Rorschach
Remain Sedate
Release date : 1991
Pavlov’s Dogs
Numb
Can’t feel
Open wounds never heal
Bleeding
I sense no pain
Festering
Over and over again
Drooling
The bell has rung
What have I said
What have I done
Unconscious to the act
Not realizing until after the fact
Everything evil becomes serene
Drilled in my head
What does it mean?
Numb
Can’t feel
Open wounds never heal
Conditioned to react
Without thought
Without tact
Bleeding
I sense no pain
Festering
Over and over again
Drooling
The bell has rung
What have I said
What have I done
Unconscious to the act
Not realizing until after the fact
Everything evil becomes serene
Drilled in my head
What does it mean
What have I said
What have I done
As it is in the title of the song, it is almost mandatory to begin by introducing Pavlov, whose name may be familiar to a lot of people. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, to be exact. If you have done some introduction class in Psychology, the name must have been mentioned. The experiments for which he is known for by most people would be those carried in the 1890’s, in which he researched the response of dogs being fed. i To summarize, he observed that dogs would associate the sound of the assistant bringing the food to eating and would start salivating before the food would actually be in front of them. Stimulus and response introducing the theme of conditioning.
As for the song, the first image presented is the one of an open wound, bleeding. It is combined to the idea that healing should not be expected. The claim by the interlocutor that they are not experiencing pain spawns the question as to whether they are the one with the wound or they are the one to have inflicted it. The perplexity is maintained for a little while longer, as the audience is made aware that it is a process that is repeated and that is leaving the protagonist in some form of a state of confusion. As though the actions were subconsciously performed. The ringing of the bell, a direct reference to Pavlov’s experiments, has commanded a series of actions performed.
One of the elements that supports the idea that the pain is inflicted by the author to someone else is the allusion to ‘tact’. If the wounds were self-inflicted, why would tact become an issue? How does one injure themselves with tact? By definition, the notion of tact may imply relationship with others and a desire not to be offensive.ii Although hurting yourself may be offensive to your body, it would be a strange phrasing to express the idea. In this perspective, the song could be interpreted as a realization that the interlocutor has become desensitized to hurting others. The word ‘drooling’ may even suggest that they have developed a desire to do so. However, the conflict between the serenity with ‘everything evil’ and the perplexity resulting from the actions performed indicates that the transformation may not be complete. It suggests that the actions may not be entirely condoned.
Having been programmed implies that someone is behind the programming. The identity of that person is left unkown as no clues are provided. Is it possible that someone would program themselves through repetition? The ringing of the bell could simply be a trigger, and not an actual person trying to generate a reaction. The answer to that question may reveal itself to be some form of personality test. If you believe the source to be external, you would be the type of person who blames others for the things going wrong in your life. If you believe the source to be internal, you would be more inclined to blaming yourself.
Side note, apparently the song appears in the movie Zero Dark Thirty. As violence and war go hand in hand, it may be a credit to the pertinence of the song, even nowadays, even 35 years after the fact.
In the Year of Our Lord
Blindfolded
Gagged
Planet tied to a stake
Only seconds remain
Dreading the impending fate
The firing squad aligns
An all too familiar sight
Human callousness and greed
Wholeheartedly take aim
The pendulum swings
Moving closer to your skin
The worst has been feared
Darkness
Closing innocent eyes
I can see the so called
So called progress
I can sense the fear
Fear of the future
Widespread starvation
Screaming in poverties’ choir
The well endowed hold a match to this funeral pyre
A terrible imbalance
An incredible waste
No direct experience of famine’s taste
Caught in the grind of the plague of humankind
These problems are not mine
This pain is not mine
I don’t care if you live or die
From whose perspective are we experiencing Planet Earth’s execution? And, is it the physical planet that is ‘tied to a stake’? Or is it only living beings, making this image more literal? A clue to answer these questions may be found in the identity of the executioners, which are identified as ‘human callousness and greed’. The finger points to a lack of empathyiii and perhaps capitalism, if ‘greed’ is linked to the ‘progress’ appearing a few lines apart. In this perspective, the lack of empathy would be towards the fate of the beings inhabiting the planet because the resources are being depleted to satisfy a desire for profit.
