Empty Walls

There is no question the song is directly about the Bush administration's censorship of the Iraq war and specifically the choice to ban the media from showing caskets of American soldiers.

"Your empty walls, Pretentious adventures, Dismissive apprehension, Don't waste your time, On coffins today,"

About how we are just being forced to ignore reality whether or not we even conciously acknowledge so.

" Don't you see their bodies burning? Desolate and full of yearning, Dying of anticipation, Choking from intoxication,"

About both American and Iraqi casualties that the public is ignorant to.

The video which depicts the twin towers being destroyed, the statue of Hussein being toppled, and even prisoners being taken ends with the children staring at the casket outside. The children who played the war willing and enjoyed it are being seperated from the casket only by a window, an empty wall. There is nothing really there and they choose to see reality but censoring their vision would mean they still think of war as a type of game and run around enjoying it.

In summary, the song is about the government's false protections and how censoring the viewing of caskets decreases critcism of the war and helps Americans avoid the reality that people are constantly dieing from war because they are unable to view the atrocities. While I'm sure these themes can be taken into a broader scope there is no doubt Serj is directly speaking to the casket censorship. An incredible song and maybe the best video I have seen this year.

My interpretation of the song is one that requires background information, as most people would be confused with my interpretation unless they were well educated in history, or unless they were of Armenian descent. The Armenian Genocide, sometimes appropriately called “The Forgotten Genocide,” has never received the national attention it deserves. One reason is because of the Turkish government’s succesful campaign to erase history with threats and political pressure on countries like the USA (It works because of Turkey’s strategic location on the map). Thus, Serj Tankian’s masterful song, “Empty Walls” is an obvious allusion to the unjustified and brutal persecution that the Armenian people had been subjected to under the Ottoman Empire, espescially during the 20th Century.

“Your Empty Walls” is not referring to your empty walls, or my empty walls, but indirectly referring to the lives lost during one of the bleakest moments in history. If we dig down deeper, in a philosophical sense, Serj wants us to look past the real or concrete aspects of the world we live in, and reach out to the abstract, the spiritual world. By speaking to the dead, specifically to those who died in the unbearable heat of the desert, Serj is reaching out to the souls that still suffer and linger under the sand, their “Empty Walls.” These souls will continue suffering until they receive justification, until their wounds are healed and only then can they rest. Until then, they shouldn’t “waste their times on coffins today.”

my interpretation is short.

empty walls could mean the whole terror levels and all that crap, notice the little rating system thing that came out at the begining?

as the levels rise or fall the we create ways to protect ourselves from this "threat"

what do walls do? protect. hence the term empty walls, the walls are empty because theres nothing to protect yourself from.

The video is beautiful by the way, if anyone hasnt seen it you can find it on you tube

It's about the war in iraq

The empty walls=the lack of weapons of mass destruction

"I loved you yesterday before you killed my family" That's from the view of an iraqi child. Sure they're liberating my country, but they also killed my family.

"Pretentious adventures, Dismissive apprehension," Sums the war up.

I've never seen the video, but as soon as i heard the song i felt a close connection with it. As i listened to the song, something came to mind. It made me think about what happened in Waco Texas to the Branch Davidians. In case you don't know what happened, there was a group of religious people that wanted to get away from the other organized religions, and David Koresh believed himself to be a savior to lead them into a new life. But then they(the government) believed the Branch Davidians were stock piling illegal weapons, like machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, ect. ect. so the ATF stormed their compound. There was a gunfight, and a few ATF agents died, and all hell broke loose. I would like to point out that during this firefight, and in the firefights to come, the Branch Davidians don't use a single machine gun, rocket launcher or greanade. Then when the ATF admit they couldn't contain the situation, they get the FBI in, and then the FBI gets the army involved. After weeks of negotiations, and David Koresh never giving up(even though he was shot), they use tanks to knock holes into the compound and shoot CS gas in to try and gas them out. During this assault, a fire breaks out. There is much controversy as to who set the fire, but compound went up in flames, the CS gas turning to poison in the fire, choking the Branch Davidians to death, and they are all eventually burned(except a few who managed to get out of the compound). Now, I won't go so far as to say this is what that song is about, but my mind made that connection.

im pretty sure this song is about war. but not the one in iraq. i think its about world war 2.

Don't waste your time On coffins today --the mass of jews that were killed and just thrown into a pile

Don't you see their bodies burning? Desolate and full of yearning, Dying of anticipation, Choking from intoxication, --millions of people were burned, anticipating death killed many, do you remember gas chambers? choking from intoxication.

and of course, empty walls. concentration camps had walls around them. empty as in hope? or because mostly everyone was dead inside?

does anyone else see it???

I liked reading through others interpretations of this song, there are some things that make a lot of sense that I had never even thought of.

I've never even knew about "The Forgotten Genocide" probably because that wasn't something I learned in school, thanks sonic911 for bringing that into the light for me. I enjoyed reading both yours and elite89's comments.

I don't think my interpretation is the best or the worst but here it is.

When Serj uses the term "empty walls" it made me think of the boundaries that divide people today. Boundaries like the borders to countries, something that splits up human beings. It also make me think of not-so-literal boundaries like religion and how it separates people and how in a lot of cases it drives people to kill one another. Another thing I sense to be a "wall" is ignorance and how it keeps people from coming together. I don't mean ignorance in the sense of stupidity, I mean in the sense of what we learn after the government filters out all the "undesirable" information. A good example of this would be what I stated early, how I didn't know anything about The Armenian Genocide, mainly because I never learned about it in school.

Hope my comment gives you another angle of thought.

Think for yourself, don't let your government think for you. Unless you want to give up your individuality and join the "unthinking majority".

If you watch the video it ties in to the war with iraq.

0:22 it's the Twin towers 1:04 its the start of the war in the middle east 2:00 it's pulling down Saddam's Husseins statue 2:10 it's kinda self explanatory 2:26 it's unfair inprisonment of unfortunates 2:33 a Muslim who got tortures by the U.S, even though there was no edvidence linking him to Al Qaeda 3:05 is a car bomb. To sum up his overall agenda of this video he is saying that the US handled the war like "kids"

I think it might not as deep as some people go with song meanings. If you really think about the song lyrics and this event is sort of fits. This sounds like it's about the Holocaust. Before you deny me, think about it. Bodies burning, chocking from intoxication, no coffins, I (Jew) loved you (Germany) before you killed my family. It fits.

"From behind those empty walls"

Empty walls could be the televisions that the public sits behind to watch the war. Soldiers who are there, know how many people are dying and suffering, but the people at home can't see everything since they are sitting behind a TV and stations basically pick out what we get to see on TV and what we skip.

"Don't you see their bodies burning?" No, we are never/rarely shown the bodies of soldiers being tortured/burned/killed.

"I loved you yesterday, (From behind those empty walls...) Before you killed my family, (From behind those empty walls, the walls...)"

What the TV had told us (or didn't) had made us either like or just not mind the countries that we are in war with. Then the TV told us that they killed our families, making us hate them. But we killed their families in return, also. TV doesn't choose to tell us how cruel we are to others. This song isn't leaning towards any side, its showing that both of the sides have the same problems. The media takes over what we see which takes over what we feel.

"(Fuck your empty walls, fuck your empty walls)" Basically, don't listen to everything you are told. Have a little common sense and question whether what the government is showing you is the complete truth or just a half truth.