2 + 2 = 5

Listen while you read:  Really creepy cartoon video

Are you such a dreamer to put the world to rights?
I'll stay home forever, where two and two always make a five
I'll lay down the tracks, sandbag and hide
January has April showers, and two and two always make a five

It's the devil's way now, there is no way out
You can scream and you can shout
It is too late now

Because you're not there 
Payin' attention . . .

Yeah, I feel it, I needed attention
Payin' attention . . .

I try to sing along, but the music's all wrong
'Cause I'm not, 'cause I'm not . . .

I'll swallow up flies? Back and hide
But I'm not . . . 

Oh, hail to the thief
Oh, hail to the thief
But I'm not . . . 

Don't question my authority or put me in the box
'Cause I'm not, 'cause I'm not . . . 

Oh, go up to the king and the sky is falling in
But it's not, but it's not . . . 
Maybe not
Maybe not

~  Selway, Greenwood et al (Radiohead)

I don't usually like to choose songs that seem to have some lyrics that are incomplete or non-sensical or just plain lazy. This song has some of those. I am also not very knowledgeable on Radiohead. But I needed a song with the number five in it and was surprised, once again, to find an old one that could have been written yesterday. "2 + 2 = 5" (also called "The Lukewarm") appears on 2003's Hail to the Thief.

The title of the album, which is also a line in this song, is a response to the 2000 Presidential election in which Al Gore won the popular vote, but lost to George W. Bush. (Sound familiar?)  The members of Radiohead claimed that they did not start out to be political, but there it was. And I don't think you can claim to not be political when your song is rife with references to George Orwell's 1984, the quintessential political novel.

I think the opening lines are eerily applicable to our circumstances today, fourteen years after the song was written. We can choose to participate in our government actively or passively or not at all. There is no question that voter apathy and ignorance played a part in the election of the current administration. It is too late now.

Or is it? There is hope that the tragedy in Charlottesville this past weekend, as well as Trump's refusal to denounce, by name, the groups that gathered to foment hatred and bigotry, may provide the turning point in our frightening descent into a totalitarian state. Don't question my authority sang Radiohead. "The powers of the President to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned," declared White House aide Stephen Miller back in February.

In case I haven't reminded you enough, in five days, I will be flying to Georgia for the solar eclipse. The sky is falling in!

Maybe not. Maybe not.

(Note: Trump's denouncement was issued after this post was written. Too late?)