To me, this song has to do with the fact that people can be blinded by their own cause, whatever that may be; politics, ideals, religion, personal gain... And in that blind rage, people tend to forget what they really stand for, becoming in essence what they hate without realizing it, just to get out on top. "The outcome justifies the means", if you will. In particular in the part
"We fabricate our demons
Invite them into our homes
Have supper with the aliens
And fight the war alone
We conjure up our skeletons
Enlist the den of theives
Frightened from our closets
Then sewn upon our sleeves"
We make up threats to our cause, fight amongst each other and we are willing to give up all we stand for just to se our (made up) enemies defeated. The title about "drawing lines in the sand", as twasthen put it, could symbolize these meaningless and easilly altered boundries that separate man from himself based on nothing but blind dogmatic faith - wheter in politics, religion, nationalism and so on - and the hypocrisy that comes with it. Man always comes up with reasons to hate each other. For instance, practically every language has a word for "barbarian". In other words, barbarians view other people as barbarians. This is especially clear in the part
"Sometimes, in the wreckage of our wake
There's a bitterness we harbor
And hate for hatred's sake"
Every cause ever concieved has the potential to turn out bad, once you forget what you really "fight" for. People start drawing lines in the sand, and those lines are constantly shifting, and people hate each other just because they "always have".
In essence, I think this song is about making us think about what we really live for - Is it to further a cause we don't even support? "Once we admit we're dying" we can start thinking about what really matters - we aren't going to live forever, so we should think carefully before fighting someone elses fight, just so they can get out on top.
To me, this song has to do with the fact that people can be blinded by their own cause, whatever that may be; politics, ideals, religion, personal gain... And in that blind rage, people tend to forget what they really stand for, becoming in essence what they hate without realizing it, just to get out on top. "The outcome justifies the means", if you will. In particular in the part
"We fabricate our demons Invite them into our homes Have supper with the aliens And fight the war alone We conjure up our skeletons Enlist the den of theives Frightened from our closets Then sewn upon our sleeves"
We make up threats to our cause, fight amongst each other and we are willing to give up all we stand for just to se our (made up) enemies defeated. The title about "drawing lines in the sand", as twasthen put it, could symbolize these meaningless and easilly altered boundries that separate man from himself based on nothing but blind dogmatic faith - wheter in politics, religion, nationalism and so on - and the hypocrisy that comes with it. Man always comes up with reasons to hate each other. For instance, practically every language has a word for "barbarian". In other words, barbarians view other people as barbarians. This is especially clear in the part
"Sometimes, in the wreckage of our wake There's a bitterness we harbor And hate for hatred's sake"
Every cause ever concieved has the potential to turn out bad, once you forget what you really "fight" for. People start drawing lines in the sand, and those lines are constantly shifting, and people hate each other just because they "always have".
In essence, I think this song is about making us think about what we really live for - Is it to further a cause we don't even support? "Once we admit we're dying" we can start thinking about what really matters - we aren't going to live forever, so we should think carefully before fighting someone elses fight, just so they can get out on top.