...isn't this song just about global warming, with "furnace set on high" and "fresher atmosphere" and helpless scholars and all?

Also I thought this was a Brett song. Huh.

[quote=Sublime]"shadows entertain the unwashed masses" - perhaps a reference to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"?[/quote] I can see this being about the deluge of ethical inputs from philosophers over time, bringing about confusion in society over what is right and wrong. I agree that the shadows could be a reference to the Allegory of the Cave, while the scholars part could have a more Empiricist (Locke, Berkeley) view where everything is all ideas, hence the "numb"-ness. Or maybe the scholarly point may refer to something more Freudian. With all these ideas about what's right, and what truth is, I think he may be talking about not really following any idea that may lead an individual or society into self-destruction, and just bring about their own definition of truth.

I think it's about someone straying from the mass of people that conform to the dogmatic opinions of 'god' so he sets off to find the truth.

Social Suicide is about how people just conform to the dogmas out of fear of failure and ignorance. People are always told growing up to respect their elders. When they grow up they find out that what their elders are telling them are just religious opinions. Most people just follow the religious opinions-the Truth or belief in 'God' or some sort of supernatural power. "Shadows entertain the unwashed masses" talks about people just conforming to religion and fear of finding the real truth. "Scholars explain their numb reactions": people in authority conditioning people into believing their dogmatic beliefs. Social Suicide is about someone who strays from the Truth, to find the truth-looking inward for the truth for himself. The social suicide is straying from the dogmatic opinions and religious beliefs in which the ignorant mass conforms to. "Right now! Well it's finally time to face my fears. Gonna get the hell out of here": he's going to face his fear of failure which makes the mass conform to religion and find the truth. "And there's a yearning undefined. Now it's time to turn the tide. It's social suicide": he can't conform to religion any more. He has the need now to find the truth for himself, not for someone to give it to him or for a prescription to tell him the way the life should go.

My interpretation is that it's talking about the bible belt thumping deceit and how people just comply to it without even looking into what is really true. Everyone is taught to respect their elders and everything they tell you. When you grow up you find out that that what the scholars are telling you are only opinions but most people don't bother to find the truth. It's about someone who strays from what the scholars tell them to believe and tries to find the truth for themselves.

I think it's has many meanings to it. But the meaning I found most useful was more literal an related directly to social situations, such as the popular crowd in high school. For example: "Right now! Well it's finally time to face my fears, Gonna get the hell out of here And create a fresher atmosphere But the consequence is clear": that's like someone thinking to themselves. They've realized their crowd has nothing more to offer and it's time to commit social suicide and refresh himself. But by doing this, there will be consequences. "There's a furnace set on high, And a yearning undefined": they're feeling anxiety. "But it's time to turn the tide, It's social suicide": but they need to do it any way. "Like you!": he's now addressing the proverbial leader "Perseverance is a useless tool, Just a patron on a ship of fools": he feels like everyone he associates with are basically sheep "Feigning interest in the cast and crew": he's just tired of it all. "I don't even know if I can ever find Truth, But I'm sure it won't come from following you": he needs to go his own way and make his own path, because the person he's been following obviously doesn't know a damn thing.

"Social Suicide" is written from the perspective of an anti-war protester. "Right Now!": there's no time to delay. Too many have died. We're letting the bad guys get stronger. "Well, it's finally time to face my fears. Gonna get the hell out of here": he has a fear of the repercussions of taking a stance contradictory to his loved ones, friends, and peers. They would dub him unpatriotic for doing so. "And create a fresher atmosphere": he's tired of the pessimistic talk. He's going to do something about because the "doom and gloom rhetoric is suffocating. "Yet the consequence is clear": the "consequence" is the condemnation from those he interacts with. Or the consequence could be allowing things to progressively get worse if he doesn't take a stand. "There's a furnace set on high": referring to the Middle East and how heated tensions are with regards to possible holy war. "And a yearning undefined": the "yearning" is a world where it's understood that it takes make strength to not fight. A world where negotiation is prevalent and people stop being religiously ignorant. "But it's time to turn the tide": appeal to reason. "Like you! Perseverance is a useless tool": perseverance is useless because it neglects who your fighting. It demands you try to overcome the enemy despite not understanding him. In this case perseverance is impossible because you can't kill a belief. "Like you" is talking about the people who scoff and label him. "Just a patron on a ship of fools": this is the side that thinks everything will turn out all right if we drop enough bombs. "Feigning interest in the cast and crew": the "crew" is our men who are dying in a morass of an exit strategy. The "cast" are the main players: Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush etc. "While you've broken every single rule": Preemption and how it pertains to us being the "good guys". [Brett talked about this: "that the threshold is all but diminished for going to war. How the bar has been lowered. How it used the be the gravest decision a nation could make, now it's commonplace because we're taking blind swings at the jihads and slapping the hornets' nest."] "Shadows entertain the unwashed masses": television and how the media is broadcasting misleading ideas that we're making progress and the war is being won when in truth it's deteriorating. "Scholars explain their numb reactions": the experts and analysts are saying that terrorist can't be reasoned with.

In this song I see true influence of George Orwell. Social suicide is the step not taken by a lot of people who just have fear of absolute change. In 1984, O'Brien asks Winston whether he wants to go all the way up until the very end, even risking his own life, in order to battle Big Brother. Winston, indeed, is committing social suicide. 1984 is the tale of a social suicide, that of Winston of course. Julia, on the other hand, doesn't seem so confident because, while even hating society, she has a cynical comfort having found her place in it.

"shadows entertain the unwashed masses" - perhaps a reference to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"?

I think this song is about trying to make a difference in your personal life, and how difficult it can be to make those changes. The chorus kind of explains this because it says that "turning the tide" is, in fact "social suicide," meaning that making a difference these days is interpreted by many as a really big unnecessary risk.