Society

skippybrew

So I was kind of late in getting Into the Wild... But I've been listening to the hell out of it lately and "Society" just floors me, but some of the lyrics are confusing. Maybe I'm missing something:

"There are those thinkin' more or less, less is more,
But if less is more, how you keepin' score?
It means for every point you make your level drops,
Kinda like you're starting from the top...
And you can't do that."

This verse seems at odds with the rest of the song. It implies that we start at the bottom and only work our way up by getting "more" (compared to: "You think you have to want more than you need/Until you have it all you won't be free"). Is it not from McCandless's viewpoint? It seems to me that he would have embraced the "less is more" mentality - that's why he left, right?

Any ideas about this verse means? Am I completely misunderstanding something?

GivenToFly35

I think this verse is giving reasons for McCandless's revolt. To get a better understanding of why he took flight from societies views on what a "good" life is.

skippybrew

So then this verse is not from his viewpoint but rather from society's... McCandless is one of "those" thinkin less is more? That makes sense. I guess it just seemed odd to me that he would switch positions like that in the middle of the song.