Lyric discussion by violinist 

Cover art for Rats lyrics by Pearl Jam

vedder compares humans and rats but not to say they're different but equal or even worse... he uses irony when he says "Don't take what's not theirs" the first thing we think is that rats do that.. yes! they do that so as we do, so we are like rats... on the contrary, when he says "they don't compare" we think no, they don't compare but we do, we are worse than rats... it's just a way to say that we act worse than animals...

one of may favorite songs

don't take whats not theirs to take is actually the comparison which in reality no animal other than humans take what they're not supposed to take. Do you see rats invading other nations or rats stealing from their buddies.. No rats eat in packs hence they arent actually stealing at all. thats the irony. The real irony is as much as we think they are the plague creature we are worse...