Here I like to think of myself as a savvy senior - 58 years old - and wise in the ways of Internet culture.
Not so with The Red Pill.
I don't know how this one got past me, although I knew of it's distant cousin from a few years ago.
Kissing Cousins
The PUA (Pick-Up Artist) community entered my radar many years ago. At the time I generalized it as a distasteful hobby of little boys. I KNEW the REAL way to attract women: through my wolf-like eyes, my martial arts-honed body and my near-genius-level brain.
Simple. No fuss, no muss. No formulas, no secret techniques. Just totally natural.
Riiiight.
But I figure, live and let live. Certainly the PUA community was forking over big bucks to a few top dogs for seminars, meet-ups, books, videos and who knows what else. Today it's a big-business subculture.
Enter The Red Pill
From a quick research effort it seems that the Red Pill community (so named after Neo's choice in The Matrix) is yet another sub-culture of men - usually in their mid-20's - who have banded together to fight for such issues as men's rights, health and wealth practices and yes, shards from the PUA community (although from what I've seen so far they differ in "tactics"). Overall it seems to be an honest, sincere community, interested in improving themselves physically, mentally and socially - nothing wrong with that.
They also happen to have a particular hatred of SJWs. At first I thought this was "Single Jewish Women", and wondered why yentas with blue hair should come under such vitriolic attacks.
Turns out that "SJW" means "Social Justice Warrior" and includes a witch's brew of feminists, Liberals, wimpy men and most of the large publishing houses (!). The Red Pill guys are fighting to break free from the SJWs and regain a certain perceived "manliness".
Three of the top blogs that I've discovered are Mike Cernovich's Danger and Play, Victor Pride's Bold and Determined, and Chris' Good Looking Loser. They have a wide range of articles slanted toward their target audience on building wealth on the Internet, getting into shape through bodybuilding exercises and finding (and enjoying) women - all the things a 20-something needs to know.
The writing on these blogs is alright (I'm picky, but then I'm a writer), with several spelling and grammatical errors popping up here and there, but for the most part they are all well-written. It appears that even their philosophy of web design is a nice change from the usual blogs - you aren't assaulted by tons of pop-ups and advertising, just a few links to their books on Amazon.
One point that puzzles me: these guys are all clamoring about improving themselves, getting off of drugs and alcohol, blah, blah, blah - then they start talking about using Kratom.
Kratom
Kratom is a naturally-occurring plant from Malaysia and surrounding areas, the leaf of which is consumed to either energize or relax the user, depending upon the specific strain used. It is available from several online sources, but is slated to be banned in the UK soon. The U.S. obviously hasn't heard about this substance or they'd be banning it as well, as it seems to be a cross of caffeine, cocaine and marijuana in its effects.
So How Do I Feel About The Red Pill?
I'm not entirely sure yet.
On the one hand, I like seeing an entire sub-culture devoted to physical, mental and spiritual improvement. It's refreshing and, as a senior, reassuring to see this generation going to great lengths and having such enthusiasm for self-improvement. In fact, I totally agree with their philosophy of "don't blame life" - they just go about improving themselves.
I'm not so sure about their views on dating and picking up women. Maybe it's because I'm old-school, but some of the techniques and tactics appear to me to be an insult to the women. Maybe Millenial women don't mind this approach - maybe they even expect and enjoy it - but that's why I prefer the more mature ladies.
I understand them, and they me.
So, overall? I think this "movement" is going in the right direction but they need to get rid of or radically change some of their beliefs and practices. Otherwise they're going to be focusing on a hatred that will delay or destroy their self-improvement.
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