This song concerns the American obsession with the television, and "Living Vicariously" through television characters. It also touches upon the American obsession with violence in television, a very psychological view on how we as a culture tend to need to watch other people or things die in order to continue feeling good about our own lives, and how when a war occurs (The Iraq War) we tend to need to watch "While the whole world dies."
About 5 minutes into the song, a newscaster's voice can be heard low in the mix, saying something like, "But the ballistics report and fingerprint analysis led investigators back to the home of the late Irv Benson. The evidence suggests that Benson may have been shot by his own son, Nathan, age 26."
This song is similar in theme to the Tool song "Stinkfist." Depending on your interpretation of "Stinkfist," it has to do with the greed and consumption, possibly of things such as the TV. "Vicarious" speaks of devouring information from the TV (whatever that information may be). In both of these songs, this "devouring" is seen as a means for survival.
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