The red pill is largely a reference to psychedelics in a scene from the movie "The
Matrix". In that scene Morpheus says:
"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."
Psychedelics, when properly used, help break down social constructs of the world and help
people see it for what it really is. This is illustrated in the scene when Neo takes the red pill and he begins to hallucinate in a manner consistent with psychedelics. Soon he wakes up, and for the first time, sees the real world around him. He realizes that since birth he was actually living confined in a small life-sustaining
pod among millions of other pods, in what is basically a farm for
people created by and run by machines. This imagery parallels our reality as many come to realize, whether through psychedelics or other means, the dogma of everyday life, the lack of individuality, and realize how much control and influence society has over our lives.
(Note: Some recently, as of
2020, have falsely interpreted "the red pill" to be a reference to The Republican
Party of the Unites States since that
party is often represented by the color red. However, the term "the red pill" was commonly used in association with The
Matrix long before, since 1999, when The Matrix was released.)
