There's little doubt, at least to me, that this is an attack on patriotism in the most powerful countries of the Anglosphere. Red, white and blue initially make one think of America, and the video's an obvious reference to America in its military heyday, but the most powerful English-speaking countries (Britain, Aus, US) all use red, white and blue flags and are all bogged down by patriotism. The lyrics could refer to any one of them. America's certainly the most infected by blind patriots, the sort whom the red, white and blue have always led, though.
Of course, there is one alternative interpretation along these lines, that it does not refer to individuals blindly devoted to their countries but to countries blindly devoted to others. Most of Europe's currently under the hegemony of the US, Britain possibly most prominently so, and a lot of US corruption has been conveniently routed through Britain. That said, this was not the case in 2004 to the extent that it is now (or, rather, it wasn't public that this was the case in 2004), so it is somewhat doubtable that a band would write about in 2004.
There's little doubt, at least to me, that this is an attack on patriotism in the most powerful countries of the Anglosphere. Red, white and blue initially make one think of America, and the video's an obvious reference to America in its military heyday, but the most powerful English-speaking countries (Britain, Aus, US) all use red, white and blue flags and are all bogged down by patriotism. The lyrics could refer to any one of them. America's certainly the most infected by blind patriots, the sort whom the red, white and blue have always led, though.
Of course, there is one alternative interpretation along these lines, that it does not refer to individuals blindly devoted to their countries but to countries blindly devoted to others. Most of Europe's currently under the hegemony of the US, Britain possibly most prominently so, and a lot of US corruption has been conveniently routed through Britain. That said, this was not the case in 2004 to the extent that it is now (or, rather, it wasn't public that this was the case in 2004), so it is somewhat doubtable that a band would write about in 2004.