anonymous December 30th, 2005 04:33AM  
From 1895 to 1917, Nicholas had secret police everywhere. You couldn't talk about how bad the government was or you would be killed or sent to Siberia. If you told the truth about the government, it would be considered an offence.

"Do You See What I See?
Truth is an offence"

anonymous August 11th, 2006 09:34AM  
It talks about how life can be preceived in different ways because different personalities see things in different ways. It all depends on the "eye of the beholder".

anonymous November 14th, 2006 12:53PM  
The first one is right or at least closer .. It is about gov..

Read this

you can do it your own way
if it's done how I say

independence limited
freedom of choice
choice is made for you my friend
freedom of speech
speech is words that they will bend
freedom with their exception

Emperorlawson June 4th, 2007 12:39AM  
I believe this song possibly deals with one or two more things. One is perhaps about governments or an elite group of some sort pulling the wool over the citizens' eyes, assuring them that they're free to do what they please and should be happy that way, when their freedoms are actually very restricted...

"Doesn't matter what you see
Or into it what you read
You can do it your own way
If it's done how I say"

... And about how your true freedom is decided by "Your money and your wealth."

It could also be about how freedom for one sometimes hurts another. The following:

"Freedom of choice
Choice is made for you my friend"

Could be a reference to abortion, though highly unlikely; about how the choice of the mother can be harmful to the child, saying its choice of whether or not it would like to live is made for it. There's a slight chance this could be possible because Metallica has been thought of as being pro-life, such as when Hetfield says "Infanticide" in Harvester of Sorrow. Though this hasn't really been confirmed.

One more note: Please, no abortion arguments. I'm not personally pro-life. I'm just giving a possible interpretation of a song, not trying to make a political statement on abortion.