The Pill and I

By @enur72 Rune Østgård | vol.20 - Citadel21.com

Blue Pilled Matrix Fan

Have you seen ‘The Matrix’? The main character is Neo, played by Keanu Reeves. He meets Morpheus, played by Laurence Fishburn. Morpheus offers Neo a choice between two pills: red to reveal the truth about the system they live in, which he calls ‘The Matrix’, and blue to forget everything and return to his former life. Neo chooses the red pill. He immediately begins to understand how he has been fooled into living as an ignoramus in a synthetic and dystopian society.

Matrix was launched in 1999. It instantly became one of my favorite movies, not only because of the plot, but also because of great acting, innovative digital effects, and fantastic music.

When I got my law degree in 1998, I had spent a total of 18 years in schools and universities. During these years I took little interest in reading other things than the curriculum we were given.

Book Pills

When I turned 30, I fell in love with books. I read all kinds of books, from history to economics, science, and philosophy. When I began reading books of my own choice, I realized that I had been starved for knowledge. My curiosity awakened — it must have been gone for years.

I hungered for wisdom, and literally had books for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Without me knowing, these books became my red pill. And the map that faith had laid out for me was like this:

Because of the job I got in 2000, I had to read up on economics. I set out reading standard textbooks that was used by economics students. The books were heavy on mathematics and Keynesianisms. I learned little from them. I thought that it was me that it was something wrong with.

The Austrian Rabbit Hole

Then, in 2002, I stumbled across Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’. It’s an exciting and particularly well written novel. However, what is so special about this book, is that Rand demonstrates how the real economy works, as well as the interaction between the state, the capitalists, the workers, the consumers, and the rest of society.

I wanted to learn more about economics and found out that Rand had taken a lot of guidance from the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises. And that’s when I really began to stumble down the rabbit hole. Discovering the so-called Austrian school of economics opened a whole new world of understanding of how the society works, whether it is a society with free markets or planned economics.

The hunger for wisdom and knowledge grew exponentially with each book that I read. I bought a book with recommendations on 100 classic books. I also acquired ‘How to read a book’ by the philosopher, Mortimer J. Adler. I began taking notes in the books and wrote summaries in separate notebooks. The more I could stimulate my intellect, the happier I became.

Family Life

In 2006 my fiancée gave birth to our first and only child. We named her Milda, as is also the name of the Baltic goddess of love and freedom. We moved back home to Steinkjer, and I started working as a lawyer in a small town law firm.

For a while I managed to combine family and professional life with my reading pastime. I achieved more knowledge and wisdom – and I became a happy person. And when Milda came, and we were able to live close to our family and I could practice as a lawyer, life felt complete. It couldn’t be better.

I also began writing op-eds for various newspapers. I discovered that I had some talent, and that I could make good use of the broad range of topics that I had read when I commented on politics.

I had few people around me that were interested in discussing such issues. Nobody seemed to care about or understand the economic implications of politics. I tried to talk about it, but my friends probably felt that I had become some sort of a missionary man.

I gave up talking to people about economics and politics.

In Sync With Satoshi

The financial crisis of 2008 struck the world like a thunderbolt. I wasn’t surprised, but I became worried. When I saw how the politicians and the rest of the society reacted to the crisis, I decided to write another op-ed. One of the newspapers would pay me money if they got the exclusive right to print it. The op-ed was all about monetary policy. I showed the readers that inflation was introduced in Norway by the Viking King Harald Hardrada in 1050, and that it had always been a deliberate policy. I demonstrated that the financial crisis was the preliminary result of years and years of expansion of the money supply.

I blamed the central bank for the crisis, and I demanded that the head of the central bank, Svein Gjedrem, would have to go. A financial newspaper picked it up, put me on the front cover and made a two-pager on the op-ed. The central bank was asked for comments, but it largely chose not to respond to my arguments.

Coincidentally Sathoshi Nakamoto worked on his White Paper on Bitcoin at the same time as I wrote my op-ed. The WP was published on the 31th of October 2008, five days before the newspaper published my op-ed. I wasn’t aware of the WP and first heard about Satoshi and Bitcoin many years later.

Afterwards everything fell dead silent. Nobody picked up where I had started. And the central bank started printing money at an even more aggressive scale. The politicians supported it. The financial and political elite was wetting its pants to keep warm. And I knew that they were only postponing and worsening the crisis.