An opposition is established as the event is described through the eyes of an audience. There is a separation between the ‘firing squad’, those on the execution line, and the witnesses. If those being executed are members of the same group as the audience, the situation would be a duality. If not, the situation would involve three groups. The guilty, the force of repression for the ‘well endowed’, and the audience. Another contrast appears in the executioners and the famined mouths of the poverty choir. Both groups are established as separate because they have had different living conditions. Through this polarization, the narrator places themselves directly in the action, although it is unclear on which side, as they say ‘I can see the so called / so called progress / I can sense the fear’. Moreover, later on, they refuse to share the burden of the ‘impending fate’, expressing detachment and strong lack of interest in the outcome of the execution. Playing a little bit of devil’s advocate, exposing a bias and projecting a desire for the narrator to be on the side of the underdogs, a paralel could be drawn between In the Year of Our Lord and Pavlov’s Dogs to posit that the source of their detachment stems from their conditioning. Therefore, the lack of empathy signaled would not necessarely imply that the narrator are part of the elite of the haves. As opposition is established through the social classes of the parties involved, it is also expressed through vocabulary, as the ‘blindfolded’ are opposed to an ‘all too familiar sight’. In addition, the intensity of the drive from the authority figures differs from the one of the narrator. The former takes aim ‘wholeheartedly’, implying that they are invested in the action taking place, but the narrator does not ‘care if you live or die’. It is cruciality against detachment. This mix of opposing forces establishes a climate of war.
The portrait is one of an execution by firing squad, but it is also one of a ‘funeral pyre’. The phrase ‘firing squad’ may be misleading and mean that they are the ones setting a fire, and not firing rifles. If that were so, mentioning that they are aligned would be a very specific thing to say of a rare image.
The theme of responsibility, if not accountability, is brought up, as the singer states that ‘these problems are not mine / this pain is not mine / I don’t care if you live or die’. The picture established is a planet being executed in front of the narrator’s eyes. The absence of emotion towards the event taking place implies more than mere detachment. It could be that the witness believes the victims has brought it upon themselves. It could be that the narrator has taken actions to differentiate themselves from those being executed. Those actions are not to stop an execution, obviously, but they may be to not give in to ‘the grind of the plague of humankind’, callousness and greed. It would be similar to claiming that this burden falls upon the shoulders of each and everyone and that it is a fight that one has to fight for themselves and no one can do it for them. The theme of injustice is also brought up, through the ‘terrible imbalance’ qualifying the differences in life experiences of the different groups. It is said to be unfair that a fraction of the population experiences malnourishment while others never have to do so.
Someone
Insecurity
No identity
Finding it hard to cope with reality taking over
The greater majority
A lack of confidence is all that I see
Someone to confess to
Someone to confide in
Someone to believe in
That’s what you seek
My mind is mine
I won’t partake in petty rituals for tradition’s sake
When I’m forced to choose and that choice I make is right
I’ll take credit
Not some spiritual insight
Someone to confess to
Someone to confide in
Someon to believe in
That’s what you seek
On first degree, the theme of integrity appears to be put forward. There is a sense of modulating your own identity in order to please and adhere to a ‘greater majority’. In a social context, it could be interpreted as someone trying to fit in, but the friendships gained in the process are false because they do not result in people that will be there for you when you need to ‘confess’ or ‘confide’. This interpretation, however, does not account for phrases such as ‘not some spiritual insight’ or ‘tradition’s sake’. What tradition would that have refered to? Some rite of passage? Making friends?
The use of these two words, in combination with ‘someone to believe in’ rather hints at Religion. In that perspective, every puzzle piece fits into place. The insecurities are the hurdles one faces, going through life, and the ‘reality taking over’. The absence of identity would happen when one submits to a higher power because, as everything you do becomes in honor of some god, you forfeit individuality. The singer’s critique becomes an hypothesis as to the reason why people would turn to religion, which would be ‘a lack of confidence’. The ‘petty rituals for tradition’s sake’ would refer to elements such as going to church, praying, not using the name of the preferred god in vain, amongst other things.
