Justin Sane - Where Has My Country Gone
‘Where Has My country Gone?’ by Justin Sane
Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-68pQr4Cqwg
I can here the jackboots again
Although I’m not in Nazi Germany
And I’m not in Red China
These are echos in my Home-Land
They’re every value un-American
A spit in the face to the authors of the Constitution!
[Chorus]
These are ugly days, ugly times, ugly words
From lies and disinformation ignorance is born
Can you smell the hatred bring bred from fear?
And don’t you understand that when you give your rights away
There is no freedom left to die for?
Where has my country gone?
Can’t see the similarities?
Can’t discern reality?
‘Cause when you’re awake you’re still dreaming!
Dreaming in the mall and in the shops of 5th Avenue
In endless choices and accessories
Drowning euphoria in a sea of gluttony
Delve in deep now - there drugs are legal
Delve in deep now - these drugs they are even encouraged - advertised!
Delve in deep now - no need to fear global corporations
Delve in deep now - let the pain, blood, and tears of sweatshop workers lull you to sleep…
Or you can look to the alternative - turn from the conservative
The backward fascist-like prospects - that saves us by enslaving us!
Strips our rights away - with no guarantee of improved Homeland Security
Who’s gaining from these policies?
The American people? Or those looking to abuse their authority?
It’s funny how you can listen to a song when you’re younger and not see how valid and poignant it still may be. Such is the case with this song. Justin Sane (Justin Geever) of Anti-Flag is one of my favourite artists.
I first heard this song when I was about 15 or 16. Around this time I had just started getting into Punk and the whole idea of a Punk Scene was something I really embraced. The people were different and shared a lot of the ideas that I did. It also started me on the path of thinking for myself.
Around this time the U.S. had begun the War on Terror and the world had seemed to change. It was (and still is) a world where you were expected to tow the party line, not question anything the Government did, and submit to authority without question. Those that questioned were ‘unpatriotic’ or ‘sympathisers’ with the ‘terrorists’.
This song meant a lot to me and still does. Punks often are branded as people wanting Anarchy and Chaos. In some cases that can be true, but I think there’s a counter-culture inside punk that is taking a more progressive stance and working on bettering the world instead of just bitching about it. That what bands like Strike Anywhere, Anti-Flag, and Propagandhi are about in my opinion.
As with most songs, this one provided me much food for thought. Should we sit by, complacent in the shows on T.V., professional sports, the lives of celebrities, and owning more and better things than all of our friends, while people are needlessly murdered by our Governments? These Governments are essentially enabled by us to kill in the name of money/corporate greed because we don’t care enough to get off the couch and do a little investigating.
We don’t vote, we don’t read the paper (or hopefully multiple news sources to try to get some objectivity) and we generally don’t care about anything but our own lives and convenience. Countless times I’ve been told ‘That’s just too depressing, so I avoid it’, ‘Yeah that’s terrible, but there’s nothing I can do about it’. There is little that disheartens me more than the knowledge that someone I care about is more concerned with blocking out reality and keeping themselves entertained than they are about how the lifestyle they maintain affects the other 75% of the world.
Material things are replaceable. People and lives are not. Don’t be completely submerged in the products, people and activities that advertising tells you to concern yourself with. Investigate, care, make a change in your own life that can make someone else’s life even a little better.
Please don’t tell me that the problems faced by members of our human family depress you. Please don’t tell me that one person can’t make a difference.
