The Matrix pretty much outlines the anti-ideology that is defining the interim we live in:
- seeking meaning in vulnerability,
- seeking one's role in oneself,
- seeking proof in being loved,
that is
- not seeking meaning in endangeredness,
- not seeking one's role before the horizon of one's time,
- not seeking proof in the turns of history.
The Matrix allows
ISIS,
The Matrix allows snowflakes,
The Matrix allows to dream of the brotherhood of men on the basis of sympathy. It is a vitaliser and a blindfold, an insulator and an isolator. It is a tool to enter the unheard of into the public consciousness without risking collapse, thus upsetting morals sufficiently to create an interest in their restoration. Even in the
films its ideology leads to naught, because under the assumption of atheism machines
do know best how to handle humans. And in the real world Smith's take on misery and suffering as the basis of humans' understanding of meaning applies, since the
film itself tells its disciples to worship the transcendence of coolness, i. e. find meaning in their frailty, and hence to devolve into a suicide cult, sterilising themselves after they've brought their measure of damage on the world.
Yet, to quote a film that is similar enough, but more faithful in its craziness:
It's a poison. But thanks to your teachings it's changing my consciousness.
I'm glad that I've reached into the past and found lines that bridge the times and thus escaped the poverty of our time. Taken the right way, watching
The Matrix now reassures me.
