The Matrix



Red Pill, Blue Pill: Transforming Oppressive Systems

Hugh Vasquez, M.S.W.

Liberation is both the undoing of the effects and the elimination of the causes of social oppression. The achievement of human liberation on a global scale will require far-reaching changes at the institutional level and at the level of group and individual interactions. These changes will involve transforming oppressive behavioral patterns and “unlearning” oppressive attitudes and assumptions.[i]

Ricky Sherover-Marcuse, 1988

Dr. Sherover-Marcuse teaches that eliminating oppression demands changes within individuals, between various cultural groups, and transformation of social institutions that serve to perpetuate inequality. As change agents (which could include educators, community activists, people of all ages, community members, religious leaders, politicians, etc.), one of the greatest challenges is to first understand, and then to teach others about the institutional level of oppression, that is, identifying how institutions perpetrate racism, sexism, classism and the like.

This article uses a metaphor based on the movie The Matrix to increase understanding of the institutional level and how oppression and discrimination is perpetuated by a system that is difficult to see (therefore extremely difficult to change). The hope is that a critical mass of people will join efforts to change this system as they wake up to the existence of it.

The Matrix is a story of liberation and justice. Perhaps without knowing it, The Matrix tells the story of our times – the story of how the citizens of the world are formed, shaped and molded in a manner that perpetuates conditions that are not in our best interest. It is the story of how we become complacent because we are fooled into believing all is well or that everything will work out. It is the story of how a powerful minority can successfully design and perpetuate a system or structure that serves them well to the detriment of the majority.

In The Matrix, artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of computers and other machinery has taken over the world. The AI system discovers how to manipulate everything and everyone so that its’ power is maintained. These computers create a system that effectively maintains the status quo, the status quo being artificial intelligence in control.

To remain in control, in power, the system needs to solve two primary problems: 1) finding a renewable power supply, and 2) eliminating any form of resistance to its’ power and control. Computers cannot operate, and therefore cannot maintain control, without a power source. They cannot self-generate power. They need to be plugged into a source that gives them the necessary energy to keep the systems up and running. The irony, and perhaps the weakness of the AI system, is that as it develops an increasing hunger for control and dominance, it is completely dependent on the masses. Without the majority giving it power, it would have none. In addition, to successfully dominate and maintain power, resistance or potential resistance must be neutralized or eliminated. For the Matrix, the most dangerous threat to maintaining power was human beings.

The Matrix was brilliant in solving both the problem of finding a renewable energy source and eliminating the primary threat to remaining in power. The human body is a bundle of energy. The Matrix developed the technology to power itself by using human beings as batteries. High tech machinery extracted energy from humans. The Matrix plugged cables into live human bodies, harnessed the energy generated by humans beings, and used this energy to power its systems. From birth, humans were taken by the Matrix and incubated, physically nurtured and kept alive in pods, but all the while being drained of energy; all humans were slowly dying due to being attached to the Matrix. Once drained of our energy, the Matrix would discard the body and plug into another human being. The problem of having a renewable source of power was solved.

Once the power source problem was solved, the Matrix turned its attention to the second issue, eliminating resistance. The primary barrier to a system maintaining control is the characteristic in humans to resist mistreatment of self and others and to fight for freedom. Human beings would not consciously agree to become slaves to the system; they would not willingly agree to become batteries. The very nature of human resistance to mistreatment would kick in if humans were aware of what was happening. So how did the system accomplish the task of neutralizing resistance? How did the Matrix create conditions where human beings would simply lay down and take it, would allow the oppressive system to continue, and let themselves be used as batteries?

Brilliantly, the Matrix induced all humans into a sleep state whereby they would be in a life-long dream. The dream was life. All humans were dreaming about living, dreaming about working, going to school, shopping, fighting, going to sporting events, making music, having families, celebrating holidays, etc. We thought we were living life with all the ups and downs, but in reality we were asleep and dreaming while the system, the Matrix, drained energy from our bodies until there was nothing left of us.

