This song is unbelievably understated in its execution, and yet its intensity of imagery is mind-blowing. In it, Björk discards entirely with this mentality of equivocation: "Is it worse for this person to kill this person, or that person to kill that person? Did he start it, or did she start it?" She forces her audience to address atrocity for what it truly is—a denial and a rejection of our universal and unequivocal humanity. When you deny a person's right to hope for a better future, she seems to intimate, you've left them with no choice but to try and create a world in which such hope can again exist, and you've placed yourself between the individual and their ability to conceive of a life of contentment. Violence of ideology begets physical violence, and over time, violence on all levels becomes entrenched within a culture. The only way to break this cycle is to allow for hope in a better future to take root and flourish.
This song is unbelievably understated in its execution, and yet its intensity of imagery is mind-blowing. In it, Björk discards entirely with this mentality of equivocation: "Is it worse for this person to kill this person, or that person to kill that person? Did he start it, or did she start it?" She forces her audience to address atrocity for what it truly is—a denial and a rejection of our universal and unequivocal humanity. When you deny a person's right to hope for a better future, she seems to intimate, you've left them with no choice but to try and create a world in which such hope can again exist, and you've placed yourself between the individual and their ability to conceive of a life of contentment. Violence of ideology begets physical violence, and over time, violence on all levels becomes entrenched within a culture. The only way to break this cycle is to allow for hope in a better future to take root and flourish.