See, I read it not so much as rationalizing actions as admitting what they are and calling them by their proper name. What I did was murder. I\'m a murderer. I hit my wife. I\'m a wife-beater. I\'m an abuser. Sometimes we don\'t want to put labels on things but sometimes putting a label on something is important to categorize it, understand it, fess up to it. \n\nAlthough I do have to say that Cassack\'s interpretation makes some sense. Whatever\'s going on, it has to account for how giving it a name follows from, and possibly alleviates or addresses, the guilt and shame that the offenders feel lying awake at night. Whether it\'s rationalization or acknowledging what they did I\'m not sure. \n\nIn either case, what follows is this brief meditation on the idea that violence begets violence, dysfunction breeds more dysfunction, that kind of thing. \n\nThe first place I encountered this song was the intro of David Simon and Paul Haggis\' TV miniseries Show Me A Hero, where it\'s used quite movingly and effectively to introduce a show about the effects of racial segregation in Yonkers, NY. The cinematography is beautiful and this song felt very appropriate for the issue - something with a long, sordid history that continues to generate consequences and the importance of calling it what it is and admitting what\'s going on.\n\nBeautiful, moving song.
See, I read it not so much as rationalizing actions as admitting what they are and calling them by their proper name. What I did was murder. I\'m a murderer. I hit my wife. I\'m a wife-beater. I\'m an abuser. Sometimes we don\'t want to put labels on things but sometimes putting a label on something is important to categorize it, understand it, fess up to it. \n\nAlthough I do have to say that Cassack\'s interpretation makes some sense. Whatever\'s going on, it has to account for how giving it a name follows from, and possibly alleviates or addresses, the guilt and shame that the offenders feel lying awake at night. Whether it\'s rationalization or acknowledging what they did I\'m not sure. \n\nIn either case, what follows is this brief meditation on the idea that violence begets violence, dysfunction breeds more dysfunction, that kind of thing. \n\nThe first place I encountered this song was the intro of David Simon and Paul Haggis\' TV miniseries Show Me A Hero, where it\'s used quite movingly and effectively to introduce a show about the effects of racial segregation in Yonkers, NY. The cinematography is beautiful and this song felt very appropriate for the issue - something with a long, sordid history that continues to generate consequences and the importance of calling it what it is and admitting what\'s going on.\n\nBeautiful, moving song.