god as a bald man

[seeker]

i remember it was once posted at toolband.com that some astrologer or something was congratulating the band for giving warning to the fans about some comet that's on course to hit the earth. i filed it in the back of my mind (who really cares that tool is receiving congrats for something like that?) but it popped back into my head just a moment ago.

the point: what if the bald guy in a business suit is supposed to be a satire of God? he's in control of the little watermen who are living in the box, even created them (he cut the bonds on the one that was stuck in a cloth). now he's toying with them, creating havoc in the little world (the box) just because he has the power. maybe the idea that tool is talking about a comet coming is a defiance. there certainly does seem to be enough sarcasm in the lyrics...

any thoughts?

[Jerk off]

Ænema might be about Planet X. Which, I think might be a large plant /Asteroid on a slightly skewed elliptical path around the sun. At least that's what I hear.


MW

[Delirus]

Ive never thought of tool as people who directly make fun of god. they do laugh at people who follow blindly but dont ever seem to attack religion directly.
Think for yourself- who says that you cant think for yourself and still belive in a higher power? people who march into church and belive all the words from the preachers mouth is a little foolish but if you think about what you have head and think about life then your not a sheep.Tool know this and so dont directly hate god, well not that i think anyway....
still its a good theory

[seeker]

i didn't mean to imply that... i don't think they're god-haters myself. but they do use a ton of religious symbolism (often with nothing to do with religion, i've noticed) and the idea that they may be portraying god in this video doesn't mean they're attacking god. my idea would be that they are attacking the figurehead of power and the abuse thereof.

[nikstar]

I like this theory. My friends once said he had no idea what this video could be about, and I had had a bit of an idea... but until now I had considered the bald guy in the business suit "society". The God idea works very well too though.

[Delirus]

my initial perception was of society too or 'the man' so to speak.the lyics back that up.

[gtheorem111]

I agree with the chubby bald guy being God. It makes a lot of sense. I tie the entire video into His creation of man. It's not very vague...

God creates a world. He creates creatures that are fragile and inferior when compared to him to live in this world. They do something wrong (I might have to watch the video again to pinpoint what action these creatures partake in), and God gets angry.

Hence, Butterbean gets wicked on the metal box.

The bald guy's abuse towards the world he created for H/his people is kind of symbolic to a certain incident in the Bible, known as the Great Flood. In this scenario, God looks at His people, and sees them as corrupt and immoral. He decides to hit the restart button on His Playstation, and floods everybody, except for a little old man and his family on a boat full of animals.

Perhaps the video is a depiction of the Great Flood (minus Noah), as God floods his people for their infidelity.

But what REALLY irks me is that all of the more graphic and somewhat striking imagery appears in the final seconds of the video. Two-headed lizard? The hairs? I wonder why he does that for most videos...

R.R. Strawsma

[vecima]

i just wanted to mention again the planet x thing that some one brought up
i did a good amount of reading on this (i met a guy at a tool show who told me about it) there are several theories, but apperantly:

a very large planet (some say the 12th in our solar system) is heading inward on its 3600 year orbit, it will cause a pole shift when it comes near earth, killing 90% of the population. a pole shift would explain some of the lyrics (some say a comet will fall from the sky followed by meteor showers and tidal waves followed by faultlines that cannot sit still) im not going into this anymore-if you want to know more, do a websearch for planet x, or nibiru (on of 30 something names for the planet), or just plain poleshifts or earthchanges to learn more, just beware, u dont really know where these people get this info.

im skeptical as to whether tool is trying to get people to notice this b/c they beleive it, or if its a bit of astrological goosechasing

now for the down syndrome (i am suggesting that you read the FAQ for 46+2 first) -the chromosome configuration part-
i could be wrong but the guy in the suit to me looks like he has down syndrome, which is caused by an extra chromosome. maybe this has to do with the theory?/fact? that a person with 2 extra chromosomes is on the next level of consciousness of human evolution. hmmm. i once did a websearch about 2 extra chromosomes, or maybe it was trissemy (spellcheck), or was it the flower of life? oh forget it. wink
good luck

[paraflux]

The bald guy looks like he has downs syndrome, or is retarded, yes. I would doubt this had anything to do with evolution though. I take it to mean he is representing the Christian idea of God, looking at Him from an outside perspective. The people in the box can't see him, but pledge allegiance to this being anyway, who repeatedly fucks with them. It may be a parody of the whole belief in God as a being. What kind of creator places his creation down and unwraps it and disappears, making the creature unveil himself? What kind of creator repeatedly fucks with his creation by keeping them in a box and tossing the box around? At the end, the evolved character gets away from the guy.

This may be way wrong, but this thread led me to think along these lines.

[Sh0t]

Originally posted by Delirus
Ive never thought of tool as people who directly make fun of god. they do laugh at people who follow blindly but dont ever seem to attack religion directly.



the song "Eulogy" comes to mind...

[spiralion]

I have heard alot about some pole shift or something and that is what could cause the california thing.

Downs syndrome is caused by an extra chromosome, not two.

[Jerk off]

He Did look Funny, but I think they just tried to make him look nondescript. How could you really represent God or society and Give them a clearly defined face?

