R.E.M - Shinny Happy People

The song is supposedly an ironic reference to a piece of Chinese propaganda roughly translated, and the slaughter of Tiananmen Square, Beijing, two years before the song was released.

The inference apparently refers to how the policy is controlled by people with children in powerful positions, not idealistic dissatisfied disgusting students on the ground in Tiananmen Square. The idea that propaganda is often used to cover up deficiencies in political systems. The song is played mockingly known to encourage political candidates to be optimistic, even under fire.