If you've truly taken the RED pill, you will vote BLUE. nt

[Atticus]

[guillaumeb]

1. Is the red pill the bleach pill,

or the concentrated vodka pill?

[leftieNanner]

3. Lysol?

[octoberlib]

2. Yep, in the Matrix it meant something different but Trump supporters and incels

have co-opted it.

At its most basic level, the tweet is a reference to a scene from the 1999 movie 'The Matrix,' in which the character Morpheus tells the protagonist Neo that he has been living in a computer simulation and is given the choice of taking a red or blue pill. "You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." (It's worth noting thatMusk does seem to believe there's a good chance we're living in a computer simulation.)

But taking the red pill, or being "red-pilled," is much more commonly used on the internet to denote a right-wing political awakening. It's often used in forums dedicated to topics like Donald Trump or "men's rights" organizations.

It grew in popularity thanks to a subreddit called TheRedPill, which is openly misogynistic. Writing about in 2013, Business Insider described the subreddits views:

Welcome to The Red Pill, an Internet community on Reddit founded on the general belief that women have it better than men. Red Pill is not a dating advice bulletin, but rather a forum for people — men, mostly — exploring an ideology that revolves almost exclusively around gender. Those who "swallow the pill" maintain that it's men not women, who have been socially disenfranchised. Feminism is considered a damaging ideology and Red Pillers are quick to cite examples that bolster their points, some going so far as to argue that society is outright anti-male.

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tweets-take-the-red-pill-what-it-means-2020-5

[leftieNanner]

4. Thank you so much for this explanation

This is the first I've heard about it. Never saw The Matrix and I don't frequent Reddit communities of incels. Silly me.

[Newest Reality]

6. I suggest seeing it.

Just the first one is fine. It's not what you might expect, at least, that was my reaction and I am very much into sci-fi. The metaphors and implications are deep and thought provoking on many levels.

[leftieNanner]

10. I have heard it's a good movie

I guess I've just gotten to a point in my life where I can't see disturbing movies any more. I can read all kinds of books. My husband, over the years, has taken me to so many movies the have left lasting scars on my heart.

So I will take your word for it.

[Newest Reality]

11. It does have violence...

However, (a spoiler), most of it is in the "matrix" so if think of it that way, it's not even real as we understand reality, but more like a video game. It takes place in the 20th-century, so to speak.

This movie may be a bit shocking, (in an entertaining and suspenseful way) but the content and provocations about the nature of reality are worth it. My line in the sand is gratuitous violence with the criteria being that any violence has to at least be relevant to the progress and unfolding of the plot, not just a number of kills shot at the limbic system.

[leftieNanner]

12. Nope to the violence

But what I sometimes do when I see a movie that I would like to know the story, but can't handle the violence, is go to Wikipedia and read the complete plot. If it's taken from a book, then I will search out the book and read it.

Example, Donald Sutherland movie A Dry White Season. Took place in apartheid South Africa. I still have nightmares from some images from that film. And I saw it more than 30 years ago.

[Newest Reality]

14. That's fine.

I would add, (having been a part of many philosophical discussions based on the movie) that there have been college Professors who have kicked off a philosophy class with that movie because it motivates students to get engaged in the meaning. So, it is a learning tool.

You can find many relevant articles and forums that can give you a good synopsis of the film's premise and its implications, so that would do as well. It has been a very controversial movie in many ways.

[leftieNanner]

15. Thanks for the conversation! nt

[octoberlib]

7. I started seeing it on Twitter and had to google it, myself, lol

[Newest Reality]

5. I wish...

I wish they would just leave The Matrix alone. The meaning and philosophical nuance is not something they understand at all, obviously. It would be best to go pillage and try to exploit some other modern philosophical meme

For instance, the Republicans are more like the machines that created and maintain the Matrix, (except that the machines are actually intelligent). They are the biggest stock holders in Blue Pill Incorporated. Just take this and you forget and ignore the truth and go back to do the program as told to. Anyone taking the RED pill would be seeing through the many layers of manipulation and propaganda from a transcendental threshold and the jig would be up.

I am sure that, if they try to take on the more astute and atitculate fans of those movies, they are asking for a hard time, though it would be well deserved.

"Is that air you're breathing?"

[octoberlib]

8. You explain it a lot better than the article I posted. Thanks!

[Shermann]

9. Yeah how did the Matrix get those colors backwards?

From what I was able to determine, it goes way back and is not political.

But yeah the party with their own alternative facts media machine doesn't get to use "red pill".

[Newest Reality]

13. They didn't.

They were not meant to be a political statement at all. The associations people are making about that exist only in their minds and are based on predominant associations and overlays they are creating. What it means means what it means to them

While there may be more than one theory about the color choices, I think the idea of color theory is most apt.

The color red is associated with warmth, heat, stimulation, action, war, etc. It would shock you or wake you up, so to speak. An image is lighting a fire under your butt to shock you out of your complacency.

The color blue is obvious. It is calm, easy going, placating, peaceful, relaxing, go with the flow, as in, take this and everything will be fine again. Just forget about that stuff and live your life! Blue is a nice color, but in the context of the Matrix, it represents something like a sleeping pill where you go back to the dream.

I always wondered what happened to the purple pill, but that's transcendental to the story at hand.

Any political projections on that are absolutely incorrect and denote ignorance about the movie and its philosophy when people try to co-opt it, which them makes them look like blue pill takers dreaming up ideas about red pills.