One of these red pills, I believe, is the realisation that learning is invisible. When given the choice, it is our duty to take the red pill, but this may not always be an easy choice. To willingly deceive ourselves, or be manipulated by a deceitful other (like Descartes’ demon), is somehow to surrender our humanity.Īs school leaders we are faced with many red and blue pills. However grim and difficult reality is, at least it is authentic. Ignorance is bliss, whilst reality is grim. Like Buffy, we would love to believe the world without evil is reality, but know that this world is just to good to be true.Īll these mythologies share the idea that the true reality is likely to be the less digestible option. For a while, we question which world is ‘real’ and which is the dream. In her dream world, her Father is still alive, vampires are a fictional creation and she lives the life of a normal teenage girl. Buffy ‘dreams’ of an escape from the world in which she is chosen to sacrifice herself in her role of protector of humanity. The metaphor of the red pill, or similar, is a recurring one in philosophy and literature from Descartes’ allegory of the cave, to films such as Total Recall, not forgetting the red vial which Alice is offered as an escape from Wonderland (referenced by Morpheus above).Īside – my favourite incarnation is in the superb Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The red pill offers the chance to escape this virtual reality and live in the actual world a grim reality where humans are kept as mere energy sources for a web of computer intelligence. The blue pill allows Neo to return to his fake reality (essentially the world we know). In the Matrix, Morpheus offers Neo the choice of a red pill or a blue pill. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” Morpheus, The Matrix (1999) You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
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