Jeremy Lusk
"Why Can't We Just Admit It?"
You can still donate $10 to the Red Cross by texting HAITI to 90999.
"Vicarious" is my favorite song from my favorite band, Tool. I was thrilled to see it in this week's Musically Challenged list, but I knew it was going to be hard to do it justice. It hits you hard right out of the gate and builds for 7 minutes to an enormous climax. It's incredibly powerful and explosive, and its subject matter is the guilty pleasure we all experience from watching others suffer. And by an eerie coincidence, it happens to be extremely relevant right now.
A week ago the nation of Haiti didn't cross any of our minds. Some of us didn't even know where it was. And now we donate our hard-earned money to help people we'll never meet put their shattered lives back together.
But let's not kid ourselves; We're glad it's not us. We're glad we can look at the photos on our laptops and watch the rescue efforts on our HDTVs. The part of us that feels guilty about that tries to empathize, to suffer vicariously through the pixels on the screen. But none of us can possibly know what it's like to be surrounded by death and destruction of such magnitude. So ultimately we just go about our day.
I live in Los Angeles. I'm able to live here only because I choose to ignore the simple fact that sooner or later, we will have our own Big One. It could happen in a thousand years, or it could happen at the end of this sentence. So every time the Big One hits somewhere else is another time it didn't hit me and the people I care about. Like it or not, we're all playing a game of Russian Roulette with the universe, and there's no sense feeling guilty when someone else gets it in the head. Just be glad it wasn't you and make the most of the time others no longer have.
So Haiti, I'm so sorry for the fate that's befallen you. I've given to help you rebuild and will continue to urge others to do the same. But to quote the final lyric from my favorite song:
Much Better You Than I.
========================================
Eye on the the TV
'Cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor it happens to be, like...
"Killed by the husband"
"Drowned by the ocean"
"Shot by his own son"
"She used a poison
in his tea...kissed him goodbye"
That's my kind of story
It's no fun 'til someone dies
Don't look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother holds her child
Watches him die
Hands to the sky crying,
"Why, oh why?"
Cause I need to watch things die... from a distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all need it too, don't lie
Why can't we just admit it?
Why can't we just admit it?
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
Neither the brave nor bold
Will write as the story's told
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
I need to watch things die... from a good safe distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same, so...
Why can't we just admit it?
Blood like rain come down
Drum on grave and ground
Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore
And Voyuer
Stare at the transmittal
Synced to the death rattle
La, la, la, la, la, la-la-lie (x4)
Credulous at best
Your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men
Pull your head on out
Your hippie haze and give a listen
Shouldn't have to say it all again
The universe is hostile, so impersonal
Devour to survive... so it is, so it's always been
We all feed on tragedy
It's like blood to a vampire
Vicariously I
Live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I
========================================
Strobist: Red gelled flash to my left and behind on 1/4, bare flash hitting the wall to the right on full power.
"Why Can't We Just Admit It?"
You can still donate $10 to the Red Cross by texting HAITI to 90999.
"Vicarious" is my favorite song from my favorite band, Tool. I was thrilled to see it in this week's Musically Challenged list, but I knew it was going to be hard to do it justice. It hits you hard right out of the gate and builds for 7 minutes to an enormous climax. It's incredibly powerful and explosive, and its subject matter is the guilty pleasure we all experience from watching others suffer. And by an eerie coincidence, it happens to be extremely relevant right now.
A week ago the nation of Haiti didn't cross any of our minds. Some of us didn't even know where it was. And now we donate our hard-earned money to help people we'll never meet put their shattered lives back together.
But let's not kid ourselves; We're glad it's not us. We're glad we can look at the photos on our laptops and watch the rescue efforts on our HDTVs. The part of us that feels guilty about that tries to empathize, to suffer vicariously through the pixels on the screen. But none of us can possibly know what it's like to be surrounded by death and destruction of such magnitude. So ultimately we just go about our day.
I live in Los Angeles. I'm able to live here only because I choose to ignore the simple fact that sooner or later, we will have our own Big One. It could happen in a thousand years, or it could happen at the end of this sentence. So every time the Big One hits somewhere else is another time it didn't hit me and the people I care about. Like it or not, we're all playing a game of Russian Roulette with the universe, and there's no sense feeling guilty when someone else gets it in the head. Just be glad it wasn't you and make the most of the time others no longer have.
So Haiti, I'm so sorry for the fate that's befallen you. I've given to help you rebuild and will continue to urge others to do the same. But to quote the final lyric from my favorite song:
Much Better You Than I.
========================================
Eye on the the TV
'Cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor it happens to be, like...
"Killed by the husband"
"Drowned by the ocean"
"Shot by his own son"
"She used a poison
in his tea...kissed him goodbye"
That's my kind of story
It's no fun 'til someone dies
Don't look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother holds her child
Watches him die
Hands to the sky crying,
"Why, oh why?"
Cause I need to watch things die... from a distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all need it too, don't lie
Why can't we just admit it?
Why can't we just admit it?
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
Neither the brave nor bold
Will write as the story's told
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
I need to watch things die... from a good safe distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same, so...
Why can't we just admit it?
Blood like rain come down
Drum on grave and ground
Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore
And Voyuer
Stare at the transmittal
Synced to the death rattle
La, la, la, la, la, la-la-lie (x4)
Credulous at best
Your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men
Pull your head on out
Your hippie haze and give a listen
Shouldn't have to say it all again
The universe is hostile, so impersonal
Devour to survive... so it is, so it's always been
We all feed on tragedy
It's like blood to a vampire
Vicariously I
Live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I
========================================
Strobist: Red gelled flash to my left and behind on 1/4, bare flash hitting the wall to the right on full power.