Happy Nation as a mirror of war and a call for peace

The shocking picture display shown in the live version of HN assaults our senses. Bombings, shootings, pollution, greed. We don't expect to see this type of footage at a pop concert. The images on the projection screen also run contrary to our ideas about the song. We expect positive images but do not find them. Instead, the band uses the footage to mirror what a nation at war looks like and it is anything but positive.

With this in mind, the second interpretation of HN must be that a happy nation is a nation of peace, not war. A warring nation tricks itself into thinking it is happy but in reality it is not. War brings sorrow to a nation, not happiness. Peace is desired and war should be avoided. This interpretation is the most widespread in Acerdom. Many fans subscribe to this idea as the reason for the intense images shown at the concert.

The HN presentation can be interpreted as having several objectives. One objective is to produce a sense of irony. A man named Siegfried Sassoon was a romantic poet. He wrote about flowers and sweet ideals. Then he was sent to war. His poems changed from romantic to nightmarish overnight. One poem called "Glory of Women" depicts women discussing the dashing and romantic deeds of men at war abroad. The women herald the duty and honor of soldiers fighting, while in the next line we hear of soldiers fleeing from battle. A soldier steps on the body of a dead enemy, burying the corpse deeper in the mud. As his boots trample the dead man, the soldier thinks about the dead man's mother sitting by a fire knitting socks for her son. The romantic and patriotic ideals that the women hold contradict the brutal experiences of the soldiers. HN live creates the same effect as Sassoon's poem. The romantic lyrics contradict the brutal live projections. This discord between sight and sound forces the audience to contemplate and reject the notion that war is honorable and romantic.

The visuals are also a way to show the absurdity of ideas present in fascism and other extreme belief systems, such as the idea of a "perfect man". Extreme ideas lead to extreme problems such as guns, bombs, war, and pollution. In a nation with extreme ideas, the voices that dissent are the ones who say "we've gone too far" The dissenters cry out, letting others know that the ideal way to live is through the pursuit of peace. They are the ones who lead the masses into realizing that a happy nation is not made through war, but instead is created through a road of peace.

One also wonders if the band is intentionally placing a political message in all of this. Could the oil derricks and nuclear plants plastered one after the other on the projection screen suggest the building feud between the United States and Iran? Is the band protesting the willful desire of many nations to wage war today? The footage of past conflicts mixed with a flying dove suggests this is a possibility.

Whether the derricks and nuclear plants are a political message or simply symbols of all-consuming greed and environmental destruction, the overlying theme still points to a need for peace. Each nation should strive for peace and it is only in peace that a nation can truly be happy.