Antinature

Antinature
From the future
We sing

Go to the Highlands
And put a bomb underneath a mountain
Sweet little creatures
Eat, sleep, shit the day away

I won't be at the mercy of myself
In every country
A million raging ids
Wage a war for the control
Of our unhappy kids

Do you want to go back
Into the cold, into the darkness?
We will win
You can do anything.

Antinature
Nuclear power?
Yes please

notes: Alternative version appears on 1996's That's All Very Well, But...

From Malcolm:

I think Antinature came out of an idea that was quite prevalent at the time and which has become even more widespread since, that anything natural is somehow positive and anything human or man-made is negative. It's an idea I fundamentally disagree with. Previous ages had a far more rational view of nature as something largely destructive and inimical to human beings. Only now that we've begun to master certain aspects of nature can people afford the luxury of idealizing it.

I suppose the song is sung 'from the future' because I imagined a time when people had reduced the effects of such natural phenomena as earthquakes, malaria and acne. I mention the 'id', a Freudian term, because it's something like the unconscious, natural instinct, as opposed to thought and reason.

The last bit, Nuclear Power? Yes, please! sounds as if it's ironic but isn't in fact. There was a Greenpeace slogan, Nuclear Power? No thanks! But I think people have a tendency to mix up nuclear weapons and nuclear power in their minds. The first brings us nothing whatsoever, but the second is probably the best form of energy available to us at the moment.

Highlands refers to the Scottish Highlands.

The last line, "Nuclear power? Yes please" is a twist on a popular Greenpeace slogan from the time, "Nuclear power? No thanks!"  Here's a sticker I found with the slogan, in German no less.

found on: I Am a Wallet, That's All Very Well, But...

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