Ideas flow constantly into the culture, and some gradually permeate it while others dissipate. Some ideas, some of them hundreds of years old, pervade society and culture in contemporary fashions and enslave our consciousness, all unnoticed. Among them lie beliefs that human nature is essentially good, so everyone is basically the same; that it is possible to understand all things; that all that is "real" is material in nature; and that all one's actions are determined by external motivations. And the less aware we are of these propositions, the less likely we are to question them.
These Chains
I bought a ticket down on Broadway
For the river road
A former lover brushed past my way
...and that's the way it goes
These chains are all a lie
These chains are all just lies
These chains just all are lies.
These chains all our lives...
She was the center of her circle
Like any fashion slave
She let the things she did in high school
Haunt her to her grave
These chains are all just lies
These chains are all just lies
These chains are only lies.
These chains are all lies...
Almighty lays down all the laws
And everybody fears
While rumors spread through
Smoke and mirrors and linger in your ears
These chains are only lies
These chains are all a lie
These chains are all a lies
These chains are all lies...
Here comes trouble's tattooed shoulder, here comes a cop in uniform
Here comes the source of human bondage heading for a dance floor
Here comes a trucker and his sister-- man, they're one of a kind
And me, I'm just sitting here on the sidewalk
In the back of your mind...
In the back of your mind...