Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children

General Commentabout how we waste our freedom of speech. our governments send our troops half the way around the earth to fight for freedom yet no one in the west seems to really appreicate their freedom or understand it. instead of participating in democracy etc we use our freedom to worship fake buddhists like gere, we use our free markets to buy crap bootleg clothing, and we exercise gluttony by eating so much and becoming obese.

• No Replies Log in to reply

General CommentMayhaps, I don't quite know how you can call the Manics facists. We live in a world in which the richest 400 people own more than the poorest 2 billion, if you can't see anything wrong with that there is something wrong with you.

• No Replies Log in to reply

General CommentIt's about American perceptions towards communism ('laugh at the hammer and sickle/it is antique' and 'bomb the Chinese embassy/the west is free, oh the west is free'), hypocrite Buddhists like the Dalai Lama and Richard Gere. there are only two bits in the song that aren't ironic: the title and the 'royalty, hereditary' verse. Least that's what I think. It's remarkable how little most Manics fans know about communism.

• No Replies Log in to reply

General CommentI think richeye has the nearest meaning. But it's too simplistic to say it's anti-liberalism. What they are saying is we demand so many rights, but we make such pathetic use of them. Freedom of expression so we can watch porn, freedom of movement so we can go to our malls. They're saying after all these rights, what use have we made of them? The homeless still go hungry. It's pure liberal self-loathing.

• No Replies Log in to reply

General Commenti'm an "anarchist fellow traveler" to borrow chomsky's expression, but i've got to disagree with matty uk. manics (post-richey) have come out in favour of the socialist labour party, which is pro-nationalization, etc. they also played a show in cuba and met with fidel. i'd say that just about rules them out. bare in mind, that this album is very pro-cuba. so i think what they're saying is: "you criticize cuba and china for negating human rights, but what the fuck have you or richard gere done to feed the hungry or shelter the homeless?" at least, that's my take.

• No Replies Log in to reply

General CommentIt sounds quite cynical, but it isn't. It is a sarcastic song about western hypocrisie. It is song about how capitalist media celebrates the virtues of western consumerist life, while at the same time it is build on lies. It sings about vices, that are celebrated by capitalism just becouse consumerism is the root of the contemporary system; even though those vices are actually real vices.

In fact it isn't against freedom, it is against a perverted kind of consumerist freedom.

"Freedom of speech won't feed my children", is also a call to arms against leaders who use democracy to legitimate certain illegitimate power relations.

• No Replies Log in to reply

General CommentIn a nutshell, it's saying that while everyone goes on and on about the right to freedom of speech, it's not really that beneficial; if your family's starving and really poor, a loaf of bread is going to mean more for you than being able to go on strike.

It could also be a critism of Western civilisations, terrified of communism in their consumerist society, or falsely self-rightous against dictatorships, trying to force their ideals and way of life on to other nations.

"Worship obesity as our birthright," could be like the American idea that they all have the 'right to prosperity'

• No Replies Log in to reply

General Comment Mayhaps, you came into this with a bias fueled by your own lack of education and misinformed take on the subject of Socialism/Communism, and therefor could never be relied upon to give the meaning of this song, as is apparent in your claim of this song being representative of fascism hiding behind anti-fascism -(so you either have to be pro-fascist or you're a fascist, eh?) I think what you right wingers mean to tell us is that we are to believe only you lot when you proclaim that you are not the fascists, a heritage that is unfortunately (for your ilk) inextricable from your politics. It seems you conservative types have perverted the term amongst your circles to the extent that you've forgotten that the term "fascism" denotes a system of governance that requires a list of criteria be met. That it doesn't simply denote someone who is pro-government or pro social reform, i.e anyone on the left.
And besides all that, if heart disease is the price to pay, you're willing to pay it? Either you mean you're willing to have the less fortunate pay it (typical), or you're simply an idiot.
Blackemma, I think you have the right idea about the song/album...for the most part, but I've heard the Manics be as often critical as anything else concerning the Labour Party, and I think regardless they are still anarchists at their core. It is not impossible to hold the one view whilst putting selective support behind a political party.
As is often the case with the Manics, you have several themes covered in a song, and subsequently if you were take every comment from "my nothing" to "ramshotel" and combine them, you'd have the meaning of the song. Pretty cool how that almost always works out. This is a very intellectual band, and I think one of the more important bands in music history.

• No Replies Log in to reply

General CommentThe title is completely unironic. It deals with the reality of life in most of the non western world. Western liberals mock these nations for their supposed lack of freedoms whilst at the same time working hard to asset strip them and exploit their financial weakness. The line "just brings heart disease and boot leg clothing" refers directly to the collapse of the former Soviet Union after 'glasnost' and perestroika. The former soviet citizens were promised a shining capitalist wonderland but all they ended up with was bootleg versions of western clothing brands and a slew of fast food chains which altered the national diet and caused a wave of obesity and heart problems across Eastern Europe. Many who lived under communism (around 70% according to recent polls) would rather return to the Soviet Union than continue with the gangster capitalism that exists in Russia now that America and the rest of the west have realised it's difficult to do business (exploit natural resources) in Russia.

• No Replies Log in to reply

General Commentmaybe i do. i think it may about how in spite of the spread of the american influence, third world countries really aren't iimproving after all. still think it rawks hard, though

• No Replies Log in to reply