[Jebus]

Yeah, the bald man as god works well for this video. I saw a similar theory for the bald men in parabola on the parabola forum (or maybe the lateralus just have a look around). ANd I agree with jerk off about 'gods' face

[Tinto Brass]

Originally posted by Delirus
Ive never thought of tool as people who directly make fun of god. they do laugh at people who follow blindly but dont ever seem to attack religion directly.
Think for yourself- who says that you cant think for yourself and still belive in a higher power? people who march into church and belive all the words from the preachers mouth is a little foolish but if you think about what you have head and think about life then your not a sheep.Tool know this and so dont directly hate god, well not that i think anyway....
still its a good theory

i think that there is only one way to "kill" god - kill people who believe in this god.becouse people "invented" god and people can destroy the god.but in my opinion there's nothink to kill becouse there is no god!!!why do we have satan? becouse we have god! without evil won't be any good in this world.we have these two powers becouse without them we would be just one crazy little shit

[AdamJ_2001]

My thoughts about the bald guy in the video have always been that he represented God. I feel the reason he is in a suit is because business men who represent commercial organisation are refered to a suits. Like it or not religion( i'm specificaly refering to Christianity here) makes money, and i therefore i got the thought from this video that tool were saying religion has become so commercial that it too is just a business making money and people blindly seem too not realise this.

Anybody else got some thoughts or comments on this, replies much appreciated

Peace Adam

[Silent Phil]

Not too important, but the "guy" in the suit is in fact a woman. That could be something that Tool meant to do in order to make a point through the video, although it's too early for me to be able to analyze stuff like that right now. And it does seem like she has Down's Syndrome.

[seeker]

hmm, that's interesting... i'll have to take a look at that. how can you tell? breasts? liner notes?

edit: ok, i saw your thread that explained it. anyone else curious to know the reasonging, check out the thread called "Porrrrrno"

[skoiboy]

Originally posted by Delirus
Ive never thought of tool as people who directly make fun of god. they do laugh at people who follow blindly but dont ever seem to attack religion directly.
Think for yourself- who says that you cant think for yourself and still belive in a higher power? people who march into church and belive all the words from the preachers mouth is a little foolish but if you think about what you have head and think about life then your not a sheep.Tool know this and so dont directly hate god, well not that i think anyway....
still its a good theory

I don't think they "hate" god because for one, they don't really even believe in him/her. As you said, they do "make fun of" and laugh at people that are so blinded by "the light" from god that is shown through the preachers or priests or whatever else you want to call the most blinded of them all. Makes me wonder if all those priests and religious figures are actually so brainwashed that they believe all what is told and passed onto them by their elders/mentors.

I think religion (at least so far in human terms) is the biggest and longest running lie ever created.

[H-462]

Originally posted by gtheorem111
I agree with the chubby bald guy being God. It makes a lot of sense. I tie the entire video into His creation of man. It's not very vague...

God creates a world. He creates creatures that are fragile and inferior when compared to him to live in this world. They do something wrong (I might have to watch the video again to pinpoint what action these creatures partake in), and God gets angry.

Hence, Butterbean gets wicked on the metal box.

The bald guy's abuse towards the world he created for H/his people is kind of symbolic to a certain incident in the Bible, known as the Great Flood. In this scenario, God looks at His people, and sees them as corrupt and immoral. He decides to hit the restart button on His Playstation, and floods everybody, except for a little old man and his family on a boat full of animals.

Perhaps the video is a depiction of the Great Flood (minus Noah), as God floods his people for their infidelity.

But what REALLY irks me is that all of the more graphic and somewhat striking imagery appears in the final seconds of the video. Two-headed lizard? The hairs? I wonder why he does that for most videos...

R.R. Strawsma

That's a good interpretation. I agree that the beginning is a scene of Creation where the bald man represents God. I think I have an idea about the final shots though (the ones that kind of baffled you).

My idea is that the video makes a statement about the disarray between individuals of the human race. People are stuck in a rut of greed and selfishness and war, and too few people are interested in pursuing a truly united human race. As was said in 46 & 2 and Third Eye, the human race must seek a united state in which the individual interest loses significance and man as a whole race is the one most important consciousness. From our position in the world today, we must evolve as a species to attain higher life. The end of the video was showing examples of such evolution-- for example, the two-headeded lizard (which, by the way, is an amphisbaena, a creature in Greek mythology) and the blue figure fusing with his reflection. If mankind fails to achieve such an evolution, we will surely, as a species, stagnate and fall victim to our own unwillingness to elevate ourselves. The video also implies that the consequences of a failure might be a disastrous reaction from God in the form of a flood or other natural phenomenon. That is, after all, fundamentally why the Great Flood occurred-- the people inhabiting the earth were becoming corrupt and sinful instead of seeking proper progression.

I think the biggest statement of the world's sorry form today is the bald man himself. His business suit could be an indication that God is not unlike a business man doing his job by keeping humans in check. But I think it most likely goes back to the passage in the Bible that says that God created man in his own image. If the generic image for man is a figure of a corporate nature, then man's most identifiable feature is his insatiable need for money and power, not quite the noblest representation of our species. It is this habit of materialism and hunger for power that we must break to come to a higher level.

[seeker]

wow... it's truly amazing how far a few minds can expand the impulsive views of others. H-462, thanks for the wonderful post... there's a lot to digest there.

[Infante]

I always thought that the bald guy could either be god or society, but if he's both, I don't think the video is trying to say that religion makes money.

Anyhow, when he threw the box around, he seemed as frustrated as he was angry. What if, instead of trying to abuse the people, he was trying to break open the box and free our minds? You know, remove the superficiality of those insecure actresses, etc.? And the fact that the box doesn't break open shows how deep the superficiality is ingrained in their minds.

We can push the metaphor even further and say, if this guy is god, in his attempt to open people's minds, all he succeeded in doing was creating little holes in the box through which water can flow. But that's just a possibility. I don't think this is exactly what MJK had in mind when he wrote the lyrics.

And this metaphor doesn't seem to be enough to explain everything in the video, but I think it makes more sense than saying that god is toying with us.