The induced dream state allowed the oppressive system to remain in place. However, as is true in all cases of mistreatment and oppression, a resistance movement began with a small group of people waking up to reality, organizing to build a critical mass of courageous individuals intent on eliminating the oppressive system (in the case of the movie, destroying the Matrix), and developing skills to successfully fight the powerful system. These three elements, waking up, organizing, and developing skills to fight the system were essential to eliminating the oppressive structure.

The freedom fighters searched for individuals to join the movement. To join, each person had to first wake up to the conditions around them. They had to become conscious of the system, conscious of the Matrix, conscious of the reality that they were being used by the Matrix to help perpetuate a system of oppression. They had to realize that what they thought was real was not, realize that they had been fooled, used, and manipulated into assisting an oppressive system to continue.

The Matrix has you… You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up…You know something, you can’t explain it, but you feel it – there is something wrong with the world, you don’t know what it is, but it’s there…It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth…you are a slave, born into bondage, a prison.[ii]

In the film, the freedom fighters are on a constant search to find others to join the movement, the movement to expose the system and dismantle it so that all could be free. Those who were deemed to be potential allies in the struggle were contacted and provided just enough information about the system to test or evaluate their ability to become a freedom fighter. Once an individual was partially conscious, awake enough to understand the reality around her/him, s/he was given a choice to either wake up fully or go back to sleep.

The leaders awakened others to the existence of the system by having them take a pill. Newly awakened individuals were offered the choice: Red pill or the blue pill. The effect of each pill was clearly and simply explained so that the individual could make a choice. The red pill, if taken, breaks the trance induced by the system and serves to continue helping the person to wake up, to become fully conscious of the system, of the Matrix. Taking the red pill presents an opportunity for her/him to fight the system and brings the possibility of freedom. But the “red pill” path is not an easy one – being fully conscious of reality is very difficult. The blue pill, on the other hand, serves to put the person back to sleep, returns them to a dream state where everything appears to be fine. The Matrix continues to drain the life out of them while they are dreaming, but at least they are dreaming their way through oppression until death. The choice, then, is up to each person: The red or the blue pill?

We never free a mind once it has reached a certain age, it’s dangerous, the mind has trouble letting go…most of these people aren’t ready to be unplugged – and many are so hopelessly dependent on the system, they will fight to protect it.[iii]

Waking up to the truth is very difficult, for it jars one’s reality and shakes us down to our very core. Reactions to being awakened are varied and unpredictable. It is very traumatic to be living a certain lifestyle and all of the sudden discover that your reality is not only false, but it is the very food, the sustenance that keeps the oppressive system in place. This awakening is shocking, for the world is not as we have believed it to be.

More harm than good is the result if we assist people to wake up without providing support, education, and skills to transform the system. In The Matrix, an intensive training period followed taking the red pill. After waking up, a re-building process took place. Atrophied muscles were strengthened. New skills were developed to face the power of the system. While in a sleep state, the system became stronger and more evolved, therefore new techniques needed to be learned to match it. Human creativity and imagination was dormant far too long and had to be restored in order to face the challenges in new ways.

The Blue Pill

In today’s world, doses of the blue pill are given daily. Information (more like misinformation) is fed to us so that we are kept ignorant, naïve and unconscious to the conditions that benefit a few at the expense of the many. The oppression of others becomes normal, commonplace, and we come to believe that humans oppressing other humans is just how it is supposed to be. We hear others say, “there has always been somebody, some group who has had the power, and others who are powerless and oppressed.” Some people go so far as to say it is in our very nature to create societies based on “haves” and “have-nots.” The act of normalizing the divisions between human beings is evidence that we have all been lulled into a dream state.

There are many sources of the blue pill. Blue pill pushers and dealers are all around us. One of the main pushers is the media. Newspapers, radio broadcasts, magazines, television news shows, commercials and movies routinely and pervasively feed people massive doses of the blue pill each day. The educational system, another blue pill pusher, primarily targets children and serves to prepare young people to swallow the pill whenever it is offered, and to do so without question.

