The crying carrots

[Trailor]

I think we are all aware of Tool's hatred towards the religion Scientology and it's inventor L Ron Hubbard, it's stated bluntly in the song Aenema. I think Disgustpated was partly made to mock L Ron Hubbard and his followers.

Before Scientology was up and running he owned a farm where he did a lot of study in plant life. One of his experiments was to see if they feel pain. So he attached electrodes to a tomato and measured the current to see if it went up when he poked it. It did and so he concluded that plants feel pain. He also stated he can hear vegetables scream when he eats them. Hence the crying carrots in the intro to disgustipated.

[imightbewrong]

wow, i really didn't... i had no idea of any of that (l ron's experiments).. how do youknow this? where did you get this information? don't mean to sound too eager, but.. that's probably the best explanation behind a tool song i've ever heard. high-five.

[Trailor]

i came across this information while doing research for a biology paper when i was at school. The first thing that popped into my head was the intro to Disgustipated.

Anyway, heres a picture of it [url]http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/bfm/bfm14.htm#235

You may have to scroll down a bit

[Systolic]

WOW!

Thats amazing! I did NOT know that.. and it makes complete sense! THANKS FOR THE INSIGHT! You rule! =)

The mystery of Disgustipated has been solved...

[forty6n2]

i should tell a vegetarian that plants can feel pain.

[flipmojo]

no it hasn't....

[crow011]

Originally posted by forty6n2
i should tell a vegetarian that plants can feel pain.

i think they feel pain a little less than animals . . .

peace and blessed be . . .

a very vegetarian crow011 . . .

[4th Eye]

Who is this angel of the lord the song is referring to? L Ron Hubbard? So, L Ron is talking to Maynard and showing that vegetables has feelings too. But Maynard says: "Life feeds on life...this is necessary." Animals feel pain too but we still eat them in order to survive. A rabbit eats a carrot and we eat the rabbit. It's the cycle of life.

[paper_head]

Yes Trailor, very well put. That makes a lot of sense, but I still don't understand the very end of this song. That guy talking about waking up in a ditch and being confused and a color being yours after you see it and those tiny people walking towards you being yours. That just leaves me in a state of "huh?" Any one got any ideas about the mystery behind the end of this song?

[xxATROPHYxx]

to me this song has always been tools way of saying hey you vegetarians are dumb, thanks for all the backround info though you rock

[Lupus]

The story of the carrots sounds to me like a parabol, making an analogy to humans. As the day has come for the carrots to be ripped in order to be consumed, they scream, for they fear their life and everything will end. If you imagine being a carrot, then you'd scream too, and indeed it would *be* a holocaust, for the certain population of the carrots. However, we find this funny, because who cares about the carrot,s we *made* them to be there, in order to consume them.

An analogy could be made, in the following points:
- We may have been "planted" too
- From a different point of perspective, we may look like carrots (and have the importance of a carrot)
- We consider death as the end of it all and would consider a massive killing as a holocaust, although it's a simple process of recycling (as with eating the carrots)

So it could stress the fact that life is not important, death is not the end, that we're manipulated and "made" for consumption.

However, I can't deny the obvious humorous aspect of the story about the carrots, and the funny voice, so I have to admit that all this could be wrong and the meaning is about scientology fans being stupid carrots, who knows...

[Phosphoros]

Originally posted by crow011
i think they feel pain a little less than animals . . .

peace and blessed be . . .

a very vegetarian crow011 . . .
They cannot feel anything, nor pain nor pleasure, to feel you need a brain and a nervious system.

[Bounty Hunter]

But they are a living thing. You dont have to have a brain to be living. And even if they don't feel pain there is still a crossing-over from living to dead.

[flipmojo]

I think the difference between all life forms and humans is that humans create drama. Other life seems to serve its purpose and they do it well. Human consciousness is here for some bigger purpose.

[Mickjr22]

i think that this song is about just the nature cycle of life. but if we are the carrot then maynard may be saying hat eventualy something bigger will come to eat us or cause us a holocaust.

and the music in the backround is chaotic, maybe symbolizing that the world is in chaos and there's nothing we can do about it. we must follow the natural order of life and hope that nothing bad happens to us.

the man could symbolize mankind, and that we as mankind presume that everything is ours to take and own. the sky, the ground, everyhing. also we are all stupid and primitive and dirty and thats why the man wakes up in a ditch. we don't really know anything but instead pretend we do, as an excuse for what we do.