It could be argued that the theme of accountability makes another appearance with the lines ‘when I’m forced to choose and that choice I make is right / I’ll take credit’. The statement being that their actions are the result of their choice, not the expression of the will of a higher power. When every action made is in the name of a god, that force becomes credited with the idea, the performance and the result. As a reference and a more musical expression of that idea, one may look at Strongarm’s Supplicationiv, in which they say ‘a life of self sacrifice / a new creation / devotion to purity, in the midst of light conviction / […] I surrender all / all I am I’ve spent / spent my essence and much more / more than this death’. This theme further establishes the singer’s view on Religion.
Impressions
We try to hide
Afraid to admit
Subconsciously
A crime we commit
Fear of conclusions
Others will make
Determines what shape it will take
Feeling cheap
Unworthy of praise
Feeling helpless
Don’t surrender to feeling of incompetency
Realization is all
Is all that will overcome
The powers to which we have succumbed
Prying loose
I don’t need your help
All I need was to be myself
What you see is no concern of mine
A day will come when we will all be blind
To what others might see as progression
All I see is an attempt of impression
A vicious cycle of guilt, fear, and shame is what awaits people who attribute too much importance to the perception from others. If the desire to live up to expectation weighs too heavily in the balance, failure may result in ‘feeling cheap / unworthy of praise / feeling helpless’. Adopting the strategy of leading by example, the singer shares the way in which they were able to overcome this cycle and set themselves free.
If the narrator gives the impression that they have overcome the obstacle of fearing the perception from others and, therefore, are looking back on those who are still in the cycle, they are not witnesses passing judgement. Rather, the stance is more similar to lending a helping hand. A glimmer of hope echoed in the lines ‘a day will come when we will all be blind / to what others might see as progression’. Optimism joining the party.
Although the use of the word ‘crime’ may simply refer to a reproachable action, if it were indeed referring to acts punishable by law, Impressions would become a glorification of street life. In this perspective, the advice is to claim your crimes without fearing the ‘conclusions’ of a jury. The sense of shame ‘subconsciously’ acting on perpetrators, pressuring them to try to ‘hide’ what they have done is the same that is attacking their self-esteem. Instead of developing an idea that they are ‘helpless’ and incompetents, the alternative would be to view their resume as ‘realization’. Shedding this fear of the perception of others and embracing their true nature is the suggested key.
The word ‘impression’, in this context, refers to the impression made on others and a certain anxiety resulting from concern over whether or not that impression is positive or negative. The ‘attempt of impression’ would be a form of objective similar to trying to please or catering to an audience. In addition, the phrases ‘a day will come when we will all be blind / to what others might see as progression’ suggest the existence of a form of tradition as it evokes a set idea of progress. Expected behavior would therefore be perceived as progress, as it follows a path considered normal. Any different path would be considered outside the norm.
Clenching
Change
A matter of time
Leaving the past behind
Trying to relive your life
Letting opportunities slip by
Unclench the fist you hold so tight
Grasping all that is gone
Get a grip on what is to come
Don’t let that knot come undone
A stranglehold that can’t be helped
Turning back will do no good
Wishing you had it all over again
Let it go
Look ahead
Unclench the fist you hold so tight
Grasping all that is gone
Get a grip on what is to come
Don’t let that knot come undone
Clenching
Evolution. Nostalgia. Routine. Familiarity. Regret. All of them elements associated to the cycle of human life. A rite of passage on the horizon, if one is willing to face the challenge. Time inevitably goes by and things around individuals will change and evolve. Repeating the same things, over and over again, perpetuates a cycle of familiarity. Opting for the familiar choice implies that certain opportunities remain unexplored. One can miss the past, but they can also miss connections or miss out on experiences.
The advice, in Clenching, could follow Horace and the expression Carpe Diemv, as it recommends geting ‘a grip on what is to come’ and not letting go of it. Regret is portrayed as normal, as it ‘can’t be helped’. While both Horace and the singer may be making the same suggestion based on the uncertainty that the missed opportunities will present themselves again, in the future, Clenching appears to place an emphasis on escaping a cycle. There is a contradiction in ‘leaving the past behind’ and ‘trying to relive your life’. As time cannot be controlled or stopped, as far as we know, the past can only be left ‘behind’. Trying to relive one’s life would prove to be a futile attempt to recreate moments, while each moment created would be distinct, in and of itself (for a deeper exploration of the subject, perhaps we call upon Buried Inside’s Chronoclast?vi). That contradiction may be the basis for the suggestion.
