Take The Red Pill
by mythbuster
Here it is...
Will you take it?
In The Matrix
Are you stuck in the Matrix but don't understand what you're stuck in? Are you trying to figure out answers to important life questions but find yourself directed to numb up, dumb down - stop asking so many questions, stop making waves, etc?
Perhaps you're stuck in the illusion - the Matrix.
If you want to understand the Matrix, a good analogy is actually in the film, The Matrix and as far as films go, the philosophical and symbolic details in the film might be more true to life (or where life on this planet is heading) than what your teachers are telling you, what you see in newspapers and in news bulletins on television, etc.
A symbolic, trademark gesture in the film, The Matrix, is when Morpheus offers Neo either
"The Red Pill" or "The Blue Pill." Neo has complete freedom to choose which pill to ingest...
The Red: Separate from the Matrix and plunge into the unknown - make decisions, be accountable for those decisions and think for yourself.
The Blue: Disregard the existence of the Matrix, numb down and move into the comforts of "the known" - let the Matrix close all around you - allow others to do your thinking.
Short and Long Term Side Effects
After taking the red pill you may experience the following side effects:
- Disorientation and Confusion (short-term)
- Anxiety (short or long term)
- Mental distress (short of long term)
- Dissonance (short or long term)
- Difficulty with current relationships (short or long term)
What these things are about...
Almost all of these things are related to something already mentioned in the list - DISSONANCE.
Dissonance occurs when competing beliefs, opinions and attitudes challenge each other for the same space in a system of beliefs.
ie: with authority issues, we often feel a dissonance/mental discomfort if we find out that an authority figure has presented items of interest that we come to believe in but find out later are not the whole story or are not the truth. Biggest example - SANTA... when we find out Santa is a mythical persona, we often REFUSE to believe the new data for a while. We are often very upset, disappointed and some people are even CRUSHED emotionally for a little while to learn that the jolly red-suited gift-bringing man is a story figure. It often takes a few days - or even a few years for youngsters to get over the realization that Santa is a mythical persona. This realization, for most of us, is our first experience of disappointment with authority and feelings of emotional and attitude dissonance.
Santa is a minor issue when placed beside entire populations who learn, starting in grade school, that patriotism is "good" and that love of country is expected and is part of a person's national identity... As compared with the Santa myth, for some reason, myths about patriotism, nationalism, race preferences, political preferences are things that are rarely debunked. The belief in the latter things are encouraged for years on end until people can't cope with their own identities unless their own personas include their version of nationalism, patriotism, race preferences, political and even familial and gender preferences. Each and every single one of these items is infinitely more complex than the belief in Santa - yet most people will REFUSE TO BELIEVE that all the above are actually ALL SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS - from social, political and gender preferences right down to the jolly red-suited guy.
There are NO short term benefits
Unfortunately, taking the red pill will present absolutely no "RED"-ily visible short term benefits to those willing to swallow the crimson awareness medicine. You'll have to chuck it back and wait for a future time to see the medicinal value of the red pill.
Once the red pill goes all the way down and your body and mind starts to absorb it, likely your behavior will change and other people will notice a change in you.
Again - for the short term - you're not going to see benefits.
People will point fingers at you - call you ridiculous, nuts, crazy and by other derogatory terms.
Tuck your shirt-tails in, look ahead into the distance and resolve to reach for the long term benefits...
Don't worry - there are at least 10 people on earth who won't think you're crazy for NOT giving in to common societal belief systems...let the red pill do its work... a handful of people will never laugh at you for asking questions - even a few silly ones. Red pill peeps are asking questions themselves...
Long Term Benefits
You will gradually awaken from a slumber-like, near-hypnosis-like belief system that has been leading nowhere in a great hurry.
You may begin to see great value in other human beings and see different nationalities and races for what they are... people just like you - well, not exactly like you - but flesh and blood like you, people with feelings of worth, spiritual worth, emotional and mental value, along with their physical shape. Perhaps you'll also no longer wish to "be at war" or "side with your politicians" against particular races and national populations.
You'll probably begin to see yourself as something more than a sort of livestock for a Capitalist pseudo-machine, and will find you're worth more - in body, mind, spirit - than you ever thought you were worth before. Along with this, you'll likely feel empowered to take on more accountability and realize that freedom means structure after all but that you SHOULD BE INVOLVED in naming what that healthy structure is...
Don't worry, you won't become an anarchist - that is - if you swallowed the whole pill and didn't try to palm it or hide it under your tongue and let it only partially dissolve...
Noam Chomsky - a message for humanity
The Matrix - Script and Quotes
THE MATRIX
Written by
Larry and Andy Wachowski
April 8, 1996
Fave Quotes/Scene... This scene is with Neo on his computer at the beginning of the movie...
it's from the manuscript, so it tells of actions as well as speech/text.
"SCREEN Do you want to know what the Matrix is, Neo?
Neo is frozen when he reads his name.
SCREEN SUPERASTIC: Who said that? JACKON: Who's Neo? GIBSON: This is a private board.
If you want to know, follow the white rabbit.
NEO What the hell...
SCREEN TIMAXE: Someone is hacking the hackers! FOS4: It's Morpheus!!!!! JACKON: Identify yourself.
Knock, knock, Neo.
A chill runs down his spine and when someone KNOCKS on his door he almost jumps out of his chair.
He looks at the door, then back at the computer but the message is gone.
He shakes his head, not completely sure what happened. Again, someone knocks.
Cautiously, Neo approaches the door."
Morpheus and Neo - Red Pill/Blue Pill Scene
MORPHEUS: It's that feeling you have had all your life. That feeling that something was wrong with the world. You don't know what it is but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad, driving you to me. But what is it?
The Matrix is everywhere, it's all around us, here even in this room. You can see it out your window, or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church or pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
NEO What truth?
MORPHEUS That you are a slave, Neo. That you, like everyone else, was born into bondage... ... kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind.
[Outside, the WIND BATTERS a loose PANE of glass]
MORPHEUS Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
NEO How?
MORPHEUS Hold out your hands.
[In Neo's right hand, Morpheus drops a red pill]
MORPHEUS This is your last chance. After this, there is no going back.
[In his left, a blue pill]
MORPHEUS You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe.
[The pills in his open hands are reflected in the glasses]
MORPHEUS You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
* Note - the script I could find is from Larry and Andy Wachowski who lost a six-year-long dispute with Sophia Stewart who already proved that she was the original writer of The Matrix. I have only provided the link to the Wachowski version because it was most easily available and contains the words used in the movie to illustrate a couple of my fave scenes.
An article you might be interested in favouring Stewart as the writer who wrote The Matrix...
FROM THE CRITICAL THINKING SERIES BY MYTHBUSTER ON HUBPAGES
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