I believe the title on the song isn't directly "Half-Truism", but a play between "Half-Truth" and "Altruism", meaning a half-meant, or half-honest altruism.
It seems to start with someone being hurt unfairly and deciding to strive for massive changes in society with the idea that through "Your self-liberation [...] You'll make it better", despite all external criticism of "Slings and arrows that rain on our minds".
The idea of changing the world, against the world, gives them a sense of being in a heroic fight for the greater good, leading to these, very beaten, lines about self-sacrifice:
"If we don't make it alive, it's a hell of a good day to die
All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long"
Something is off, however. Something that person has tried to "Shake it off" and it is their own hurt. In the bigger picture this person now sees, that's nothing. "It doesn't matter", they say, but the "Twisting knife" that initially hurt them, "turns all by itself, on to someone else". Left unchecked, their past hurt turned into resentment and a desire for revenge, and their altruistic motives aren't as heroic as they might have seemed.
So now their "banner", their cause, is "Burning and red", it is covered in hate and resentment, "Blocking the sunlight that shines overhead", blinding them from whatever signs of good they come across, now it is about them and the voices inside that churn, and their desire to "Watch the city burn". Now what they'll "leave behind" is not just what hurt them, but also "All the slings and arrows that rain on your mind", all critics, everyone who questions them is part of the problem too, and that's when they reach the darkest conclusion: "Don't make it better break it 'cause it never mattered anyway". Everyone is corrupt and out to hurt them. No one understands them. It doesn't matter anymore. Don't make it better. Break everything and raze it to the ground. There's no saving this world.
The second half of the chorus reverts the heroic self-sacrifice idea of the first half, saying:
"And it's ashes to ashes again, should we even try to pretend?"
It isn't about fixing things anymore. It is about destruction for the sake of it, sending the society that rose from the ashes back to ashes. And they know it deep down. Should they even try to pretend it is not about that?
I see that a person was hurt, and in what could have been a bright moment of inspiration to do good, they ended in the path of hate and destruction.
In a sad twist, the chorus ends by lamenting the death of those powerful, good ideals, stating that:
"All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long"
I believe the title on the song isn't directly "Half-Truism", but a play between "Half-Truth" and "Altruism", meaning a half-meant, or half-honest altruism.
It seems to start with someone being hurt unfairly and deciding to strive for massive changes in society with the idea that through "Your self-liberation [...] You'll make it better", despite all external criticism of "Slings and arrows that rain on our minds".
The idea of changing the world, against the world, gives them a sense of being in a heroic fight for the greater good, leading to these, very beaten, lines about self-sacrifice: "If we don't make it alive, it's a hell of a good day to die All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long"
Something is off, however. Something that person has tried to "Shake it off" and it is their own hurt. In the bigger picture this person now sees, that's nothing. "It doesn't matter", they say, but the "Twisting knife" that initially hurt them, "turns all by itself, on to someone else". Left unchecked, their past hurt turned into resentment and a desire for revenge, and their altruistic motives aren't as heroic as they might have seemed.
So now their "banner", their cause, is "Burning and red", it is covered in hate and resentment, "Blocking the sunlight that shines overhead", blinding them from whatever signs of good they come across, now it is about them and the voices inside that churn, and their desire to "Watch the city burn". Now what they'll "leave behind" is not just what hurt them, but also "All the slings and arrows that rain on your mind", all critics, everyone who questions them is part of the problem too, and that's when they reach the darkest conclusion: "Don't make it better break it 'cause it never mattered anyway". Everyone is corrupt and out to hurt them. No one understands them. It doesn't matter anymore. Don't make it better. Break everything and raze it to the ground. There's no saving this world.
The second half of the chorus reverts the heroic self-sacrifice idea of the first half, saying: "And it's ashes to ashes again, should we even try to pretend?"
It isn't about fixing things anymore. It is about destruction for the sake of it, sending the society that rose from the ashes back to ashes. And they know it deep down. Should they even try to pretend it is not about that?
I see that a person was hurt, and in what could have been a bright moment of inspiration to do good, they ended in the path of hate and destruction. In a sad twist, the chorus ends by lamenting the death of those powerful, good ideals, stating that: "All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long"