The image relied upon for the metaphor of living in the past is the one of a clenched fist grasping on the past. A symbolic gesture as the fist is not holding anything because all the moments are gone. The narrator’s tone is insistant and categorical, as they say ‘turning back will do no good’, ‘let it go’, ‘look ahead’, and finally ‘get a grip on what is to come / don’t let that knot come undone’. The choice of this tone may suggest that the clenching the title of the song refers to could be the one of new opportunities, rather than the one holding on to the past. Tone could be the only support to the idea that the title refers to either of them in particular.
So It Goes
Impervious to horror
Abstinence seen as an illusion
Chain-link armor
Impeded on by an unknown force
Pain
Pain
We are all products of our environment
Entrapped
Unable to decide
Yet we sit back on our collective heels and go along for the ride
Driven by contempt in a quagmire of lies
Forced to consent until one dies
Thwarted attempts to a longer life
Recourse stems from infinite tries
So it goes
The setting includes an horror people have become accustomed to being exercized by an ‘unknown force’. Resistance to it is established as futile, as it is only an ‘illusion’. The ‘quagmire of lies’ may hint at the justifications we draw upon to clear our collective conscience. A mecanism developed to help us ‘go along for the ride’. The first clue as to the subject appears in the line ‘forced to consent until one dies’. This precision hints that the horror allowed to go on may be crime or injustice. The point being made could therefore be that certain actions are being permitted until they reach murder. Under this perspective, So It Goes would draw upon the theme of legality.
The
critique states that injustice is accepted for the simple reason that
if the actions were wrong, they would have been punished by law. As
the Law is not a physical construct, it would be compatible with the
use of the phrase ‘unknown force’. It would be unknown for the
reason that it cannot be seen. However, as the concept becomes
familiar, the force would cease to be ‘unknown’. It is possible,
therefore, that the ‘unknown force’ may be the one causing the
injustice and the Law would be the ‘chain-link armor’, as the
function of the resource would be to protect the ones wearing it. As
the Law, in theory, applies to everyone, abstinence from it would
only be a belief or an ‘illusion’. Following in the same
direction, the ‘thwarted attempts to a longer life’ would refer
to imprisonment, the consequence to committing murder. The recourses
developed, for their part, could refer to jurisprudence, as
judgements draw upon past cases. The reference to Determinismvii
highlights the incapacity to act outside of the lessons derived from
past experiences. The implication of the reference to the source of
our behavior may be that the Law is only a plaster and does not
affect the cause. It may be possible to solve the puzzle of So It
Goes through a judicial lens.
Once again, the image of the cycle is evoked in the actions allowed to go on as well as in the allusion to infinity. It is becoming a common theme, throughout the album, creating an effect of urgency. The enumeration of these cycles could be compared to making a list for the things that need to change.
Lighting Strikes Twice
The perfumed scent of economic stability
Dulled the stench of burning flesh
Turned their heads and pretended but they couldn’t hide from their blood soaked conscience
Injecting a plethora of green into your living corpse
You’re dead and buried
Remain sedate
Without conviction
Genocidal crucifixion
It still occurs on all scales
Do you feel the guilt
A process of zombification is described through the images of a ‘living corpse’ and a person under sedation. The zombies are not of the brain-eating kind, however, but rather of the mindless worker type. In the name of a healthy economy, people are burning themselves for a cash reward. The question implied being -is this sacrifice voluntary or forced? One of the few clues may reside in the idea that certain people have ‘turned their heads’ and ‘pretended’, resulting in a ‘blood soaked conscience’. Under the perspective that the people have voluntarily submitted to this zombification, the workers would have agreed to a job that would provide an ‘economic stability’, but it comes with an impression of going against nature because the conscience is affected. The injection of money would resemble a vaccine that someone signs up for. This agreement causes the transformation into mindless creatures spinning a wheel. Asking them whether or not they ‘feel the guilt’ suggests that it might not have been worthwhile.
