(Up to: Other People SWords Control In Popular Culture )

[ N.B. Originally published in the 44th edition of Liberty Impact, and reproduced here in full, with www-friendly URLs. All URLs point to Amazon products with original referrer. Will try to post my thoughts on this some time. ] :

                The Morpheus Proposal
                   by Jim Davidson
                 [http://cambist.net/][3]

When we first meet her, the character Trinity is in a room 
Numbered 303.  Throughout the film, "The Matrix" there is a 
delightful motif of numbers.  A little later, we meet the 
character "Neo" who, we are told is "the one."  Delightfully, Neo 
is an anagram of "one."  After a knock on the door, we learn he is 
in room "101."

"Let me give you a piece of advice: be honest.  He knows more than 
you can imagine," says Trinity at a critical juncture in the film.  
As with the other advice throughout the film, this advice is 
excellent.

Neo enters a non-descript room.  Standing against the windows 
opposite the door is a tall, bald, black man in a long leather 
coat.  After introducing himself as Morpheus, he says, "I imagine 
that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice…tumbling down the 
rabbit hole?  I can see it in your eyes.  You have the look of a 
man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up.  
Ironically, this is not far from the truth."

Morpheus continues, "Let me tell you why you're here.  You're here 
because you know something. What you know you can't explain.  But 
you feel it.  You've felt it your entire life.  That there's 
something wrong with the world.  You don't know what it is, but 
it's there.  Like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.  It is 
this feeling that has brought you to me.  Do you know what I'm 
talking about?"

With a voice full of uncertainty, Neo asks, "The Matrix?"

"Do you want to know what it is?" Morpheus inquires very 
deliberately.

At a nod from Neo, Morpheus continues, "The matrix is everywhere.  
It is all around us.  Even now, in this very room.  You can see it 
when you look out your window or when you turn on your television.  
You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when 
you pay your taxes.  It is the world that has been pulled over 
your eyes to blind you from the truth."

"What truth?" asks Neo.

"That you are a slave, Neo.  Like everyone else you were born into 
bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or 
touch.  A prison for your mind.

"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is.  You have 
to see it for yourself.

"This is your last chance.  After this, there is no turning back.

"You take the blue pill.  The story ends.  You wake up in your bed 
and believe…whatever you want to believe.

"You take the red pill.  You stay in Wonderland and I show you how 
deep the rabbit hole goes.

"Remember.  All I'm offering is the truth.  Nothing more."

As everyone who has seen the film "The Matrix" quoted above 
recalls, Neo chooses the red pill.  "The Matrix" is available for 
viewing on [VHS][4]
or [DVD][5].

In a few more days, its sequel will be released in theaters 
everywhere.  You should buy this film, you should watch it, and 
you should understand it.  Then go watch the sequel, which 
promises to be excellent.

The Matrix of the film is a metaphor for another system, a system 
Which is also designed for control.  It is designed for the 
benefit of those who operate the system, and it endeavors to hide 
the truth that all of its subjects are slaves.

To understand this metaphor, we should examine a bit more of the 
Dialog from the film.  Reading this dialog is no substitute for 
watching the film, and you should certainly go to great lengths to 
rent or buy and watch this film.  It is possibly the most 
interesting film of the last fifty years.  It stands up to other 
excellent films such as "[Casablanca][6],"
"[Grosse Pointe Blank][7],"
and the "Star Wars" serial as commentary on the nature of 
political society.

What Is the Matrix?
"You wanted to know what the matrix is, Neo?

"You've been living in a dream world, Neo.  This is the world as 
it exists today.  Welcome to the desert of the real.

"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to
survive.  Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

"The human body generates more bio-electricity than a 120 volt 
battery and over 25,000 BTUs of body heat.  Combined with a form 
of fusion the machines had found all the energy they would ever 
need.

"There are fields, Neo, endless fields where human beings are no 
longer born.  We are grown.  For the longest time, I wouldn't 
believe it.  And then I saw the fields with my own eyes, watched 
them liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the 
living.  And standing there, facing the pure horrifying precision, 
I came to realize the obviousness of the truth.

"What is the Matrix?”

"Control.”

"The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us 
under control in order to change a human being into this. 

"As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free."

The above quote comes from the Warner Home Video DVD, "The Matrix" 
by the Wachowski Brothers.  I've transcribed the actual lines as 
delivered by Laurence Fishburne, though the subtitles available on 
the DVD are somewhat similar.

The average American makes $38,000 per year annual income.  This 
figure is somewhat deceptive, since it includes a large number of 
non-working persons, and fails to count the incomes of a wide 
array of non-filing adults, children, and "illegal aliens" among 
others.  Over the course of a forty to fifty year career, the 
average American will make over $1.5 million in income.   The 
government will obtain up to 38% of the income, and various other 
governmental systems will take a further 12% of income.  Plus, the 
funds the individual spends on rent, food, transportation, and 
other incidentals will be taxed as income of others.

