Here is a confession: I have never seen The Matrix. And so though I understood that getting “red pilled” was something that happened to incel Redditors hellbent on ruining everything, I did not have a full understanding of the term until today, thanks to good old red-pillers Elon Musk and Ivanka Trump, and The Matrix co-creater Lilly Wachowski. Each day online is a new and exciting learning experience.
Variety reports that on Sunday, Musk momentarily ripped himself from newborn creature X Æ A-12 to tweet, “Take the red pill,” a reference to the red pill that reveals the truth about the Matrix, and, in general, means opening your eyes to some presumable unpleasant truth. In this case, I’m going to assume the “unpleasant truth” is Musk’s ongoing theory that resuming Tesla production is more important than keeping non-essential businesses closed to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus, but whatever the deal, it caught Ivanka’s attention.
Haha! So cool and funny! I love when the Trumps lend credence to globally harmful conspiracy theories! As does, apparently, Wachowski, who co-created the Matrix series with sister Lana Wachowski and seems just thrilled about Trump and Musk co-opting her concept for Evil.
If I were either Ivanka or Musk or both, I’d be absolutely humiliated by this exchange. But I am not them, and they are not me, and neither of them seem to possess the capability to feel shame, or none of us would be here talking about them. Sad!
More importantly: should I finally watch The Matrix? Sound off in the comments. I may or may not take your advice.