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Intro

In the last part, I discussed the reason for grief and the 5 losses we are grieving as a civilisation. Kinship, shared reality, meaningful work, sovereignty, and the future. I also touched on how grief manifests across society, reflected in the various pills from The Matrix and expanded upon by culture. Each of these pills has been expanded from the basic premise of the movie to memes, movements and even cults. But underneath it all, I say these pills are different coping mechanisms for grief. Some pills comfort, some fight, some numb, and some induce dreams. The next few posts discuss the nature of these pills in more depth for those that do not know them. The pills to be discussed are the following: * Blue * Red * Black * White * Other * Clear

Each displays grief in a different manner, and some pills are easier to swallow than others depending on lifepath and who you are. Not all are equal, and none are right for everyone. Some are easy survival responses, others take massive amounts of energy to swallow continuously, day after day. Some are stepping stones, others are traps. This posts will focus on the most familiar: the blue pill.

Blue Pill

The blue pill is the most common. It is those that have either never been told about the pills, the grief we share, or have actively refused to see beyond what the general norm portrays. These are the people still believing in the religion of progress, still tied into thinking that more high level control is better, and that people in these levels work for the best interests of the public. In other words, denial. This may come across as negative, but it is the first step. Everyone starts somewhere, and if you made it through even primary school, this is the "default" you get with your education. It taught not just math and reading, but how to sit still, obey bells, and trust authority. The religion of progress keep them in check while outside the school system. Science will fix the problem, it's just a matter of time, as we are smarter now than we were ever before.

While not good or bad, people that are fully in this category have difficulty interpreting the other categories as they hold that everything is going ok. See standard news, regular conversations, and anyone being the dog in the "this is fine" meme as saying "this is fine" is easier to say than "what have we lost". The main thing with people in this category, is that they are not stupid. None of these pills make you stupid in fact. This denial behaviour is the body doing triage to protect itself. The blue pill is a shield. For strong cases of this, see those in politics that are trying to maintain status quo. Those that speak much and are oft not listened to fall into this as they have not much to say except for the fact that stuff is ok.

Other examples of this denial blue pill stage are those that think tech will save us, if we only make one more app. The manager that believes more meetings will fix morale, the student that sees the degree as the golden ticket out of this. Most easily seen in the pandemic, the ones that said, "just a short lockdown and we'll get back to normal soon" or those that say "ignore the negative" good vibe spiritualism.

This pill is incentivized by the main stream, keeping people in this state leaves the standard tools and practices in operation, including those of control. Social media rewards fitting in. Jobs reward compliance, and dinner rewards not bringing up collapse over a burger. The blue pill is the line that harmony is better than truth, and comfort is peace.

The blue pill has many veneers over it. From corporate propaganda and motivational posters, gentle denial from entertainment numbing the mind to prevent deep thought, and even malicious compliance, all of these are signs of the blue pill. We escape into carved realities that make us feel safe, filtering out the outside world, and dive deep into shallow waters. * Corporate propaganda has no depth, an image of a mountain with the word success has no meaning into of itself, allowing for any interpretation to work. * Entertainment is usually some form of mystery that is light, not original Sherlock Holmes deep, and is there to add more comfort that someone is doing their job correctly. * Malicious compliance is rarer, but may be seen as the last grasp to maintain some meaning in an otherwise melancholy existence, trying to show that the system works by self policing those around them to do enforce the system.

The blue pill is sweet, but gives gutrot if too many are taken. What causes people to move on varies, from a sudden realization, a traumatic event, or even a slow burn of things are not right, they find out something is wrong, and from this, cannot go back. Just like Luke's caregivers being killed in Star Wars and there is no going back to being a moisture farmer for him, we all realize that there is no return, we cannot make it great again, its gone. And with it leaving, flashes of red appear in the mind. Flashes of disillusionment, leading to the red pill.