disposition8
11-26-2002, 10:49 PM
Now that I've read over the posts on this song, and left my mark on the discussions on the tool covers by staind and limp bizkit, here's my humble opinion on this particular song.
I agree with most of what's been said but would like to apply it to a much wider range of subjects. The song, while definitly religious in it's references seems to be ( in context with all of tools other works) looking at all leaders, not just religious, and showing how blind obediance to them is bad. I also think this is directly targeted towards the followers of those leaders and not the leaders themselves. I think eulogy encompasses those leaders better, and the outcome of allowing yourself to be thought of as some sort of "savior". Opiate is directed towards the masses, telling them that they allow those leaders to use them. a leader is only as powerful as he is allowed to be, and only retains that power so long as people let him.
On a personal note, we often think of the masses as seperate entities from ourselves. as individuals we do not think of ourselves as part of the masses. it's hard to remember that we are in fact very often a part of one mass or another, and that those we look down on as part of the "masses" are probably just as intelligent, just as worthy as any of us who don't consider ourselves part of the masses. even some of the people who I've hated the most seem undeniably human once I sat down and actually tried to engage THEM, and not the persona that the particular group they were part of brought out. This is probably completly unrelated to the song, but perhaps very relevant to tool in that I've always felt that the music forced people to engage it on a personal level instead of trying to define it by whatever "category" it fell under. again not really relative but an interesting thought I had while I was writing this >=)
I agree with most of what's been said but would like to apply it to a much wider range of subjects. The song, while definitly religious in it's references seems to be ( in context with all of tools other works) looking at all leaders, not just religious, and showing how blind obediance to them is bad. I also think this is directly targeted towards the followers of those leaders and not the leaders themselves. I think eulogy encompasses those leaders better, and the outcome of allowing yourself to be thought of as some sort of "savior". Opiate is directed towards the masses, telling them that they allow those leaders to use them. a leader is only as powerful as he is allowed to be, and only retains that power so long as people let him.
On a personal note, we often think of the masses as seperate entities from ourselves. as individuals we do not think of ourselves as part of the masses. it's hard to remember that we are in fact very often a part of one mass or another, and that those we look down on as part of the "masses" are probably just as intelligent, just as worthy as any of us who don't consider ourselves part of the masses. even some of the people who I've hated the most seem undeniably human once I sat down and actually tried to engage THEM, and not the persona that the particular group they were part of brought out. This is probably completly unrelated to the song, but perhaps very relevant to tool in that I've always felt that the music forced people to engage it on a personal level instead of trying to define it by whatever "category" it fell under. again not really relative but an interesting thought I had while I was writing this >=)