Under the perspective that the people were forced into becoming the living dead lends an image of experimentation. The scientists performing the procedure would be the ones burning the flesh of the subjects, as well as the ones who have to live with troubled consciences. In addition, they would be the ones allowing the payment to the workers and those who would have made the economy so attractive.
Crucifixion may be a crucial element in determining consent, as it was a capital punishment, until the fourth century ADviii. As it was a punishment, the people crucified had to be convicted by some form of tribunal. Therefore, it was imposed.
By relying upon both the second person and third person pronoun, a distinction is being made the parties involved. They are the ones turning their heads, pretending, unable to hide from a guilty conscience, and ‘injecting a plethora of green into your living corpse’. You would be the ones who are living corpses, who are ‘dead and buried’, who are sedated, and ‘without conviction’. Establishing such distinction further supports the idea that consent has not been given, and that consequences are being imposed upon one of the parties.
When the question is asked whether or not the audience feels guilty, the question could be addressed to the perpetrators, as well as the victims. If addressing the perpetrators, the aim of the question becomes an attempt at evaluating the shamelessness behind the action. If addressing the victims, the question could be questioning the verdict.
No One Dies Alone
Losing sight
Losing the fight
Something done
No one expects
You’re looking
Looking for an easy way out
Said and done
You can’t have regrets
Selfish
Your existence has ceased
Leaving questions
Only you can answer
Making all feel guilty
Guilty for what seems nobody’s fault but your own
You’ll need to see
Understand what you’re doing
You’re looking for attention
You may never get
No laughter
Tears
Pleasure
Fears
Battles to be fought
Friendships need be sought
Feelings
Good or bad
Love you once had
Questions
Needs be answered
You’ve killed yourself
Nothing matters
No one dies alone
It is impossible not to think of Ringworm’s song of the same titleix, when reading No One Dies Alone. Technically, Ringworm’s song was released around fourteen years after Rorschach’s. The point is not to say who did it first, but rather draw attention to the idea that the subject of suicide has been discussed for quite some time.
Beginning with an empathetic look at a person hurting and on the verge of committing the irreparable, the point of view quickly turns to the people this decision leaves behind. What sounded so understanding turns into blame, as suicide is qualified as an ‘easy way out’, as well as a ‘selfish’ act. An angry tone directed at the departed also seeps through, within lines such as ‘making all feel guilty / guilty for what seems nobody’s fault but your own’, and ‘you’re looking for attention’. No One Dies alone appears to be a failure to communicate both on the part of the person whose ‘existence has ceased’ and those left with the guilt. On the one hand, the person who committed suicide failed to reach out to friends while, on the other hand, the so-called friend is taken by surprise, as supported by the phrase ‘something done / no one expects’. It is possible that, had communication been better, the friend might have caught signals.
Selfishness, in the context of suicide, has to go both ways. If the person opting out was selfish in not thinking of the people they would leave behind and the burden of guilt and incomprehension dropped on their shoulders, it is not any less selfish to overlook someone’s despair and ask of them that they should place the well being of those friends above their own interest. In the lines ‘you’ll need to see / understand what you’re doing / you’re looking for attention / you may never get’, the author appears to be clarify that the point being made is that suicide was not the right solution to the problem as it does not achieve the objective. In other words, what would be the point of drawing attention to yourself if you cannot capitalize from it because you are gone? Furthermore, the final lines act as final nails in a coffin as they state ‘you’ve killed yourself / nothing matters’, simultaneously indicating that the ones who are still alive will have to learn to carry the weight or move on and that the person who was struggling will not hurt anymore.
In comparison, Ringworm’s No One Dies Alone adopts a similar stance, as it also involves incomprehension in the line ‘loyalties forged in fire / will make no sense of this’. However, while it directs attention to the friend hurting from the departure in the line ‘you take a piece of me with you’, the tone is less angry from the absence of the element of blame. Variations on a theme.
