Well, they'll stone you when you're trying to be so good
They'll stone you just like they said they would
They'll stone you when trying to go home
And they'll stone you when you're there all alone
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
Well, they'll stone you when you're walking on the street
They'll stone you when you're trying to keep your seat
They'll stone you when you're walking on the floor
They'll stone you when you're walking through the door
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
They'll stone you when you're at the breakfast table
They'll stone you when you are young and able
They'll stone you when you're trying to make a buck
They'll stone you and then they'll say "Good Luck"
Yeah, but I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
My thoughts:
This is another song that's been helping me cope with the craziness of life nowadays and particularly with the flamewars, mudslinging, real-life shitposting, and other forms of uncivil debate that are everywhere now. It's not just that politics grow ever more polarized, but that even people with similar political leanings can't stop infighting and "stoning" each other. No one can do anything anymore without being criticized for it by someone, or without the possibility of public humiliation at the hands of some "content creator." God forbid you stand out in any way or do anything to draw attention to yourself, because now someone thinks you're a menace to society, fair game for cyberbullying, or both.
While I know that humans have always been predisposed to this kind of cruelty, I really believe that social media has made it worse, stunting some people's emotional maturity at thirteen while causing other, older people to regress. People often write about the alleged dangers of social isolation, but I often wonder if perhaps too much time spent socializing is as bad as too little; perhaps everyone needs to distance themselves from the town square and its pillory a little each day to keep from getting sucked back into that adolescent mentality.
Either that, or get stoned, in the other sense. ;)
Book script courtesy of https://ribo.zone/free/snippets/