Sinister design - part four: the allegory

You can read part three at this link.

In the previous installments I talked about a whirlpool: the mechanism that sucks us in when we pick a side on crises we can't verify. To make this clearer, I'll use a movie allegory — and no, I'm not saying we live in a simulation: I'm only using the film as an example.

Nearly everyone has seen "The Matrix," the wonderful trilogy starring Keanu Reeves. And plenty of people came out of it feeling exhilarated: "It's a smart story, I understood it, so I must be smart too." They think.

And in fact the result looks encouraging. But then you look at them, and it becomes clear they haven't picked up on all the symbolic sides of it, the metaphorical layers that make it relevant even without the technological apocalypse. They stopped at the plot about sentient machines that drain humans of their energy while keeping them living in a simulated dream, the matrix itself. They can't put two and two together, can't connect those blessed dots.

So let's spell out the allegory. In our reality, the "machines" can be represented by politics and the media. The dreams — the film's matrix — are the polarized issues that politics and the media hand to citizens. And the energy being drained is that of the individuals who fall for the trick and devote themselves, heart and soul, to fueling the mechanism: that's the whirlpool.

Let's look at a few examples from the string of polarizing issues pushed on the masses in recent years. Did we dig in, helmet on and bayonet fixed, taking a position (any position) on the various disputes over the pandemic? We got sucked in. Did we pick a side on the Russia-Ukraine war? We're sinking toward the bottom. Did we pick a side on the Palestine-Israel question? It's already too late. Did we pick a side on the US-Iran war? Same story.

And you can be sure that when interest in the crisis of the moment fades, politics and the media will supply us with new ones. As I said before, the content isn't the point. The goal is distraction, splitting public opinion. Divide et impera.

Okay, take some time to think it over. Then, if you like, go ahead and rewatch the film. Maybe this time the parallel will be clearer.

You can find the other installments of the "Sinister design" saga by following this link.

Drafted from Italian with Blog Translator, then revised by me.