The Matrix is a very good example of the old saying that ignorance is bliss because while the real world is in diary due to a nucular war the simulated reality people are living in is a very normal happy life, as apposed to Plato’s The Cave which leads one to believe that once you find out what reality is it will open your eyes and show the truth and better your life. In today's world when most people search for answers to their question the end result of their searching leads them to a truth that they weren’t prepared for or weren’t expecting. Once you have learned the truth it cannot be unlearned so you will never be able to go back to not knowing and living as you used to.
In our worlds history there has been many instances where people’s search for the truth has ended up destroying peoples perceptions of their everyday life. For example many people believe our government is set up to help and protect us, well many were shocked to find out that 50’s and 60’s the CIA started a project called MKULTRA. This project was a series of experiments done on unwilling US citizens in the realm of altering brain functions by using drugs, chemicals, and hypnosis. When this project was discovered the people who believed it the CIA’s image of helping the people from others was tarnished. These people were now questioning everything the CIA had done and if the reasons they had been told had been true, they could no longer trust in their own government. In turn the people who were ignorant to the situation had no problem living their life because they hadn’t stepped out to find the truth.
Now some people may just call my last example too full of conspiracy filled, so another example used to demonstrate the matrix’s ignorance is bliss would be a teen finding out they are adopted. This scenario is best explained like this, a child in his mid teens has his whole life loved his parents because that’s who they are his parents. One day while looking through some old papers he finds adoption papers with his name and his information, from that day on the kids life will never be the same. The life the child has lived in his eyes had been a lie because the people who he considered his family aren’t really his family, questions start to arise like why was I put up for adoption, where are my real parents, why didn’t my adopted parents ever tell me. The child's adopted parents will explain and try to easy his conscious and while it may calm him down he will forever know that somewhere his real parents are in the same world as him and that may make it hard to view his adopted parents the same way he did before because they didn’t tell him.
Many people say they can handle the truth but once they do find it and they want to go back to their old lives of not knowing its hard to do so,and if you try to enlighten others who are not prepared to handle the truth you will be ridiculed by the masses. So if you are ever offered the choice between a red or a blue pill make sure your prepared to accept the consequences of knowing the truth.
Bryan, just to look at the second, more down to earth example, if the person goes through pain in the beginning but gradually accepts the new reality, won't that confirm Plato's version more than the Matrix?
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