Like most songs on Opiate, this is fairly straight forward to me.
The first paragraph is in reference to the time maynard spent in military school (a theme that comes up in many songs). That there is a right and wrong and that you will be punished for crossing the line.
The rest of the song can either be seen as Maynard trying to make sense of why this doesnt apply to his superiors or why it doesnt apply outside of that military setting.
He could be saying that his superiors arent punished when they step out of line so maybe the rules are different for them, "Maybe its all just bullshit". So he has to redefine right an wrong by saying its only wrong if you get caught. Useing this new logic he figures he could take matters into his own hand and punish his superiors for their wrong doings without stepping out of line himself.
The other way to look at it is how in the real world the line between right an wrong is blurred beyond recogntion so people arent punished who he believes should be. So he follows the same course of action as above but applies it to a real world setting.
Thats just my opinion. I'm sure there is more to it as I do find a lot of scarcasm in this song , especially in the 'if consequences dictate our course of action" part, so please add to it.
I read your post and I agree, I thought about this song, and thought that this was most likely referring to an authority figure of some sort. Since Maynard had gone to West Point and later left, maybe it was about a military figure was under the ' command ' of. Or another presumtion of mine was, maybe it can also be about a teacher / religious teacher of some sort, that one of the band members had a disliking toward. Possibly, but I agree more with the thought on the military figure, but who knows, besides Maynard?
Well, when I first heard this song, I was blown away. It presented in a clear manner how unclear and blurry the line between right and wrong is (and also throws a jab at beliefs and how he "loses patience" when waiting for a rightful punishment for the jerk-off). I just thought it was brilliant and fierce and unrelenting. And how really, the social structure we live in, and the way it works, is precisely "it's only wrong if you get caught"; at least for the amoral ones. And then here I could go start talking about morality and shit. But I just wanted to put it out there, and say that this is probably my favourite song in Opiate.
I love the reverse-karma idea. That there is a punishment for right and wrong (if we just wait long enough) but there must be exceptions for complete arse-holes. So we can either wait patiently for the divine processes to kick into action OR we can just fast-track the (completely reasonable, but slow) judgement and take matters into our own hands and ... PLAY GOD. After all - what the hell is He doing? He sure as hell isn't reading the daily news...so we'll just help Him out a tad..
PS THIS is why I love Tool- I have not listened to this track in months and now when I do it means something SO much more.
i love this song and i personally cannot put 3 faves on opiate as i have seen ppl doing in a thread....
jerk- off has one of tools most killer intros and riffs and lyrics that embody the early stages of what is one of the major themes which tool still stands for... questioning the concepts put forward by cowardly authoritative figures... or fucked up ppl in general... pre Eulogy vibes.. very ANGRY stuff....SHOOOOT! U! IN! YOUR! FUCKING HEAD !!
