Lyrics

The rock and roll swindler says it's O.K. to plunder So the pirates set sail to rape any ethnic culture they can plug a mike to! The imperialists rub their hands in glee As the slave-boy hunts out butt-ends in the garbage cans Is it any wonder there was such sickening celebration over the Task Force When so called radicals work hand in hand with the ruling elite? Yesterday those wily creeps rejected the status quo Today they smarm and charm passageways to its very heart Where's the free individual in all that? Where's the hope and aspiration? Identities have become corporations Social egos and media moulds Scholars of ad-man's dreams Prescribed futures... Must we all down aspirins and shine beneath borrowed tans? Are we really so dumb, so cowed into submission That not only are we prepared to eat shit We're also prepared to say "thanks for the privilege!" Why should we accept servility as a bargain for dignity? Why should we passively accept death as a bargain for living? Why accept this robbery of life? Why accept this pillage? For Christ's sake take up your bed and walk Let the blind see end the deaf hear The rights of the individual are dependent upon You realizing your right as an individual! People are so easily deluded into thinking they've instrumented choice Where in reality they're nothing but passive observers Passive observers do nothing but passively observe Passively soak up creativity and say "Wow, that's me!" Passively soak up destruction and say "Oh no, not us, not me" There are those who strive for value and meaning Who search for reason and purpose Their efforts are negated by the passive observers! They spend days before the T.V. set so burned out Is it any wonder they've lost all sense of vision and possibility? What chance does anyone have when all the spaces are filled? Sipping breakfast teas to the sound of Space Invaders Television is today's Nuremberg! Bowing to its authority, they become it I've seen four year old children conforming to media roles Main-lining the gross theater that will become their lives The television has so dampened people's anger The population is mesmerized by the flickering screen And the streets, where the politics of reality were once created Are deserted at night and the rulers sleep secure They are under no threat as long as the people are sedated Those who suffer head-aches from excessive intake of electrons are prescribed Valium Or pay for a fix at the pub where men have to piss up the wall And the stench of urine lasts well into the next pint Entertainment is designed to gloss over real problems And very often those who profess dissent only add to the deception Words are banded about, but always at the whim of the puppeteer Actionless sloganeering is just another Punch and Judy show Any information that we receive concerning the real world is carefully controlled Why else would fiction have such license? We are allowed to see endless theatrical deaths But when the real deaths started on the Falklands Government censors prevented us from seeing them We were given the excuse of 'National Security' By the lying shits who were interested only in saving their political skins It didn't matter a fuck to them how many died As long as their popularity ratings didn't suffer For that reason alone we were shielded from the truth While the real violence is kept from us We are exposed to constant pantomimes of death and destruction Those in power are rightly aware that if we had access to the real facts We would cease to be simply passive observers Media coverage of Vietnam created massive dissent in the U.S.A Thatcher's government was aware of that when embarking on the Falkland charade They refused press cards to anyone who they knew would not support their line Those who did travel to the Falklands found their reports dramatically cut down Meanwhile, at home, we were fed fabrications of Britain's 'glorious war' The truth that is now filtering out paints a very different picture It's often been said that truth is the first casualty of war It is, but the same could be said of life: From birth we are threatened and beaten into submission By family, church, school and state From then on we're easy game for the power-mongers! Like pathetic circus dogs we hunt out praise! Or, when our true nature finds its way to the surface We hide in the darkness, our tails between our legs At all costs we are prevented from realizing our own potential We are conditioned into being passive observers If the ring-master offers war We have been conditioned to passively accept it War can only exist through passive acceptance It is nothing but a demonstration of the weakness of human will! If the clown offered peace We will have been conditioned to accept that too But peace can not and will not be maintained through passive acceptance Peace will require constant demonstrations of personal strength Constant effort, constant hard work,Reappraisal, consideration and devotion Which of those qualities were you taught in schoolroom? Whereas war simply requires the masses as cannon-fodder Peace requires individuals to realize their own potential The odds are hopelessly against because the State DELIBERATELY. DESTROYS. HUMAN WILL Passive observers offer nothing but decay The flowerbeds need weeding, the roses need cutting back before winter Freed from sedation, released from bondage People would demonstrate their own strength But the powerful elite are aware of this And already have tabs on those who they regard as subversives It is easy for them to single out and intimidated us And easier still for us simply not to bother!