Recognizing the blue pill and the suppliers of it is not an easy task. We can, however, begin a practice of waking up each day and doing our best to notice the existence of the blue pill and resist swallowing it. We can recognize that we have been taught to not see and to accept without questioning. We have been taught to not think critically and to forego any deep analysis of the world situations presented before us. We have had imagination and creativity drained from us. The unapologetic curiosity we had as children asking “why” this and “why” that has been slowly replaced with unconscious acceptance of the false reality that is fed to us. But we can also recognize there are freedom fighters around who continue to provide us doses of the red pill as well as support, guidance, and training on how to transform not only ourselves, but oppressive structures too.

The practice of becoming and remaining conscious provides the opportunity to recognize the blue pill and the attempts of the system to lull us back to sleep. Take a look at the following examples of blue pills:

The headline in the business section of a local newspaper was “Markets up despite jobs report.” As the red pill takes effect we see that this report is helping to lull us into believing the economy is getting better even though many are losing their jobs. The “Markets Up” story is an attempt to restore calm in the midst of the other headline in this section, “Jobless rate jumps to eight-year high,” which reports 45,000 manufacturing and 39,000 retail jobs were lost just in the previous month. [iv]

Headline, “Wall street continues to surge.” Things are looking up, right? For some yes, but for many others the less obvious, less prominent, smaller fonts and short stories are the reality: “Jobless benefits expire (for 830,000 people)”; “Morgan Stanley to lay off 2,200 workers”; “Workers’ comp office might close (combating a $2.3 million deficit)”; “Economy hits BART in pocket ($20 million deficit).” [v]

November 27, 2002, yet another dose of the blue pill. Headline, “Consumer confidence rebounds in time for holiday shopping.” [vi]This story is trying to help us feel things are getting better. But in a story on the same page (although in plain text versus bold), “Stocks down as investors cash in” says that “a worse-than expected consumer confidence report jarred Wall Street…” And for those who were laid off or who have lost benefits (as reported on November 22nd) is their confidence rebounding? Probably not – but it appears as though things are getting better – the blue pill.

On November 8, the following were reported: “East Bay layoffs starting to climb,” “ AMD to cut workers,” “PUC to probe whether SBC’s 3,000 layoffs make sense.” The very next day, in large bold letters was a story entitled, “19,800 jobs added to California…Jobless rates decline…the East Bay jobless rate decreased.” But in small print on the same page there are short, one-paragraph articles that say, “More layoffs for United’s flight attendants”, “Nvidia reports a net loss of $48.6 million”, and “Safeway scales back its profit forecasts.” All the arrows on the Dow, S&P, NASDAQ, and EAST BAY 50 were pointed down on this day showing losses. [vii] Could it be that the report on November 9 about jobs being added is an attempt to calm us into believing the economy is getting better, and perhaps even more important, to have us forget about all the layoffs reported just a day earlier?

Recent headline, “Minority students’ scores show progress” Great! It is good to know that minorities are progressing. We can now relax a bit because we “know” that minorities are making progress. But wait a minute, reading the fine print shows that black and latino students are continuing to score below national standards. The truth of the matter is that only 21 percent of Black students in 11th grade scored above the 50th percentile, and this represents only a one-percentage point increase from 1998. [viii] The blue pill headline serves to lull us to sleep believing that enough progress is being made so that we can relax and not worry.

Another blue pill: Those who are in control of the educational system want us to believe that affirmative action was a farce, that it was unnecessary, and that we are all better off without it. One headline states, “More minorities in UC med, law…more than 16% of students in programs are black, Latino, or American Indian,” [ix] and then another article on a similar subject entitled “More minorities enroll at UC Berkeley this year,” is informing the public that the educational situation for minorities is better. [x] It is good to see that “more” minorities are going to college, right? After all, the articles did say “enrollment rose sharply.” But with a deeper look at the reality of college enrollment, with a critical analysis of these reports, we see that the number of minorities in college is still well below what it was when affirmative action was in place. Before affirmative action ended in 1997, minorities made up just over 20% of law and medical student enrollments. In 2001, they dropped to 11.9%, and now they are at 16%. The article on “More minorities enroll at UC Berkeley this year” reports that the freshman class rose from 14.7% in the fall of 2001 to 15.6% in 2002. “More” in this case means a whopping .09 percent! If these headlines were to tell the truth of the situation it would read, “Minority enrollments still far below 1997 levels since the elimination of affirmative action,” or, if the news reports were to look at who has benefited from the decline of affirmative action, it would be entitled, “Enrollment for White students has increased since the elimination of affirmative action in 1997.”

