Examining Patriotism and Individuality: The Smashing Pumpkins' "For God and Country"

Have you ever heard a song that makes you think?

Well, try a whole album.

Such is the case with the Smashing Pumpkins' album, Zeitgeist. As yet another one of their albums that is both a product of its time yet somehow still ahead of it, it features a trove of songs designed to examine and contemplate what it means to live in a society that is supposed to be free, yet grapples with adversarial forces that seek ever more power by limiting that freedom.

Sound familiar? It should.

The song "For God and Country" (currently unavailable online in studio version, but here’s a live acoustic rendition in the list) gives a particular critique on this theme, as it delves into what it means to both love your country and the freedom for which it is supposed to stand, yet also be oppressed by those who lead.

The song (studio version) takes on an initially creepy tone, as it seems to make reference to increased government powers given in the name of security and preserving freedom - all while restricting it and monitoring your every move. This was the era of the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, the passing of the Patriot Act, and the rise of the NSA and its controversial powers, as well as the whistle-blowing of Edward Snowden. "I want to live where no one's watching my way home"

(See what I mean by being a song of its time, yet still ahead of it? These themes are even more true today). However, the song then takes a tone of fervent spiritual conviction, as each person is more than just a sheep in the herd, but a divine soul with an individual identity and purpose - and that needs true freedom to flourish.

"I want to give until I'm bursting with unknown"

In classic Smashing Pumpkins fashion, the questioning of authority is juxtaposed with this spiritual backdrop, for truly, it is the ideas of "God and Country" that people tend to profess their undying loyalty to, and it is both the divine world of spirit and individual worth and the tribal world of blood and flesh that evoke the greatest emotions from most people in any given society. This questioning critique is designed to make the listener think - and it seems to have at least three levels that can be summed up in these lyrics: "For God and country, I'll fight

For God and country, I'll die

For God and country, my soul is so alive"

Let's examine just exactly what these levels mean, and maybe you can see where you or others might fit on the spectrum.

For God and Country, I'll Fight

This is the kind of loyalty one has deep conviction for. Fighting for your team, your people, your nation, your tribe. It doesn't require any profound depth of insight, as it is instinctual and familial - almost a gut reaction.

For God and Country, I'll Die

Signaling both the aforementioned conviction to fight, the next step is to then potentially die for that conviction. And while dying for it may be considered heroic and give a sense of martyrdom, there is a darker side to it that says perhaps that death may be the result of being victimized by powerful, manipulative forces of State.

This is the level that says - yes, you have your convictions, and by them - you may die for them - and conveniently so for the Powers that be, who may not have your best interests in mind, but instead serve themselves.

For God and Country, My Soul Is So Alive

This is the enlightened state of patriotism. It is elevated above the tribal sense and sits above being ignorantly manipulated by the corrupt and powerful.

It is true love for your people and sense of God (whatever that might be), as opposed to something of a lower nature.

It is a sense of awareness that your leaders aren't always right, and neither are the actions of your country - but that you can still love your country and what it is supposed to stand for - and you can fight for it.

And ironically, even die for it, if need be - but in this sense, not as one victimized and manipulated, but as one who nobly gives their all for something worth the fight, even to their last breath.

This is the state everyone needs to wake up to if they are going to truly save their country, instead of just blindly following whatever leader in whatever fleeting cult of personality.

This is the stance of true individualism and freedom.

So obviously, pondering and examining these different levels is necessary for personal awareness and preservation of liberty.

On which of these levels are you?