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This is War Lyrics
We took our cues from the side of the road
and took the billboards as signs that cast an omnicient shadow,
that by design seemed to imply cooperation.
and while trying to find the words to say "this doesn't represent us"
we poured over maps and it dawned on me that this was war...
war...
we hadn't cast the first stone. their tactics had been subtle.
no one around even knew they were in battle, but it was war...
no one wants to think in black and white.
but a decision had been made for me as though a matter of instinct,
and made against my will: cooperation.
and it had dawned on me, that this was war.
and we might have to choose sides.
It was war...
War...
This was war...
and took the billboards as signs that cast an omnicient shadow,
that by design seemed to imply cooperation.
and while trying to find the words to say "this doesn't represent us"
we poured over maps and it dawned on me that this was war...
war...
we hadn't cast the first stone. their tactics had been subtle.
no one around even knew they were in battle, but it was war...
no one wants to think in black and white.
but a decision had been made for me as though a matter of instinct,
and made against my will: cooperation.
and it had dawned on me, that this was war.
and we might have to choose sides.
It was war...
War...
This was war...
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'“this is war” is about how fighting against a status quo will always be perceived as violent and aggressive, even when that status quo itself is a culture built on violence and aggression.
it’s about how in not challenging that status quo, we passively accept that violence and endorse it implicitly. we may not agree with the drone attacks that the u.s. regularly carries out against civilians in the middle east, but we are paying for them with our tax dollars. we may not agree with the kind of economic and psychological violence that capitalism enacts on us daily, but we still need to work to pay rent, we still buy cereal that’s produced by a conglomerate that is also a weapons manufacturer. there is already a war happening between the interests of those who hold power and the rest of us, and unless we decidedly take action against it, we are already acting on behalf of the oppressors. we take part in a system that is set up to benefit them.
the u.s. is waging war against us constantly and taking action against imperialism and capitalism is self defense, not aggressive violence. people are starving and kicked out of their homes because of a government and economy that protects the financial industry before it helps its own citizens. that is violence, not the actions that are taken to challenge that status quo. that’s what the song is about.'
from Spoonboy's tumblr: http://iloveyouthisisarobbery.tumblr.com/post/50601642781/youve-been-doing-a-lot-of-these-lately-so-id-like-to