Looking at our recent movement to war, daily doses of the blue pill served to confuse the masses, kept us in the dark about world events, and distorted or painted a false picture of the threats to us, all of which led to support our march to war. People who were conscious and awake were able to recognize the various blue pills such as:

Headline, “U.S. says Iran arranged to fund intifada.” The article says that American and Israeli intelligence offices HAVE CONCLUDED (emphasis added)…and that this information comes from senior Israeli security officials who declined to “describe the precise nature of their information.” [xi]

Headline states, “General says evidence show Iraqi mobile bioweapons labs.” Early in the article it says, “U.S. has evidence…” But when read while under the influence of the red pill, we notice that later in the article it says, “administration officials said Iraq COULD (emphasis added) have mobile weapons.” And what is the evidence? Well, the U. N. inspectors reported several years ago that Iraq was TRYING to build these weapons. Further evidence is U.N. officials saying “it does not take a lot of space for some of this work to go on” (therefore they HAVE mobile bioweapons labs); “It can be done in a very, very small location” (therefore they HAVE mobile bioweapons labs); You can put it on wheels makes it a lot easier to hide from people that might be looking for it” (therefore they have mobile bioweapons labs); “Pentagon officials say a mobile biological weapons facility could be set up in 3-5 big rigs” (therefore they have mobile bioweapons labs). Finally, “the administration has classified information that shows Saddam is rebuilding his weapons program.” [xii] This article represents a massive dose of the blue pill designed to make us believe that Iraq has these labs and justify a war that serves to benefit those who are in power.

The Red Pill

Living under the affect of the Red Pill is difficult, but the system of dominance will not change if we do not wake up and take action. The good news is that there are many conscious change agents who are working hard to awaken others and organize movements for change. From time-to-time these agents will successfully insert the truth so that everyone has an opportunity to wake up. Public reports such as the following are examples of the Red Pill:

A report entitled, “Data show growing gap between rich and poor,” shows that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans had more money to spend after taxes than the bottom 40 percent. The report goes on to say the gap between the rich and the poor more than doubled from 1979 to 2000 and identifies tax cuts and other policies created by those in power as a major reason for the gap. This dose of the Red Pill helps to counter the belief that the wealthiest 1 percent earned all their wealth and deserve it because they work harder than others. [xiii]

“U.S jobs lost since 2001 gone for good,” reports a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study. This dose of the Red Pill says that the majority of the 2.7 million jobs lost since 2001 are not coming back. This report should be remembered every time a new headline about economic recovery appears. [xiv]

“8 million taxpayers won’t see any relief.” A new study found that mostly low-income taxpayers would not receive any benefit from the new tax law. In addition, this Red Pill shows us that 44% of the new law’s tax benefits in 2005 will benefit millionaires. [xv]

For our educational institutions, a few historians such as Ronald Takaki (A Different Mirror) [xvi] and Howard Zinn (A People’s History of the United States) [xvii] provide educators with Red Pills to give to students on what really happened to various people in this land during the “founding” of this country. Traditional history taught to our children omit many of the truths such as our constitution being modeled after the Native American Iroquois Confederacy instead of being the brilliant ideas and vision of the “founding fathers.”

Under dose, Overdose, and Change Agent Responsibility

Essential to the restructuring of our society into one where all are awarded the essential elements of a good life is a critical mass of “awake” folks who are willing to join a movement to awaken others as well as to work for social change. We do not yet have this critical mass, so there is much work to do.

The process of becoming conscious is very traumatic. Many do not want to believe the truth for to do so means their world, albeit a dream world, is turned upside down. Those of us who have become conscious are now in the position of administering the Red Pill. We are, in fact, social change agents charged with “distributing” reality. Distribution of reality, or providing doses of the Red Pill, is a risky assignment. There is no prescribed dosage to rely on, no data that guarantees the proper dose in any given situation. An “underdose” temporarily disturbs one’s sense of reality, but is insufficient to bring about the level of consciousness required to keep folks awake. An overdose causes defensiveness, hostility, and denial, which often lead to dismissal of both the message and the messenger and a return to the dream state.