My Mind’s in a Vice (and It’s Being Cranked Real Tight)
I don’t like the quiet
It forces me to think
Roadblock in my mind
Pushing me to the brink
I slowly lose compassion for this putrid place
I slowly lose hope for the human race
My mind’s in a vice and it’s cranked real tight
My mind’s in a vice
All the pressure is going to make me explode
The reference to ‘the quiet’ depicts the setting as an empty room or some place away from the city. The author is looking at the state of the world and the impression is not conducive to creativity. Their diminishing appreciation for ‘this putrid place’ morphs into hopelessness and futility. The more intense this impression becomes, the closer the protagonist approaches to a breaking point. The inspirational ‘roadblock’ is echoed in the lack of details clarifying exactly of what elements the singer disapproves of, creating a circular point of view. The loss of compassion prevents them from finding the words to express their disappointment. The incapacity to express themselves creates the silence that has them focusing on what is wrong, which, in turn, generates the disapproval that is being bottled up inside. A song written about the inability to write lyrics.
Checkmate
To you
Life’s a fucking game and you’re the king
Maneuvering friends
Doesn’t mean a thing
Now you’re losing them
One by one
Your enemy approaches
He’s got you on the run
You won’t stick your neck out
You won’t compromise
You can get by on the manipulation of others’ lives
Making them take the brunt of a force you’re afraid to confront
Now they’re all gone
It’s too late
Checkmate
Pawns are gone
You’re out of bait
Feel it as they focus their hate
Try to surround yourself
Your walls are breaking
Those you have left want to be taken
They see you for what you are and what you have done
This game is no longer fun
Making them take the brunt of a force you’re afraid to confront
Now they’re all gone
It’s too late
Checkmate
The title of the song refers directly to the game of chess and the song itself describes a person using life as their chess board, using their friends as their pieces. The comparison highlights the manner in which the subject is disposing of each and every other piece to block the attack from the ‘enemy’ instead of using their own means to respond. This attitude is attributed to a fear of confrontation.
The point being made could be that life is not a game of chess and it involves real people, not just material pieces. That is supported in the idea that the pawns are able to feel hatred and their desire to be taken out of the game after realizing the way in which they were being used. Their ability to feel emotions differentiates them from objects. Moreover, if a game was being played, they might not have given their consent in being used as pieces. The subject would have decided that some people would be manipulated so that they could reach their own personal objectives. The manipulation was allowed to continue only while it was ‘fun’ and the game was lost once there were no one left to manipulate.
Using the metaphor of a game of chess to describe some form of social manipulation, a victim of manipulation would equal a piece being taken out by the opposing team. A victim of manipulation could, for example, be someone befriended only for the sake of being introduced to other people. The victim, in this case, would be feeling good because of the idea that they have connected with someone and they are spending good times, together. Once they realize that the person who befriended them only wanted to use this connection to befriend other people, they would be left alone and the positive feelings would be gone. This is one of the ways in which the situation could be transposed in an image. After the veil was lifted and everyone realized the game that was being played, the victims of this manipulation were still on the board, which implies that they could still be considered as part of the king’s ‘walls’, but they were wishing or expecting to be taken out. This wish or this expectation could translate as people tolerating someone they do not care much about, temporarily.
In addition to stating the difference between real life and a game of chess, the idea that the king loses because all the other pieces are gone implies that the king could never win on their own. Their failure to comprehend it and realize how they were overestimating their own capacity are both elements that cause their downfall.
Exist
The rich reeks of beauty
Money down the drain
The poor ignore such vanity
Tolerating endless pain
Why must we compete to be the best?
Why can’t we be content to exist?
It’s impractical
I see only an excuse
Like a disease
There’s a cure
It just needs to be found
Death tolls grow higher
Pulse slowed by greed
Economic feasability
Overpowers the human need
Innocent people doing their best
Why can’t we be content to exist?
Health is not a luxury
The struggle of the haves against the havenots. Vanity against grit. The reference to richness, when combined to beauty, immediately brings to mind the idea of plastic surgery. Having money grants the rich access to these procedures, while the poor have to remain in their body and endure ‘endless pain’. In this perspective, the competition to determine ‘the best’ could be in terms of looks. If an argument can be made about the surgery and it being ‘impractical’, however, it becomes harder to make a case for the death toll. Addtionally, the ‘pulse’, ‘economic feasability’ and ‘need’ are all pieces that do not appear to belong to this puzzle.
