Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: grindcore
Song Meaning of “How We Are Portrayed” by Capitalist Casualties
“How We Are Portrayed” reflects on humanity’s bleak misdirection and failed potential. The song takes a critical look at the way people are often presented in a negative light, and how it seems that people’s good deeds are often overlooked while their flaws and mistakes are over-exaggerated. The song laments what could have been if humanity had chosen a different path, one of hope and progress instead of greed and mistake.
The chorus asks us repeatedly “how have we been portrayed”, where the song’s narrator doubts public appraisal of their actions. Even when the song reflects on our misdirected nature it remains defiant, like the singer is determined to keep fighting against this injustice. The frantic vocal delivery of this chorus gives it an urgency and necessity that portrays how important this fight is to us all.
The song ends with the line “So many roads we could have taken, yet here we are”. This is a final statement of the missed opportunities that humanity has wasted and rejects and serves as a call to action to take a wiser and more forgiving path in the future.