Mettalica copypasta

This reminds me of the that old “eye for an eye” ethos of Babylonian and Hebrew law (not that these guys “meant” that by any stretch of the imagination…which is part of why it’s interesting). The “lex talionis” creed was an early attempt at establishing an “incorporated” system of laws at the roots of our political past–pre-reason, pre-classical thinking. I have no problem citing Wikipedia here: “if a person was hurt, then the injured person (or their relative) would take vengeful retribution on the person who caused the injury. The retribution might be worse than the crime, perhaps even death” (“Eye for an Eye”).

I think the writers of this song–which at this point was the band as a whole–in fact touch on something rather important which further demonstrates an earlier point about this song being (intended or not intended, it really doesn’t matter) a form of parody and intelligence that Metallica unwittingly advanced into thrash/heavy/progressive/whatever metal music: They advanced an awareness of the excesses that human beings will go to just to establish dominance while falling back on a certain amnesty of corporation, “inbred” circular reasoning we see to this very day in the U.S. Senate. Any and all atrocities can be justified when you are certified in committing them. At the same time, it feels fucking AWESOME to be part of a Machine that cannot be stopped, a Strong Man oligarchy that gives us permission to indulge our worst instincts because we get to be murderers with business cards.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think these songs are “deep.” I also don’t think our annotative close reads are in any way representative of anything but a group of smart but inchoate young adults just trying to turn anger into energy. Yet there’s no denying it: Why do so many consider this album their greatest work, including myself? I think it’s because in the era of Reaganomics, it gave people like myself a bit of validation: These feelings are real, and are greater than the individual–yet when they are co-opted and turned into a corporate entity, they become genuine existential threats. I think the song gave me and plenty of others more than just a “negative example”; it gave a decisively non-ironic glimpse of the nihilistic glee we do indeed feel when we are seduced by organized anything, when we feel we are now part of a larger cause, even if that cause is harshly punitive and consummately threatening. I think this song is “about” finding some kind of meaning, no matter the cost.

Or it could be about free speech, or the allure of militaristic thought, or just a pissed off bunch of guys who are sick of just being pissed off and want to take it to the next level. Regardless, it’s a fairly brilliant exploration of how one’s psyche can be possessed with the illusion of balance provided by vengeance, and how vengeance is always executed in extremis, and how we’ve done little to change that to this day.