The song is a statement about the altering of news by the mass media. "The Dope Show", rather than directly referring to drug usage in general, is the show of what the media presents to the world; however, that which is shown is not the trust, but rather, a "doped-up" version of the truth, hence "The Dope Show". This is presented directly in "They love you when you're on all the covers...When you're not then they love another", and still implied by most all else. The video is even more instrumental in expressing this idea, in that Manson is changed from a sexless, formless being into that which the media would like him to be (the semblance of a pop star). Since the whole pop star irony is a central theme to Mechanical Animals (the album title), I'm fairly certain that I'm correct.
The song is a statement about the altering of news by the mass media. "The Dope Show", rather than directly referring to drug usage in general, is the show of what the media presents to the world; however, that which is shown is not the trust, but rather, a "doped-up" version of the truth, hence "The Dope Show". This is presented directly in "They love you when you're on all the covers...When you're not then they love another", and still implied by most all else. The video is even more instrumental in expressing this idea, in that Manson is changed from a sexless, formless being into that which the media would like him to be (the semblance of a pop star). Since the whole pop star irony is a central theme to Mechanical Animals (the album title), I'm fairly certain that I'm correct.