Without missing a beat, Pink segues from the racial segregation of "In the Flesh" to a full proclamation threatening those who stand against his rule. Roger Waters states that "Run Like Hell" is simply Pink "doing another tune in the show…in his drug crazed state." As mentioned before, it is highly arguable whether the concert we witness / hear is another of Pink's delusions, an actual show, or perhaps a combination of both. Pink could very well be standing in front of his audience shouting such threats, imagining his audience hanging on his every word. Once again, the actual plot is moot and secondary when compared to the psychological themes laced within the lyrics.

While "In the Flesh" isolated the social pariahs (at least by Pink's fascist views) from the group of followers, "Run Like Hell" keeps them in their respective places, this time "batter[ing] down the doors" with the destructive power of the dichotomous hammer while simultaneously building a wall of fear to hedge against minority insubordination. Ironically, Fascist Pink is using the very fears and misgivings that kept him repressed for so long, regurgitating the hatred that formed him, onto his crowd in a vicious cycle of oppression. It's as if Pink's threats against the minorities are actually reflections on his former self. The "favorite disguise" and "roller blind eyes" in this song parallel Pink's hesitations about life when faced with the "cold eyes" and masks addressed in the first "In the Flesh?" Furthermore, the "empty smile and…hungry heart" are also analogous to the hollow materialism in "What Shall We Do Now?" while the "guilty past" could very well refer to many of Pink's experiences such as his questionable treatment of his wife, which greatly contributed to his "nerves in tatters." Similarly, the threat of being sent back to "mother" for relatively normal sexual behavior suggests that Pink has inherited his mother's omnipresent and overprotective eye. Like the schoolteacher who punished his pupils as a result of being punished by his wife in "Happiest Days / Brick Part 2," Pink returns to the world the injustices that he feels the world unfairly placed upon him. It is Pink blaming the world for making him the way he is, then contributing to the cycle by trying to create more people just like him by using the very grievances that shaped him. In essence, "Run Like Hell" is the ultimate form of egotism with Fascist Pink forcing everyone to either become just like him or suffer the consequences.

Just as "In the Flesh" carried with it parallel themes of personal and social isolationism, "Run Like Hell" continues to outline the similarities between psychological and societal decay. While "In the Flesh" set Pink up as a Hitler-like character, "Run Like Hell" fleshes out this dictator persona by paralleling Fascist Pink's threats with those of Hitler's regime in the Germany of the 1930's and 40's. But before we deal with these broader social themes, I think a quick summary and analysis of the movie sequence is in order.

Continuing with the hate rally theme, "Run Like Hell" begins with the concert audience chanting "hammer" and raising their crossed arms, a scene eerily similar to the rallies in Nazi Germany in which the crowds, speaking "Heil Hitler" ("hail Hitler"), raised their arms in salute to their leader. The audience ceases to exist as a collection of individuals and becomes a singular mass saluting in unison, dancing in unison, and wearing the same faceless masks. The message: there is a fine line between a crowd and a mob, from the hate rallies of Nazi Germany to the seemingly harmless concert. And mob rule is what Fascist Pink releases. An attack dog is set loose on an outsider; a group of skinheads rush into minority restaurants and houses, tearing the people from their peaceful surroundings and destroying everything in their paths. The maggots of decay seethe as two African-Americans are attacked in the back seat of their car, the male beaten and the female raped by the skinhead mob. And interspersed within these scenes, a shot of three dead men hanging from a scaffold on a hill. The image is overtly powerful, recalling everything from the crucifixion of Jesus and two other thieves on the hill of Golgotha to the more contemporary lynching of African-Americans throughout America's history, especially during the Jim Crow days of the late 19th and early 20th century. The implications are all too clear: mob rule is as much a part of the dark side of humanity as the dictators that lead the horde. Just as his fascist persona is Pink's darkest side, mob mentality is humanity's.

Concerning the historical implications of the song, Bill Romanelli made the following connections: " The scene [for]…'Run Like Hell' is (in my opinion) a re-creation of an event called 'Kristallnacht,' (also referred to as Crystal Night, Reichskristallnachtor, or Night of Broken Glass) when Nazi stormtroopers raided the ghettos, shooting, looting, and so on. The term 'crystal night' came about from all the broken glass on the streets and sidewalks [that] glittered in the moonlight….Re-enacting Kristallnact is appropriate here, as the Nazi's are saying to the Jews, 'you are not like us, you will never be like us, and you must be eliminated. If you think you can escape, you better run.'" Thomas Goebel e-mailed a few historical corrections, stating that this incident actually took place before the onslaught of World War II and the gathering of Jews into the ghettos. He states that the "Kristallnacht" took place in 1938 on the night a German diplomat (von Rath) was murdered in Paris by means of a secret Jewish organization. The Nazis subsequently used this event as an excuse to burn down Jewish synagogues and shops in many German cities, further undermining the Jewish infrastructure and leading to the atrocities of the ghettos and concentration camps. Just as the Krystalnact was yet another step between labeling a group as outsiders and the subsequent mass murder of that repressed population, Pink's declarations and the ensuing mob rule in "Run Like Hell" represent yet another step in his descent towards complete decay.

Yet arguably there is a subtle hint of hope amidst the unsettling images of rape and violence. Just as the disturbing image of the three hanged men illustrates the social decay throughout mankind's history, it also alludes to the personality shift that has taken place within Pink. Whereas Pink has set himself up as a Christ figure in sequences like "the Thin Ice," the Christological implications of the hanged men in "Run Like Hell" completely reverse this Christ-like view of himself. Now Pink symbolically embraces the role of Jesus' Biblical persecutor, Pontius Pilate, acting upon the innocent minorities just as this Roman governor acted upon the Christian savior. To some degree, though, this realization is beneficial in that Pink has never been a Christ figure, although he's certainly seen himself as such until this point. Having finally reconciled himself with the idea that he is more antithetical to the Christ figure (a notion that we as the audience have seen from the beginning of the album and film), Pink inadvertently catalyzes his progression towards the redemption he finds in "the Trial." Even if this sudden insight is steeped within delusion, Pink's slow realization of his own activity begins to undercut his previously held notion that he has been a passive martyr afflicted by life's injustices. Although at this stage in the album and movie he is still under the dichotomous assumption that he is both acting and acted upon (as evidenced by the lyrics), the metaphorical seed of true self-awareness that will lead to his atonement has been planted.