'They're Done Patrolling Your Mind.'

Disturbed's "Are You Ready" for #FreedomMusicFriday

One of the recurrent themes of freedom music is empowerment.

This is not the kind of false “empowerment” peddled by the Marxian merchants of grievance: you are oppressed and if you give your allegiance to us, we will save you.

Rather, this is self-empowerment: make yourself stronger, better, and more determined, and then no one can oppress you.

You hear it a lot in hard rock and metal: Messages about hard work and persistence. Getting up and doing it even if you don’t want to. Making you the best you you can be. I have written about this before.

The band Disturbed has a number of songs along these lines, but perhaps none more on point than “Are You Ready.” Every word calls you to be resilient in some way or other. (And yes, they are definitely referring to resisting oppression, so this qualifies as homegrown.)

First, they acknowledge that “For too long your power has been taken away.” They even acknowledge the emotional impact that oppression has:

Does your heart feel heavy now?

But it is time to move past that and get strong.

Take those mental shackles off
And throw them away
You've got to get them out of your mind
Don't you let their vision leave you blind

No they can't control you
Once you've broken away
They're done patrolling your mind
When they're searching for you, they will find
A force they aren't ready for

I love the phrase “patrolling your mind.” That really is what they do…if we let them. And what Disturbed is saying is that once you take control of your own thoughts, your own reactions, your own destiny, you become a lot harder to control. You become someone who cannot so easily be “preyed upon.” That is a message we all need to hear.

Check out all the lyrics and watch the video below. Obviously they have enhanced the message of the lyrics with the video’s visuals, so there is no mistaking their point. This is anti-dystopian freedom-music.

Indeed, there are aspects of that video that are kind of like recurring dreams I’ve told you about…except mine end up in the forest, not at a pop-up Disturbed show in a warehouse. But either way is cool with me!

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