ความคิดเห็นที่ 7
 
ปฏิวัติฝรั่งเศสนี่มันสมัยหลุยส์ที่สิบหกไม่ใช่หรอครับ
ผมชอบความหมายใน Wikianswer ที่บอกว่าเพลงพูดถึงอเมริกา
If it's about the United States, here's how that could work:
"I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own"
The United States ruled the world in 1945. It's economy, military and moral authority were unchallenged in a world ruined by war. The US liberated and rebuilt Europe and conducted peaceful occupations of both Germany and Japan. But in 2008, the US is in decline, discredited throughout the world for its occupation of Iraq, blamed for a global financial collapse and wallowing in debt-much of which is held by countries that were at its feet in 1945.
"I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemies eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the King!"
Among other things, the US stared down the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The old king who died could be the British Empire to be succeeded by the United States.
"One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand"
In the second half of the 20th century, the US wielded sway over the free world without fighting, because little could be done without the support of the US. Now, US unilateralism has become its own prison. US credibility and trust by foreign nations is at a low point. Pillar of salt-seems to refer to a corrupt foundation, sand to an unsound foundation, perhaps references to what has become of US economic and moral strength.
"I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can not explain
Once you know there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world"
The US hears only Jerusalem bells because neo-conservatives have led it to put the interests of Israel ahead of its own. Missionaries in a foreign field could be efforts by the US to force its political economy on third world countries such as Vietnam and Iraq. My sword, shield, missionaries...here the speaker could be the embodiment of a fallen US exceptionalism which motivated the US on misguided crusades to remake the world in its own image. While she was under the sway of this force there was never an honest word in the US.
"It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People could not believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be King?"
An ideology of corrupted exceptionalism blew down the doors and entered the American 'city on a hill.' Perhaps it could be expressed by Scoop Jackson and Neo-conservatism. The puppet on a lonely string must be George W. Bush. He's been very much a neo-con puppet. Having been weakened and corrupted by this evil in the guise of American exceptionalism, the US is vulnerable to revolutionaries(although who these might be is hard to say) and deservedly so. From such a high point, symbol of freedom and righteous power in 1945, people the world over could not believe what the US had become in the Tonkin Gulf, military comissions, Abu Graib, Guantanamo Bay, FISA violations, denial of due process, national security letters, Haditha and so on...
"I know Saint Peter won't call my name"
If the US has been corrupted, its lost its divine mission, the true exceptionalism that made it a city on a hill/beacon of freedom.
จากคุณ :
วัว (cookiemonmon)  
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14 ก.พ. 52 16:50:05
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