Rise Against: Collapse (Post-Amerika) Meaning

Collapse (Post-Amerika) Lyrics

When our rivers run dry and our crops cease to grow
When our summers grow longer and winters won't snow
From the banks of the ocean and the ice in the hills
To the fight in the desert where progress stands still
When we've lost our...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Sep 14th 2011 !⃝

   To me, this song is clearly about climate change.
   
   "When our rivers run dry and our crops cease to grow
   When our summers grow longer and winters won't snow" This is all about global warming.
   
   "From the banks of the ocean and the ice in the hills
   To the fight in the desert where progress stands still" Here they're talking about how climate change affects everyone, from the poles to the equator, mountains to coasts, rainforests to deserts.
   
   "When we've lost our will
   
   That's how we'll know
   This is not a test, we'll know
   This is cardiac arrest" They're saying that we've got to take action NOW, not wait for things to happen and go wrong; it's like a heart attack: we've got to prevent it before it kills us.
   
   "Of a world too proud to admit our mistakes
   We're crashing into the ground as we all fall from grace" The world has to admit that we've done wrong by changing the climate or our pride will ultimately be our undoing.
   
   "When the air that we breathe becomes air that we choke" Air pollution.
   
   "When the marsh fever spreads from the swamps to our homes" Diseases spreading.
   
   "When your home on the range has been torn down and paved
   And the buffalo roam to a slaughterhouse grave" Urbanization.
   
   "What more will it take
   
   For us to know
   This is not a test, we'll know
   This is cardiac arrest
   Of a world too proud to admit our mistakes
   Kissing the ground as we all fall from grace" Again, the world has got to admit its mistakes and fix them, because the environment is shouting at us that something's wrong, and our pride makes us ignore it, because we feel we can do no wrong.
   
   "This is a chance to set things straight
   To bend or break the rules back into place" We have to act now while there's still a chance for us to recover.
   
   "There is no middle ground, no compromise
   We've drawn the line" You're either for or against saving the environment, it's black and white, so pick a side.
   
   "With perfect aim, we stand back and throw" Humanity is giving the environment its best shot and killing it.
   
   "Glass windows break and it's all about to blow" Natural disasters brought on by climate change and human activity will kill us.
   
   "Lights go out as we pass the torch again
   In hope that it stays lit" Things are going to get bad, and the current generation will pass the torch to the younger generation, tasking them with fixing all the damage of previous generations on the environment.
   
   "Neutrality means that you don't really care
   Cause the struggle goes on even when you're not there
   Blind and unaware" Like they said earlier, it's black and white, there's no middle ground. Either you care or you don't, and claiming neutrality means you couldn't care less about the environment and the struggle between the opposing sides.
   
   "That's how we'll know
   This is not a test, we'll know
   This is cardiac arrest
   Of a world too proud to admit our mistakes
   We're crashing into the ground as we all, yeah we all, all fall from grace" Ultimately, our pride will kill us because we won't acknowledge, much less fix, the mistakes humanity has made.
2. anonymous

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   Jun 6th 2011 !⃝

   takes a none-too-subtle jab at the current administration in these great United States and talks about the direction the country is heading with the leadership as it stands now. It pleads with the country (at least those who are listening) to make a change and help put the nation back onto the right track.
3. anonymous

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   Mar 22nd 2011 !⃝

   I believe this song is about the fall of the California dream and how now California has become a dull state.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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