In other words, the system has found all the money it will ever 
need.  Better still, the currency used in all these exchanges will 
very likely not be free market money.  Instead, it will in most 
instances prove to be Federal Reserve Notes.  This fiat money is 
allegedly legal tender, though there are no penalties for refusing 
it.  Redeemable for nothing, the Federal Reserve Note is a promise 
to pay - but only in further Federal Reserve Notes.  The system 
which issues these notes is not a part of the Federal government, 
it is not a constitutionally authorized entity, and it benefits 
from monetary inflation to a considerable degree.

As Beardsley Ruml pointed out in the 1940s, with the ability to 
Issue currency, the government has no need to tax.  It can print 
as much money as it will ever need.  Therefore, in his view, the 
function of taxes such as the income tax and the inheritance tax, 
is not to fund the government or provide for constitutionally 
mandated functions.  Instead, the function of these taxes, he 
wrote in his article for American Affairs magazine, is the 
redistribution of wealth.  From whom?  From those capable of 
producing wealth.

To whom?  To those unable or unwilling to produce wealth.

In other words, the tax system exists to plunder.  It loots from 
the productive to provide salaries for bureau-rats and payments to 
those unable or unwilling to work.

A similar scheme is the Social Security system.  It loots from the
productive to provide, not only for those unable to work, but also 
for those who have "retired" without regard to whether they are 
poor.  The Social Security system has no "trust fund."  Funds paid 
in currently are paid out immediately.  There is no investment of 
the funds.  The entire system is a Ponzi scheme.  As long as new 
investors are compelled to pay into the system, and as long as 
more of them, or more productive ones, can be found, the system 
can remain afloat.  However, it is not moral.

The average person paying into the system as of 1998 when Forbes
magazine did an analysis, makes $35,000 per year.  The average 
person receiving payments from the system makes $65,000 per year.  
At that time, those receiving payments were estimated to get 
$70,000 or so more out of their Social Security checks than they 
had ever paid in.  However, those paying in were estimated to have 
as much as a quarter million dollars less paid out "eventually" 
than they had paid in.  Between the $250,000 in lost payments and 
the $70,000 in excess receipts are one generation and $180,000 
worth of bad bureaucracy.

Moreover, these optimistic figures are based on a scenario of 
continuing operations.  Most Americans under the age of 45 believe 
that they have a greater chance of being abducted by aliens than 
they do of receiving a penny from Social Security.  The system is 
bankrupt, it is unable to provide for the security of those 
contributing to it, it provides payments to many who are wealthier 
than those being taxed, and it is not ethical.  It is theft, the 
same as all other taxes.

Do not be misguided by the ideal of order.  The average individual 
seeks useful order.  He wants to be able to conduct business with 
his neighbors and with complete strangers with a certain amount of
confidence.  He prefers that the tall buildings in his 
neighborhood not be devastated by thugs who hijack passenger jets.  
He prefers to stay far from wars so that his property is not 
looted or plundered.

In contrast to this useful order, this modicum of order, we have 
the surplus order imposed by the state.  The term "surplus order" 
appears in the book [Powershift][8] by Alvin and Heidi Toffler.
It is an excellent book which you should buy and read.  Surplus 
order does not benefit the individual.  It exists only for the 
benefit of those who control the state.  Surplus order consists of 
terrorizing all individuals everywhere so they obey whatever 
dictates the rulers attempt to impose.  It includes kicking in 
doors at 4 a.m., revoking passports, refusing travelers the 
opportunity to fly, tearing children away from their screaming 
parents, and burning seven dozen Texans to death in their church, 
to name but a few of its more dire consequences.

Free Your Mind
Morpheus continues, "You have to let it all go, Neo... fear... doubt and
disbelief... Free your mind!"

The advice is extremely good.  You can do worse than follow this
advice.  Let go of fear, let go of doubt, let go of disbelief.  
Don't be limited by what you've been told all your life about how 
the system is your friend, how the government is necessary, how 
you are the beneficiary of its protection, its largesse, its 
regulations.  Understanding is the first step on the path to 
freedom.  Free your mind and everything else follows.

How?  How can you free your mind from a lifetime of conditioning?  
By refusing to fear, refusing to be beguiled, refusing to be taken 
in.  Strip away the illusions and realize your own potential.

Lesson of the Other Potentials
"Do not try to bend the spoon," says the young boy.  "That's 
impossible.  Only try to realize the truth."

"What truth?" asks Neo.

"There is no spoon."

Doubtfully, Neo replies, "There is no spoon?"  He can clearly see 
a spoon in his hand.

"Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends; it is only
yourself."

Later in the film, Neo repeats the words "there is no spoon" while
shooting at an elevator cable.  He obtains the results he desires.

I submit that there is no government.  "The government" is an 
illusion, sometimes consensual.  In fact, there are only 
individuals.  Individuals in "the government" get away with 
murder, theft, lies, deceit, fraud, violence, viciousness, and 
betrayal.  Were those individuals without governmental sanction, 
they would be merely bullies, killers, and thieves.  They would 
deserve no greater respect and no swifter punishment.  As "the 
government" however, they are understood to be immune from 
prosecution, immune from lawsuits, immune from criticism.  Even 
their own treason against the constitution is considered 
acceptable, whereas it is considered treasonous to accuse them of
treason.

About 155 years ago, Henry David Thoreau composed a speech called 
"On Civil Disobedience."  In that speech, which is [available here][9], 
he said that the government had not done anything.  It had not settled 
the West. It had not educated the people.  It had not opened new avenues 
of trade and commerce.  All that had ever been done was done by 
individuals.

He pointed out that if trade and commerce were not made of a 
substance akin to India rubber, it would not be able to bounce 
over all the obstacles constantly put in its path by government.  
Indeed, if legislators, he said, were tried and punished for the 
results they produced, rather than understood for their 
intentions, they would be equated with the miscreants who put 
obstructions on railroad tracks.

Moreover, the government was simply a tradition, passing itself 
sown from generation to generation.  It was nothing more than 
tradition – the special treatment of those in the government 
nothing but a habit.  He also wrote, though I believe mistakenly, 
that the government could be bent to the will of one man, and 
(correctly, in my view) was therefore of less consequence than one 
man.

However, if there is no government, then what is bent?  Not the
government, but the individual.  If you attempt to bend the 
government to your will, then you will find that it is you who 
bends.

In this particular fashion, I believe, all the efforts of 
Libertarian Party members, Republicans, Democrats, and others are 
made pointless.  You cannot reform the government.  There is no 
government for you to reform.  You cannot make the government 
better.  There is no government to improve.  You cannot make the 
government obey the constitution.  There is no government to be 
made obedient.

Your efforts to bend the government only result in you being bent.  
You may believe that you can stick to your guns, remain true to 
your principles, and bend the government.  However, you will find 
that you are bent in the process, whether corrupted or made weary 
and stooped over.  If you remain, as some noteworthy individuals 
such as Dr. Ron Paul, unbendable, you will still not find the 
government bent to your will.  Why not?  Because there is no 
government.

Lesson of the Agent
"Do you hear that Mr. Anderson?" asks Agent Smith.  "It is the 
sound of inevitability.  It is the sound of your death."

The sound folio is of a screeching subway train.  Why is a train 
so interesting as the metaphor for inevitability?  Those of you 
readers who have ever been arrested may know why.  It is often 
used by the agents of government or "law enforcement" to 
intimidate suspects, perpetrators, witnesses, and others.

The government agent would say that there is a train coming.  You 
can either get on it, or get run over by it.  The train is too 
powerful to stop.  You can't stop it.  So, are you going to get on 
it?  This type of false reasoning is used to coerce plea bargains, 
guilty pleas, false testimony, and a host of other ills.  Don't be 
taken in.

In his confrontation with Agent Smith, Neo proves the train is not 
the sound of his death.  His death comes, but is hardly 
inevitable.  Miraculously, Neo recovers from death with the 
metaphorical love of a good woman.  He recovers from death because 
that isn't real, either.

Centuries ago, Ben Franklin [wrote][10]
that three things are inevitable: the weather, death, and taxes.
I disagree on all three counts.  I'm for weather control, life 
extension, and free markets.

Another Lesson about Agents
Earlier in the film, we are introduced to a crowd of people 
walking down the street.  Morpheus and Neo seem to be wading 
through them, against the stream as it were.  They are ordinary 
people from every walk of life -- teachers, lawyers, tradesmen.  
Most of them have become so inured to the system they are not 
ready to be unplugged, says Morpheus.

A beautiful woman in a red dress walks by, distracting Neo.  
Morpheus asks if Neo is still listening, or looking at the woman 
in the red dress.  Neo, flustered, turns toward Morpheus who tells 
him to look again.

Suddenly, behind Neo, there is an Agent holding a gun at him.  
Morpheus has the simulation frozen.

He points out that anyone still hard-wired into the system is a 
potential enemy.  Anyone in that condition can be turned into an 
Agent at a moment's notice.

Indeed, subsequently, while Neo is fleeing from Agent Smith and 
others, he races down a hallway.  Then he bursts into an apartment 
where we see two old ladies.  As he rushes to the back door, we 
see one old lady on the sofa, another in the kitchen chopping 
vegetables.  As he reaches the back door, THUNK!  A knife is 
embedded into the door jam.  He turns back and sees the second old 
lady has become an Agent in just the split second since we first 
saw her.  He continues to flee.

