extreme, but she was the only one who was pushed into what she did by others) was the one who they labeled as delusional.

Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

I wasn't gonna comment (bcoz everything i saw was stated here), until i read Jay & Runningace 's comments.

I can't say anything more than you both are retards, so anything you say will be handle as if it was said by a mentally retarded person.

Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

I just want to point out I'm PRETTY sure it's "felt loyalty to the CORPS" not "core."

Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

I think the song rests on the lyric "But" in the last verse. Basically Helen is in the worst living situation of the 3 people, but she's labelled as the most irrational because she kills a family. Maybe Mike's trying to say that the other 2 people are equally or more irrational because their positions affect more lives in a negative way.

Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

Also, the wikipedia article with the similar title as this song fits the theme of the album well, but moreso "idiots are taking over".

Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

This songs title and theme is a reference to a theory called "rational irrationality". It was coined in 2001 a couple of years b4 this album was written - basically it describes how people rationalize their irrational behavior , in terms of politics( such as voting ) , religion ( beliefs) or just life decisions. Each verse is an example of rationalized irrational behavior .

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_irrationality

Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

This is the best song on NOFX's most serious album to date. You get the feeling from this album that Fat Mike is starting to see the world at face value and realize the bullshit that's really going on. This song takes on 3 issues: Greed in big business, society (and patriotism) blinding citizens from the wrongs their country is commiting, and the justification of "scary" people so that everyone can feel safe. Amazing song -- and I think the line "The guilty don't feel guilty they learn not to" applies to almost all facets of life.

Cover art for The Irrationality Of Rationality lyrics by NOFX

I like the first two stanzas of this song, but on the third Fat Mike shows his lacking sense of reality. Perhaps being a Californian, he could not help it. I mean he was making good points in the first two parts but then he says something really ridiculus in the last part and ruins whatever aura of wisdom could be conferred from this song.