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Ugly human, ugly shame, Lauryn Hill – Consumerism
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This talks about how people are always worried about their physical image, and how the media’s portrayal of beauty affects them. Since they don’t look what the media wants them to look like, they are ashamed (ugly shame), and think they have no beauty at all (ugly human).

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9

7 years

From the previous line she’s talking about an interaction between people. The saying “misery loves company” could relate. As humans, we tend to try to compensate for our own media coerced “faults” by insulting or finding non-existent “faults” in another. Her example was calling another human “ugly.” She then states that the shame truly is ugly and lies on the critic. “Ugly human? Ugly shame.”

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Mysticism makes decisions from a purer prism Lauryn Hill – Consumerism
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They say that mysticism is where a religion’s deepest profoundest secrets are revealed, and that it is the purest form of enlightenment of the religion.

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, new colonialisms Lauryn Hill – Consumerism
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Colonialism, when a country has portions of another country and control it. They say that’s over, yet some countries control others like if it were their own, for example:

US and Iraq or other territories
Possible Israel and Palestine
UK and former colonies

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Escapism running through them need a sedative Lauryn Hill – Consumerism
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People want to escape and enter an imaginary world, yet they need to wake up, and escape escapism itself.

Escapism = wanting a fantasy world

Need a sedative = Get back to the real world, the fantasy will never come true…

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G9u96cma6tq

1,359

4 years

I think the “need a sedative” part is implying that they need a sedative in order to enter that imaginary world

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They need the medication now! Lauryn Hill – Consumerism
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These problems need a solution!

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Infantile masturbation, juvenile, no education Lauryn Hill – Consumerism
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This whole line talks about our youth, how we are becoming more and more juvenile and talking a step in the wrong direction. Infantile masturbation may refer to finding sex at a young age or masturbation surrounding teens, how sex is rotting their brains. Juvenile, becoming something they should not, self-explanatory. No education, how the education system is deliberately dumbing down our youth for the purpose of them to never succeed, both mentally or in their own lives.

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Exploitative be the saviour to correct the system/paranoia Lauryn Hill – Consumerism
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This can be talking about capitalism, stealing money from the citizens so the higher people can receive this money for their own.

But this also may be talking about how capitalism is the nation’s (maybe referring to us or the gov’t) only hope, without it, they’re nothing.

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Marked this as a stretch?
2 years

The lyrics are exploitative…..Need a savior (Jesus Christ) to the correct the system.

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Default_avatar_100

544

7 years

hmm this actually seems to be sarcasm? perhaps? the prison system’s justification of locking up Blacks for “bad decisions” is exploitative, this “exploitation” is presented as a corrective stance against these “bad decisions” when in actuality the conditions were developed by the system to keep it afloat. I believe this is why “paranoia” is added as an alternative perspective to view this line.

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1db520583d7baacff1d84fff7b733902

219

10 years

I believe this is one of the more simpler lines in this song. I believe she is saying “exploitative (as in heroic) be the saviour to correct the system”, meaning anyone who could save us from this system would be deemed the savior.

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