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Violent Sleep of Reason Lyrics

A systematically applied veil to heedless eyes
Focus deflected, ignore
This is not our war
Bury the abject shame in the same bile as our ideals
The potent lubricant to deceits grinding wheels

The menacing implications, the violent sleep of reason
Betrayal we all help sustain
Humanitarian treason
This deadly inclination, this forfeiture of innocence
The sacrifice of guiltless souls for our own deliverance

The pain you feel
Indifference thrust into your back
Forged from our ignorance from our immorality
A parody, this mockery
To no avail you kneel before this our insanity

Another life condemned
Your fate sealed the second you came to exist
Your suffering non-essential for we care not if you subsist

We will all belie ang allusion, any crime
Cower and hide any culpability denied

All will imply it's an illusion, a fallacy
So when you die, remember we said it's not reality
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Cover art for Violent Sleep of Reason lyrics by Meshuggah

“It’s a tricky one for people to hear immediately as there’s no backbeat. So when you play it to people they are initially like ‘What?’ but it turned out really cool. We’ve never really been big on title tracks, and you often think that if you do a title track then it has to be the most accessible, but this really isn’t. It's about current events; human catastrophes that have intensified over the last few years. I mean, the situation has been going on in the Middle East for some time now. You have all these refugees who are trying to save their own lives, and you see countries shutting their borders to them. How do you deal with that on a political and economic level? I’m not sure, but this is about the humanitarian treason that I see in those situations.”

  • Tomas Haake
My Interpretation
Cover art for Violent Sleep of Reason lyrics by Meshuggah

From childhood we have been conditioned to ignore acts of brutality. When a child gets bullied physically, other kids stand around and watch. When an adult hears about extreme unfairness or acts of brutality in the world, we are just glad it is not us. Typically, we ignore and separate ourselves from the event. We generally only hear about treason against humanitarian ideals when there is a covert economic or political interest. Generally, people will express more outrage about their food being slightly cooked improperly or a WiFi outage compared to genocide happening in another country. Also, People who express outrage by the extreme unfairness of the world have a stereotype of being uncomfortable to be around with. They are labeled as tree hugger, social activists, boring. \nThe sheer magnitude of apathy present in every adult\'s life is insane, but we all deny. Denying has become a practical part of our existence. So we are all asleep in a violent sleep of reason.

 
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