Since an incorrect dose of the Red Pill will not bring folks out of the dream state and therefore lost to the movement, social change agents should be less concerned with the dosage and more with the care, support, and training to those receiving the medicine. Too often, acting out of urgency, social change agents either awaken people who are not ready to be awakened or provide more “reality education” than can be sufficiently supported.

Social change agents are like midwives. They are facilitating a change process and assisting in the birth of a new consciousness. This cannot happen without care, attention and support. They cannot simply give people the Red Pill and then move on. Change agents, facilitators of new consciousness need to be able to listen to someone’s disturbance at being awakened, counsel them through their outrage and grief, help them rebuild muscles that have atrophied while asleep, teach them new skills to resist the forces attempting to lull them back to sleep, and help develop a community so that no one is working at social change alone.

As the critical mass of change agents grows, each of us can take these steps to assist in dismantling oppressive structures and transforming them into systems that support well-being:

1. Become expert at recognizing the Blue Pill when it is given to us.

2. Provide others with small doses of the Red Pill to begin the process of waking them up.

3. Increase our skills in meeting resistance from those who are becoming conscious.

4. Increase our ability to provide support, guidance, counseling, and skill building to those who decide to become fully awake.

5. Surround ourselves with people who will assist us to stay conscious, who will periodically give us booster Red Pills so that we do not get lulled back into a dream state.

Now, look around and notice the system. Describe how it works to keep a few people on top and in control. Pay attention to how the system is draining you, using your resources and energy to power itself. Identify what you do or don’t do to help perpetuate it. Tell others what you discover about what is really going on. Become active in bringing others to consciousness in whatever setting you may work or live. Join with other change agents in the movement to transform institutions.

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[i] Sherover-Marcuse, Ricky. “Liberation theory: A working framework.” In Vasquez and Femi. No Boundaries: A manual for unlearning oppression and building multicultural alliances, Todos Institute, Oakland, CA, 1993.

[ii] The Matrix. Warner Brothers, 1999.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] “Markets up despite jobs report.” Contra Costa Times, December 7, 2002.

[v] Petruno, Tom. “Wall street continues to surge.” Los Angeles Times, November 22, 2002.

[vi] Aversa, Jeannine. “Consumer confidence rebounds in time for holiday shopping.” Associated Press, In Contra Costa Times, November 27, 2002.

[vii] Various stories reported in the business section of the Contra Costa Times, “AMD plans to cut workers,” “East Bay layoffs starting to climb,” “Regulators divvy up energy bill.” November 8, 2002.

[viii] “Minority students’ scores show progress.” Associated Press in Contra Costa Times, November 14, 2002.

[ix] “More minorities in UC med, law.” Associated Press in Contra Costa Times, October 10, 2002.

[x] Sturrock, Carrie. “More minorities enroll at UC Berkeley this year.” Contra Costa Times, November 6, 2002.

[xi] Frantz, D. and Risen, J. “United States says Iran arranged to fund intifada.” New York Times, March 24, 2002.

[xii] Kelley, Matt. “General says evidence shows Iraqi mobile bioweapons labs.” Associated Press in Contra Costa Times, September 14, 2002.

[xiii] Browning, Lynnley. “Data show growing gap between rich and poor.” New York Times, September 25, 2002.

[xiv] Weisman, Jonathan. “U.S. jobs lost since 2001 gone for good.” Washington Post, September 14, 2003.

[xv] Firestone, David. “8 million taxpayers won’t see any relief.” New York Times, June 1, 2003.

[xvi] Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A history of multicultural America. Little, Brown and Company, Canada, 1993.

[xvii] Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2003.

Hugh Vasquez is the Founder of the Todos Institute in Oakland and Co-Director of the Center for Diversity Leadership. Hugh provides lectures, keynotes, workshops and consultation to organizations throughout the country. Email for more information to hughvasquez@. Web site is .

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