By analogy, this ability of Agents to corrupt any individual who 
is "still hardwired into the system" is much like the ability of 
government agents to corrupt individuals who are still trying to 
obey the government.  If you are filing taxes, you are certainly 
making errors.  Obedience to the law is no excuse, for the laws 
are so convoluted, so byzantine, so hard to follow that you must 
inevitably break many of them, even in the process of scrupulously 
obeying others.

In her novel [Atlas Shrugged][11]
author Ayn Rand has a character point out that the purpose of 
these laws is not to keep the people honest and law-abiding, but 
to make them all guilty.  Guilty of something.

By attempting to obey the law, by filing taxes and participating 
in the process, by leaving your children in public school or your 
family at a known address, you leave yourself vulnerable to 
coercion and control.  Many individuals have been turned into 
informants on the strength of the threats to their way of life, 
their families, or their health.  If you are dependent upon the 
good will of agents of government for your survival or your 
lifestyle, you may become very disappointed when you learn that 
those agents have no good will.  Indeed, they are not agents of 
the properly constituted government, which is nowhere to be found.

Don't rely upon the good will of others, wrote [Robert Heinlein][12].
After all, some men don't have a good side.  If, instead, you find
a way to engage their self interest, you are much better off.

The Neo Proposal
"I know you're out there," says Neo. "I can feel you now.  I know 
that you're afraid. You're afraid of us.
You're afraid of change."

I think these statements are very well delivered.  The script 
writers were brilliant in coming up with much of this dialog.  The 
system is afraid of change.  The system is terrified right now of 
the Internet.  The ability to bypass the mainstream media and get 
information without their approval or knowledge is frightening to 
those who believe in a hydraulic empire of information.

[George Carlin][13] points out that we call the mainstream a stream 
because it is far too shallow to be a river.

Neo continues, "I don't know the future.  I didn't come here to 
tell you how this is going to end.  I came here to tell you how 
it's going to begin.  I'm going to hang up this phone and then I'm 
going to show these people what you don't want them to see.  I'm 
going to show them a world without you.  A world without rules and 
controls, without borders or boundaries.  A world where anything 
is possible."

Indeed, that is the opportunity before us.  We have the 
opportunity to break free from the matrix of control, from the 
system.  We have the opportunity to live in a world without 
government, without rulers.  We have the opportunity to have no 
borders, no boundaries, no rule except self-rule, no control 
except self-control, where anything is possible.
Which world would you rather have?

Many years ago, I wrote a couplet as part of the Anthem of the 
[Ama-Gi][14].

      "I don't believe in predestined fate
       The future is what we choose to create."

It isn't up to me to create the future for you.  Nor is it up to 
me to free your mind.  "I can show you the door, but you must walk 
through it," says Morpheus.  I cannot free you.  You must free 
yourself.

Once you've asked yourself which world you'd rather have, and once
you've taken time to watch this film "The Matrix" I urge you to go 
see "The Matrix Reloaded" which should prove to be as excellent a 
film as the first.  You may be especially pleased to learn that 
the Wachowski brothers envisioned the Matrix as a trilogy.

______
Jim Davidson is an entrepreneur.  He is currently working with 
Coast Salish people in Vancouver to organize a free port facility 
and exploit certain nuances of the Jay Treaty; he also trades gold 
through his Gold Barter Holdings venture, with its auction service 
GoldBarter.com and exchange service Cambist.net.  He writes 
frequently for liberty oriented publications, and is a 
contributing writer for Liberty Impact.  Some of his writings are 
linked from his home page at
[http://www.ezez.com/free/freejim.html][15]

______
"The Matrix" is a film starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne,
Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano, written and 
Directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, executive 
producers Barrie Osborne, Andrew Mason, Andy Wachowski, Larry 
Wachowski, Erwin Stoff, and Bruce Berman.  It is a Silver Pictures 
production produced by Joel Silver and presented by Warner 
Brothers in association with Village Roadshow Pictures - Groucho 
II Film Partnership.  More information on The Matrix film trilogy 
can be found at [http://www.whatisthematrix.com/][16]
The [soundtrack album][17]
features songs by Ramstein, Rage Against the Machine, Deftones,
Prodigy, Rob Zombie, and Marilyn Manson.  The program content,
artwork, and photography is copyright © 1999 Warner Brothers.
The use of quotes from the film dialog in this essay is fair use 
for the purpose of film review and film analysis.  The essay by 
Jim Davidson is copyright © 2003 Jim Davidson, and may be 
duplicated in whole provided all links and text are included.