[dawn]

Originally posted by flipmojo
I think the difference between all life forms and humans is that humans create drama. Other life seems to serve its purpose and they do it well. Human consciousness is here for some bigger purpose.


Drama...that's a good description...Some believe it is our free will...I think it to be our vocal/communication abilities

I believe that the things that we use as evidence of our evolution are the very things that hold us back...


Fav. 3rd Rock from the Sun quote ..."damn this fleshy skin suite"...

[Special K]

"...why am I leaking?!?!"

[supersonic2006]

in addition to the afforementioned theories, which do all make sense, I see this as what is making fun of quack pastors and preachers. While a good preacher would see a dream like this for what it is: a metaphor for human fear and consciousness, instead "Reverand Maynard" rampages on about the living carrots, completely missing what the dream or vision meant.

[ViciousChicken]

I think the answering machine message at the end is a pretty accurate description of a hangover.

[AllforUnity]

Yes...this feeling toward Scientology is expressed bluntly in ÆNIMA...but that was also made years after this track was produced. When most TOOL fans don't even know who L. Ron Hubbard is...So why produce the track so early, when it seems to have nothing to do with the time period?

[Cylith]

Animals feel pain too but we still eat them in order to survive.


Um...no...I'm a vegatarian...I'm still alive...

[Cylith]

They cannot feel anything, nor pain nor pleasure, to feel you need a brain and a nervious system.


I would have to agree with you. The tests that "proved" plants can feel pain cannot really be proven.

[Cylith]

in addition to the afforementioned theories, which do all make sense, I see this as what is making fun of quack pastors and preachers. While a good preacher would see a dream like this for what it is: a metaphor for human fear and consciousness, instead "Reverand Maynard" rampages on about the living carrots, completely missing what the dream or vision meant.

I think that this is a pretty good interpretation.

I've said this (or something very similar) in several other threads, and I'll probably say it again a few hundred more times: Every song can be interpreted in many ways...it's almost impossible to tell what the true meaning behind the song is...even if the writer of a song explains the meaning, it can still mean something different for YOU. I say, make these songs yours.

[ÆnimaticEnigma]

They cannot feel anything, nor pain nor pleasure, to feel you need a brain and a nervious system.

Okay, you may think so, but, how do 1 cell organisms do everything our multi-celled bodies do, with trillions of less cells? How do Venus Fly Traps crush things without muscles? Think outside the box, we don't NEED it, there may be another way, we don't KNOW that we need the nervous system. Hubbard at least concluded they DO indeed feel pain... at least he did an experiment to prove his theory, even that has evidence, and it makes a lot more sense that what you said. Just a thought of what normally occurs versus a proven(whether it was interpreted in/corectly).
I hope I expressed this opinion correctly...

[ÆnimaticEnigma]

I think the difference between all life forms and humans is that humans create drama. Other life seems to serve its purpose and they do it well. Human consciousness is here for some bigger purpose.

Deep shit man, deep

[ÆnimaticEnigma]

Drama...that's a good description...Some believe it is our free will...I think it to be our vocal/communication abilities

I believe that the things that we use as evidence of our evolution are the very things that hold us back...


Fav. 3rd Rock from the Sun quote ..."damn this fleshy skin suite"...

Yet again, deep. Also, I think the three tie in together. The animals, without speech, can only learn what they themselves learn. No teaching. And they don't think with a language like we do either. When I think about something, a quick picture goes through, a pre-thought. That's what animals have. We have communication, a language. That lets us teach each other things, and express ourselves on a more blatant level. That may give us things to think about; free will. And the teaching and knowing of what causes bad and good(through history?) creates judgement. Judgement creates our conscience.

[AllforUnity]

l think The Pet is about the Hallocast.

[Cylith]

l think The Pet is about the Hallocast.

Could be...I think it's mainly about protecting your children, without being overbearing. That's what I get from the song. (Most of the song being an example of overbearing...what not to do.)