So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
You make a beautiful statistic, diamond eyes
Giving incentives to move these units
Prescribe more illness
And we'll become
the money they count behind closed doors
A half a million dead
A third of us next
Where's the accountability?
Dehumanizing the masses
Blank faces, clear conscious
Disconnected criminals robbing the weak
Taking advantage of us all
A complex system
That we've instilled
We treat the systems
Just take the pill!
When people become numbers
We'll live counting our dead
And die watching the clock
From our hospital bed
Giving incentives to move these units
Prescribe more illness
And we'll become
the money they count behind closed doors
A half a million dead
A third of us next
Where's the accountability?
Dehumanizing the masses
Blank faces, clear conscious
Disconnected criminals robbing the weak
Taking advantage of us all
A complex system
That we've instilled
We treat the systems
Just take the pill!
When people become numbers
We'll live counting our dead
And die watching the clock
From our hospital bed
Lyrics submitted by DeathGripsMe
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