And If I could blue pill away all my lurking in the internet's worst corners, I'd seriously consider it. But recognizing that you still have to work within the system in order to create systemic change is part of being someone who favors the red pill.Įllis: OK, that made me laugh. That continued dependency is deeply unpleasant, way less glamorous than dodging bullets or suddenly knowing kung fu, and somebody under the influence of the system might come along and rip out your brainstem. Their knowledge gives them the power to navigate the Matrix, and, at times, bend it to their will, but while they're inside, they're still shackled to a chair by their headjacks, the same technology that used to be the primary tool of their enslavement. In a way, I think Neo and company model the way good, thoughtful people are forced to operate within a bad system even after they're awake to its faults. I think you're onto something with uncoupling knowledge from freedom, though. Imagining a world without them, or considering their efforts useless, is bleak enough to make me want to reach for that blue pill.

That doesn't exist in the real world, but empathetic, lifelong learners, people who acknowledge their own inevitable ignorance and strive to reduce it, do. If we take Morpheus at his word, the red pill, in all its science fiction glory, is a sweeping dose of unalloyed truth-something akin to a complete education. To me, problems like brilliant Nobel Prize winners somehow missing that they, and the institution that honored them, are wildly sexist are issues of people feeling that their education is somehow complete as-is.

Those betrayals might shake your faith in activism or institutions, but I don't think individual failings mean that the pursuit of knowledge is a doomed exercise. Emma Grey Ellis: Hang on, Emily, are you saying that knowledge and truth actually aren't power? I hear you on the oversimplification-anybody who's ever been milkshake ducked knows the pain of rooting for something or someone who seems good and righteous, but winds up being deeply flawed.

The red and blue pill matrix