anonymous January 3rd, 2006 04:25AM  
Also, the idea that 2+2=5 was important in George Orwell's 1984. Not saying that this song is particularly about it, but elements of it seem to link back to 1984. The main character of the novel dreams of a world not controlled by the always-watching Big Brother. In the end, he finds that the people around him were not who he thought they were, that nothing would change, and that Big Brother sees everything.

EscapeArtist March 23rd, 2006 11:14PM  
The song is about the way things are by default, and about the useless feeling that comes from the inability to do anything about it. That, at least, is what I heard in an iterview with Thom and Ed.

anonymous June 8th, 2006 07:57AM  
I think this song is about people who attempt to change the world, but in the end it's futile because people won't change.
"Are you such a dreamer, to put the world to rights"

That line just makes me think that although we are governed by laws, when everything is stripped away there isn't really any order, you'd be delusional to try and tell somebody whats right and whats wrong. It isn't right, but that's how it is -> 2+2=5

FlightRisk September 30th, 2006 11:22PM  
2+2=5 is most likely a criticism of george bush's political affairs and foreign relations.
The lyrics "two and two always makes up five" are a blatant reference to george orwell's "1984", but specifically the doublethink mindset, in which an individual holds two opposing beliefs in their mind simultaneously. This illustrates thom yorke's frustration with the self-contradictions and allegations that the bush administration has made. "are you such a dreamer/to put the world to rights?" states that it is impossible to try to justify what is going on in the world today and that no one can create justice within the existing system.
The middle section of the song illustrates the folly of people who are ignorant to the political issues of the world, because they will one day wake up to a world that they are not able to change. ("it's the devil's way now/.../it is too late now/because/you have not been paying attention")
the "hail to the thief/.../don't question my authority or put me in a box/.../oh, go tell the king that the sky is falling/" section of the song is a potential reference to bush's alleged election hijacking, but it could also be referring to the desire for resources and the iraq war, believeing false information without thinking ("the sky is falling" being a reference to the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction).

Most of the points I have made are aforementioned, but I thought that I should organise them into a single post.

anonymous November 18th, 2006 11:35PM  
all right. I agree mostly with the connections between 1984 and the song, but I have to take down a miscommon belief. "Hail to the Thief" has nothing to do with American Politics. It doesn't have to do with bush stealing the election. It was said so in a number of interviews with thom. I don't remember what the real meaning of the label was but he specifically pointed out that it was completely coincidental. and the band could really care less about american politics

anonymous January 3rd, 2007 11:59PM  
This song is without a doubt a song inspired by nineteen eighty-four. "2+2=5" and "dont put me in a box" meaning don't close me off from the truth. It is talking about the degradation of being forced to be ignorant.

anonymous May 17th, 2007 06:33PM  
I think the song is about how successful the various systems of indoctrination in the powerful nations of the world has been in quelling public uprising against policies that continue to alienate the same public more and more.

'Are you such a dreamer to put the world to rights?' - no, who are you? you can't change anything. That's what most of us are taught to believe throughout our lives so most of us 'stay home for ever' and watch the important people getting on with running the world without ever questioning their right to do it or their motives.

In so doing they feed us a lot of crap that we're trained to just accept even though if we ever stop and think about it never adds up. 2+2=5.

How many people do you know who like to keep up to date with current afairs, read papes, watch news etc. but haven't a clue what anything's actually about? Just lap it up and accept.

anonymous September 23rd, 2007 01:42PM  
Of course this song has to do with us being blind, with American Politics and with bush stealing the election, in spite of Thom saying the opposite over and over. No coincidences. He lives in this world too.. He don't need an enemy called bush.

criostoir December 28th, 2007 01:57PM  
Http://poor-blogger.blogspot.com/2007/07/2-2-5.html

Often, Christians (and many modern folk) will use the following theorum to say that some truths are inevitable.

2 + 2 = 4

C.S. Lewis said, in Mere Christianity, that to say otherwise is devoid of common humanness and morality.

In George Orwell's essay Looking Back on the Spanish War, published four years before 1984, he wrote: "Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as "the truth" exists. […] The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, "It never happened"—well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five—well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs […]"

Orwell was probably referring to Hitler's propaganda minister, Hermann Göring, who said: "If the Führer wants it, two and two make five!"

In 1984, Orwell wrote: "In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable—what then?"

Victor Hugo said, referring to the Napoleonic coup: "Now, get seven million five hundred thousand votes to declare that two and two make five, that the straight line is the longest road, that the whole is less than its part; get it declared by eight millions, by ten millions, by a hundred millions of votes, you will not have advanced a step."

In other words, Lewis, Orwell and Hugo agree that to deny the veracity of 2 + 2 = 4 is to deny any sort of truth, or makes truth negotiable. In fact, it seems to be a sinister plot by either the despot (Hitler) or the people (in France) to turn the world on its ear and remake it to suit the whims of the one, or ones, in power. It makes Truth the property of Sophists, to be sold to the man with the best argument or the most armies and weapons. It is a difficult proposition to deny. The potential results are quite scary! They are so scary that Pythagoras drowned his pupil.

anonymous April 8th, 2008 08:40PM  
I believe Thom Yorke is heavily influenced by George Orwell...
and I know he loves Pynchon. W.A.S.T.E. comes from The Crying of Lot 49, and I know he makes another Pynchon reference somewhere, but I can't remember what it is.

I definitely think it has something to do wish brainwashing or possibly medication.

anonymous September 5th, 2008 12:10AM  
2+2=4 if we go by what we know and have learned. you can use your fingers to prove this, but it all depends on what "two" actually is, the learned individual knows what the number 2 means to society, therefore they know it equals 4. but what about those who aren't learned, 2 might as well be what we know as 3, therefore 2+2 would = 6 =P

angrybear December 5th, 2008 01:32PM  
from the moment i heard this song I thought Dostoevsky and his famous short story Notes from Underground..but that is just me i dont speak for Thom!! but check out the story and think about it.

anonymous April 3rd, 2009 05:26PM  
I think it is a story about the government becoming too powerful and controlling anything, like making 2+2=5

anonymous April 9th, 2009 04:08PM  
I think its about the idead that ""Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. "" or like the normal people (us) are controlled by the big man ( some political man) and we cant do anything without being controlled..like the Germans keeping jewish guys into concentration camps and they tried to change things but they couldn't

anonymous August 4th, 2009 04:36PM  
What you all don't seem to get is that this songs is not just a reference to 1984 or to tyrants and other injustices of the past. This song is about each and every one of you accepting the awful world we live in daily and turning away out of either ignorance or apathy. It's about how everyday we all go out and live our lives like the world is normal and all the hate and death and fear is just routine but our society is an abomination to this planet. This song is about you. And I can scream and shout about how you've all fucked up, about how I've fucked up and for thousands of years humanity has fucked up, but really deep down I know it's too late now.

chewe December 13th, 2009 04:57AM  
Ever heard of Ruth Cowan...read his "The Early Decades of Industrialization" and see how it relates to this song...it says industrialization has changed much of our way of life and very life consuming...the cows in the video are being consumed by work and the demands of industrialization ...which the pig is the industrial age or...the modern government...guess they decided to put cows as people cuz we follow the sheperd as long as we get fed..and cuz of ruth cowan's name... :)