I think it's basically about realizing that we might not be able to change the world for the better. All those songs millions of punkers around the world have written, they didn't help. It was all just naive hope. We can't stop people from waging and supporting something as horrible as war. We can't stop people from being short-sighted. And it's only getting worse, "because we're animals with golden rules". We're living in a time of intolerance and lack of respect for each other... however there's still a bit of hope in the line "So avoid those lines of sight and we'll set this right", and the song right after this one (Requiem for Dissent). The world is going to hell, unless people become more tolerant of each other.
I think it's basically about realizing that we might not be able to change the world for the better. All those songs millions of punkers around the world have written, they didn't help. It was all just naive hope. We can't stop people from waging and supporting something as horrible as war. We can't stop people from being short-sighted. And it's only getting worse, "because we're animals with golden rules". We're living in a time of intolerance and lack of respect for each other... however there's still a bit of hope in the line "So avoid those lines of sight and we'll set this right", and the song right after this one (Requiem for Dissent). The world is going to hell, unless people become more tolerant of each other.