Swallowing Pills
"You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes..."
This past week a theme has accidentally sprung up on two consecutive episodes of the Lions of Liberty podcast. The first was in my interview with Counterflow host Buck Johnson, while the second was in my Lions of Liberty colleague Brian McWilliams’ interview with Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report. That theme is the concept of “pills’ - not literal pills, but rather the “pill” analogy for describing political narratives.
The “pill” analogy as it pertains to politics was formulated by a blogger named Curtis Yarvin aka “Mencius Moldbug” and is a reference to the scene in the 1999 movie The Matrix in which Keanu Reeves’ Neo is given the choice by Laurence Fishburn’s Morpheus to take either the “Blue Pill” - sending him back to the world he grew up in, ignorant that anything is amiss - or the “Red Pill”, which will send him down “the rabbit hole” and show him the world how it really is.
“…you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.” - Morpheus
In brief, the concept of the “Red pill” when it comes to politics relates to those who have come to understand the political and corporate structures in our world for what they are: systems of control. There are some who live so firmly entrenched in the left vs right or Democrat vs Republican dichotomy that they see the “blue” vs “red” pill analogy as simply another representation of that same “liberal vs conservative” divide.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, there are many I’d classify on as “red pilled” who are firmly entrenched on the “left” side of politics - such as journalists Matt Taibi and Glenn Greenwald.
This really comes down to understanding political narratives - where they originate from and what their purpose it, as Buck Johnson and I discuss in this clip from my latest Lions of Liberty interview:
The “pill” analogy came up once again on Wednesday of this week when Brian McWilliams interviewed Dave Rubin on his podcast Electric Libertyland (which you can hear each and every Wednesday on the Lions of Liberty podcast feed), only this time the pills discussed were “black” vs “white.” I’ll allow Rubin to set things up in this clip:
The “black” and “white” pills are essentially sub categories of pills for those who’ve already taken the “red pill” and see political narratives as carefully crafted attempts to manufacture society-wide consent to our systems of control. Once one sees the world “as it is”, you can take that one of two directions internally. One route is to take the “black” pill and give up hope - the systems of control are too powerful, so why bother?
Alternatively, those who are “white” pilled see the tremendous opportunity in understanding and exposing “The Cathedral” - the metaphor used by the aforementioned Moldbug to describe the collective of governmental and corporate institutions from which our political narratives emerge.
As far as myself, I’m probably more of a “gray” pill swallower at this point.
In many ways I’ve come to think that, on a grand scale, there’s not a whole lot I nor any one person can do to “red pill” enough of my fellow man to make a significant impact on the course of world events.
At the same time, I’m very much optimistic about the direction of my own life, as well as my ability to influence those directly around me. It helps that I’ve started to learn to have some Patience.
Wondering if you’re blue pilled or red pilled?
This recent article from Time Magazine is a good litmus test.
If you read it and think nothing much of it, or think to yourself “whew, well thank goodness these folks had the sense to come together and save our Democracy”, then I might suggest you are in the “blue pill’ camp.
If you read this and think something along the lines of “holy shit they are really admitting this”, you are probably red-pilled, or at the very least turning a little purple from your first dose.
So what pills have y’all been swallowing lately?
Don’t forget to check out the other projects I’m involved with:
Lions of Liberty, where I facilitate inspiring conversations about the ideas of liberty.
Second Print Comics podcast, where myself and Remso Martinez take a weekly look at the comic book characters, storylines and events that shaped our fanhood.
The Expat Money Show - this isn’t my project per se, but I’m thrilled that I’ve gotten to work directly with my friend Mikkel Thorup to help grow this show over the past few months. I believe greatly in what Mikkel is doing - helping others to achieve greater liberty in their lives by living and investing abroad - and helping grow this program has been a true joy. I also get to help moderate The Expat Money Forum on Facebook - check it out!