The reference to ‘health’ is the key that puts everything into perspective. Exist would be more compatible with the idea of healthcare. The rich are able to get treatment for whatever they need, while the poor, on the other end of the spectrum, have to seek treatment they can afford. If they do not have sufficient funds, they have to tolerate ‘endless pain’. It is more than probable that the consequences will be lethal, in some cases. Accessibility to heatlhcare is being questioned, as the narrator asks ‘why must we compete to be the best? / Why can’t we be content to exist?’
The critique is also pointing a finger at priorities in developing cures and marketability weighing more in the balance than human well being. The lines ‘economic feasability / overpowers the human need’ imply that money is not invested in finding a cure unless it is profitable. The opposite attitude would have been to look at the situation in terms of ‘by any means necessary’, knowing that people are hurting from the lack of commitment.
Oppress
Save the oppressed
Oppressed in whose eyes
Ours so we’re told
Propagandized into being the savior for those who need no help
Only sending the delicate balance into infinite motion
A balance of opposition that wasn’t so wrong
We took advantage
We’ve moved right in legal monopolies
Nothing more
Locking the oppressed into a corner of greed
Who can we blame?
Ourselves
How can we stop?
It’s too late
Oppress
Oppress the opposition
Blow out of proportion
You’ve done it so well
Taking us one step closer to hell
Oppress
Oppress the opposition
Cover up your actions and all that they mean
Plow over the rubble with an overabundance of green
Propaganda, opposition, ‘being the savior’, ‘blow out of proportion’ are clues pointing towards War. Not a visceral war opposing two well established rivalvries, but rather a more subtle one, as suggested by the covert actions. The uncertainty about the level of oppression those saved were facing raises questions. Having to justify the reason why intervention was necessary implies it was not all that clear, in the first place. If said intervention results in ‘rubble’, it hints at destruction, which, therefore, supports the idea that war is the subject of the song.
Oppress relies upon an image of bettrayal to question the reasons for waging war. One of the reasons invoked to get involved in war is to save the oppressed. Another could be to gain financial advantage. This is supported by the references to ‘legal monopolies’, the ‘corner of greed’, and the ‘overabundance of green’. When the question is asked as to where the blame should be directed, and the answer is ‘ourselves’, this could be because the ‘we’ were the ones who allowed the situation to happen, whether as the result of being lied to or not overseeing the escalation. If the war in question is an international one, the song could depict citizens disillusioned with the ways their government is selecting the conflicts they get involved in.
The line ‘blow out of proportion’ is an idea that could allude to the idea that perhaps, the solution to the disagreement could have been different than conflict. For example, and on a smaller scale, when people disagree and choose to resolve the dispute through a fistfight. Inflicting physical damage does not make an a point become irrelevent. It does not make things make more sense. Being the victor of a fistfight does not make the point you were making any more valid than it was when people were still arguing with words. When witnessing a fistfight, some may get the impression that for the situation to escalate to the point where conversation would not suffice and it made it impossible for both parties to maintain composure, it had to be blown out of proportion. Now, transpose the idea to a scale as big as international war. The consequences are more dire than a black eye or a bleeding lip. They are in terms of human lives.
People being desensitized to inflicting pain onto others, the planet being destroyed for financial gain, people relying upon religion to justify their actions or their way of life, the anxieties generated by life in society, the reluctance in getting out of one’s comfort zone, letting laws and policy makers dictate what is acceptable and what is punishable, capitalism and the dilemma of choosing between a larger income or a cleaner conscience, Suicide, numbness, manipulation, healthcare, and War. Such are the elements in the picture painted by Remain Sedate. If you take a step back and think of the state of the world, today, would you say all of those themes are still relevant? These are all the more reasons why Rorschach deserves an entry on your end-of-the-year billboard from your favorite app. However, that would barely scratch the surface, as the implication from this work still being pertinent today would be that either things have not changed or they have not changed enough. Assessing the progress that was made since 1991 is a study for another time, but Remain Sedate might be a valid starting point.
