The "red pill moment" has become a modern trope of sociopolitical awakening. Born of the now legendary scene from the film The Matrix, it refers to the defining moment when someone has their blind faith in the controlling systems of indoctrination forcibly removed by a truth that cannot be refuted.

In the scene, Neo is offered a choice between a red pill and a blue pill by Morpheus, named after the ancient God of Dreams. This is prophetic, for Neo, like the entire world, sleeps. The red pill will wake Neo to the full and horrifying reality of the matrix, the blue pill will put him back to sleep and let him believe whatever he wants forever.

The most important factor in the entire scene is that Neo has to choose. He can't be forced to take the red pill because otherwise his mind won't accept it. Some part of Neo had always known the matrix was there, but in order to finally see it, to really see it, he had to choose to wake up. This act of choosing is the pivotal moment in his transition from being a slave to becoming a free man.

The red pill is a metaphor for awakening. It has a different trigger for most everyone, but every red pill moment has something in common: it is the moment in which the "sleeper" realizes that reality as they had known it was in fact a dream. The revelatory analogy of "waking to truth" is apt precisely because one realizes that what they used to believe is just not true.

This awakening leads the newly red-pilled to understand that what they used to believe about how the world works was wrong. It also forces them to acknowledge that they were wrong. By coming to terms with the fact that the forces controlling the macro-environment are not operating in their interest nor in the interest of their fellow man, many find their world-view irrevocably transformed.

Once the red pill has been taken, usually by the presentation of irrefutable evidence the individual can no longer deny, it provides precedence for questioning other narratives of control they had previously accepted without question. It is not uncommon that those topics most closely related to the original "red pill" are questioned first.

This typically leads to a domino effect as the newly "awakened" individual begins to ask what other lies they may have unquestioningly believed. Almost without exception amongst those I have talked to about this phenomenon, and that have been through it themselves, this process leads to a crisis of conscience as the manifest corruption that is the dominant paradigm swims into focus.

As such, the red-pill moment is actually a red-pill process A gradual awakening to and coming-to-terms-with the objective reality that what one is taught and has learned about how the world works from childhood on is actually a narrative designed to control and channel humanity's energies for the benefit of the fewest of the few. It is awaking from a dream to find oneself in chains.

For many this recognition is a bridge too far. It is more palatable to believe the lie, to believe that the dominant narrative is the truth. For many there is no turning back. But for some, the cognitive dissonance is too great, too unbearable, too real. They turn over and go back to sleep, they consciously reject the evidence of their senses and, for all intents and purposes, take the blue pill.

In The Matrix, the blue pill is a symbol for unconsciousness, for orthodoxy in its most unquestioning form, for the willingness to ignore anything that could disturb the safe space of the dominant narrative. The blue pill is the default setting for the imposed narrative. It can be chosen over the red pill at a later point, but most people are raised within its strictures of conformity.

When presented with the choice between the red and the blue pill, a person who chooses the blue pill is conditioning themselves to accept it again in the future. Some part of them is saying, quite literally, "I don't want to know." They are comfortable trusting the shadows on the wall, they have no interest in the actions or motives of the puppet showmen. They are prisoners of their own minds.

The red pill thus becomes a latent threat to be avoided. This is done by avoiding situations, restricting social interactions and pruning relationship trees so as to avoid it. It is remarkable how far some are willing to go to avoid asking questions or to silence those who pose them, but it is not surprising. Human beings have an almost infinite capacity for self-deception if it means avoiding stress.

When confronted with evidence that all is not as they would prefer to believe, the most common dismissal is the label 'conspiracy theory'. It is used to stifle inquiry rather than seek truth. It makes the inability to explain the rationale and goals of obviously criminal and immoral behavior a legitimation of the dominant narrative. Its indiscriminate use is symptomatic of the blue-pilled.

Ironically, the advocates of political correctness, who consider themselves agents of tolerance and inclusiveness, actually engage in the most radical exclusionary and oppressive tactics possible by advocating, tacitly approving of or engaging in discrimination or even violence against those who think differently. This is the power of blind belief absent reason as engendered by the blue pill.

Such conformist absolutists are those most orthodox to the ruling system. This orthodoxy is clearly revealed by adherence to narratives that are espoused controlled by the mainstream media and its moneyed masters. The mainstream media is without doubt the voice of the oligarchs and technocrats whose strategy is divide and conquer. The blue pill is their most effective weapon.

Coercive collectivists have come to understand that red pill is their mortal enemy. To be red-pilled means rejecting imposed narratives and could even lead to social ostracism. As such, it is a fate worse than death. I suspect this is because there is a fundamental difference between the blue and red-pilled in regards to the role of the individual in society.

It appears the blue-pill correlates strongly with placing the group above the individual, and, as a consequence, reserve more respect for those who control the group than the individuals who comprise it. Those who do not conform are thus criticized for harming social cohesion. Significant forms of nonconformity, as symbolized by the red pill, are seen as threatening to society and the self.

To be red-pilled would mean privileging individual over group identity, which in turn means the individual should not, against its will, be subjected to the dictates of a group. This acknowledges that the individual can exist without the group and the group is not a necessity, which contradicts the very foundations of blue-pilled world-view. It is, for all intents and purposes, heresy.

The prime motivator of the blue-pilled existence is, I contend, the fear of being alone. For the social creature that is man, loneliness is unendurable. The threat of loneliness is, for many, sufficient to reject the supremacy of the individual. It becomes an all-or-nothing proposition for the collectivists. Being part of a group should not be a choice, it should be mandatory.

As such, the red pill is to be feared. And yes, to those of you who have not stumbled across the red pill yet, yours is out there, waiting for you. All I can say is that it won't be pleasant to realize you have been sleep-walking through life, but it is necessary. So while it is perhaps wise to fear the red pill, when it comes, embrace it. Courage is not the absence of fear, but acting in defiance of it.