Quote:
Originally Posted by sleepy jack
I was quoting the song because I felt it was interesting you said it was wrong about third world situations, yet you've stated that the reason for children in third world countries is essentially economic security...as illustrated by the line "they represent a profit, not a life."
Anyway I think you're misreading the song. It's clearly more about Western civilizations, then the third world. Right after the 6 million, when the song begins to narrow in scope, they talk about Jesus, textbooks, television, consumerism, and date rape culture. These things are characteristics of developed nations, of the United States, not the third world.
What they're essentially offering is a Marxist critique of capitalism and it's effect on society. Corporations do view us simply as consumers, to purchase their products and keep the wheel of the free market moving. We are no better than barcoded boxes to them. That's all it's saying, and we're raising to exist in this economic paradigm. Most parents teach this kid that this is just how the world works (and it is.) All they're saying is generation after generation has been part of this machine. It's not a critique of the third world at all, in fact it's barely even about overpopulation (there's absolutely no mention of resources or how many Homo sapiens the Earth can support.)
All the thing is saying is economics is ubiquitous, but not only that it's destroying our souls.
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I agree with all those critiques they make, for the most part. And it's true, I was led to think they were complaining about overpopulation due to the first lines, so you are right that I misread the song.
Still, I feel that even in developed nations children don't just represent profit to parents and corporations. Having a child is much more psychologically complicated than that. Also, many corporations exist for profit but not just for profit's sake: that money is used by people (employees, shareholders) to support their children and try to maintain a higher standard of living that hopefully translates into a more fulfilling life for children. Greed often exists due to love gone wrong, in which people want so much for those they love to have good lives that they aren't very concerned about the impact this has on others.
Certainly there is a lot of greed in the economic world, and governments exist in part, I feel, to help control that river of greed so that it doesn't suck from the poor and direct profits to the wealthy. Perhaps I just expect too much from an intentionally strident song: it can't comment on *all* aspects of a complicated social situation in its short time length.