These Wooden Ideas

I was wondering if these song is kind of sarcastic, it almost comes across as a critique of certain ideologies.

"It’s a better way to feel Don’t be real, be post modern (it’s not that one dimensional, it’s not the only thought) "

If you can see that as sarcasm - saying post modernism is lame.

"This wooden idea is your method of repetition This wooden idea is how you sell reduction "

Thats obviously talking about asimmiliation and watering down ides to make them meaningless.

I cant put my finger on it tho!

i think you've got the right idea. It just seems to be slating the way postmodernism sucks conviction and honest emotion from art. So much meaningless crap is made in the name of post-modernism just for the sake of it. I like it, it makes you feel good about music that is made from the honest passion of the artisit rather than somebody desperately trying to reinvent or be original just to make the cover of NME...

I think this text is a critique of postmodern philosophy. Postmodern philosophy was fashionable especially at the end of the last century, but it is still strong. Its cornerstones are the rejection of the idea of progress and of "grand narratives" (i.e., internally consistent systems of thought and interpretations of history). It denies that there are ideals or ideologies to fight for, that there is an unambiguous reality to believe in, that our very identity is an explicable and unified whole. But if you deny all truth, you must admit that your own denial of that truth is false, and you are thus contradicting yourself (I bet you don't know how to spell conviction/contradiction). This is a well-known criticism of postmodern philosophy. Some critics also see it as unwittingly reductionist, that is, oversimplifying (this wooden idea is how you sell reduction). Therefore, "I waited for progress, but I'm not willing to accept it all", that is, a reductionist, hypocritical worldview that, in contradicting itself, accuses other worldviews of one-dimensionality and reductivism. I love this song. I just hope I'm not reading too much into it :)

"it's a better way to feel, don't be real, be postmodern"

i love that line... its better to feel in vague metaphors, maybe? obviously tries to explain the idea by saying not to be one-demensional.

Yeah...i think it's slating the postmodernistic/humanistic myth of 'making progress', - the indoctrination of the modern man/woman; selling us hope of progress in a Baconian package - when really this ideal is just as flexible as the flux of nature(wooden) - with the minds that create it (new religion?).

Yeah Paradoxical, its totally about the failure of postmodern humanism. However, I can't help feeling that its really more to do the inversion of sexuality since the Second World War. The real question the song asks is: Why is it original to conform? And why are you such a jerk? By "you" I mean everyone, of course.

This a very political and brilliant song. I agree with tannierock that conformity is at the center of these lyrics. This wooden idea (wood not being the strongest substance) is your method of repetition... Recapitulation of already expressed ideas?

This wooden idea is how you sell reduction.

Any questions?

I think people are complicating the song. I feel that its merely about how soulless modern society has become, yet how no one will accept to place life back into in the name of progress.

It could also be about coping with extreme sadness. Perhaps the song's protagonist has lost his way with extreme emotion, and feels perhaps a postmodern way of thinking would be able to appease his emotions. It can obviously be seen that he is not fully convinved of this new way of thinking, and is still suffering from alot of inner conflict because of it.

i love this song like crazy. can someone please explain to me what postmodernism though?