The State Enters The Living Room

In 2009-2010 we saw the outbreak of the swine flu. Governments around the world, including in Norway, went into pure panic mode, and they put an enormous pressure on the population. Experts and politicians argued that everybody should take the Pandemrix vaccine, including children. I was a skeptic. I didn’t want to take any risk with my or our daughter’s health without first finding and analyzing all relevant facts. It took a lot of time, but I concluded that the vaccines were probably not safe and that the swine flu would be harmless.

The whole process had been painful and an energy drain. My fiancée has always placed a lot of trust in the authorities, which I cannot blame her for. We discussed extensively if Milda should have the jabs. We disagreed. It felt like The State sat between us in our living room when we argued our case. I felt awful, struggled to find a way to convince her. In the end I just vetoed. And Milda didn’t get the Pandemrix jab.

It turned out that I had made the right decision. The vaccine caused a great deal of health problems for young people, especially narcolepsy. It was nothing short of a political scandal. And the flu didn’t kill people, as they had told us that it would.

Coughing Up The Red Pill

Three experiences took a lot out of me in this period.

• the feeling of having no one to talk to

• seeing the madness of our monetary policy

• feeling the pain from discussing whether giving Milda the vaccine would cause harm to her or of it would be required

It exhausted me.

I had taken the red pill in 2002, and it made me make many right decisions in my life. But now it was enough. Politics should never again come between me and those who were nearest to me. I coughed it up and swallowed the blue pill instead.

I chose ignorance. I chose to become passive. I wanted to focus on having a good life with my family. I demanded, however, that politics should never be discussed in our house. Neither should we watch or hear the news when I was in the room or in the car. Because the news made me sick to my stomach.

My fiancée accepted this. When we had guests, I told them: “There is only one rule in this house, never discuss politics with the host. Apart from that – do and say exactly what you want.”

I took up cycling, and I dedicated myself to the sport, my job, and my family.

I also stopped reading books.

Slowly but surely, I deconstructed my intellectual and political self. I became a conscious ignoramus. I just let go of it all. When I look back at this today, it feels like it was an endless period with book burning.

2020 Comes Around

Fast forward to 2020. Politics come crashing down on us. They say that this virus is going to kill a whole lot of people. They lock down society. Force us to wear masks. Introduce mob rule. Objectors and those who ask questions are censored, stigmatized, and ostracized.

And they make us long for a wonderful vaccine that can set us free from this hellish situation.

On the 30th of December 2020, a gigantic quick clay landslide struck a residential area in Gjerdum, just outside our capital, Oslo. 11 people died. I have represented victims in a similar landslide in 2009, and I decided to investigate how this could happen one more time.

I don’t like what I find. It’s something that seems incorrect with the theories and methods that the geotechnical engineers use when they give green light to builders who want to develop land in quick clay areas. It looks corrupt.

That’s when I decided to write my first book. I analyze all the important quick clay landslides, the investigations of the landslides and I read up on the theory. I published the book in October 2021. My conclusions are clear: There isn’t any scientific basis for how the experts operate. Their theories are wrong, they are in fact dangerous.

Nobody argues against my findings.

Two professors in geology come out and say they fully support my conclusions. One of them says that the book should become compulsory reading for the geology students. The geotechnical engineering community ignores the book. They try to pretend that it doesn’t exist. It’s the same with the authorities and the investigative committee that the state has set up after the Gjerdrum catastrophe.

They clearly don’t want this to be known. They know that hundreds of thousands of Norwegians live in quick clay areas. And they don’t want them to panic. Better to risk a few lives now and then.

Mainstream media is dead silent too.

It’s Hard

The book receives a lot of praise from the readers. But it gets scant attention, and I only manage to sell about 500 books. It’s a significant financial loss for me personally. Clients didn’t get the attention they should have had while I was working on the book. It has hurt my personal relations as well. I didn’t manage to see the needs of my nearest ones, when I was busy working on the project.

My health has deteriorated, and everything is just depressing. In the end I promise my family that I am not going to repeat the mistake. I won’t write another book without asking for their permission. Unfortunately, I am not going to make good on my promise. It doesn’t take long before I let them down again.

What I am not aware of is that this has been another red pilling experience. Just like last time – it wasn’t a conscious process. It just happened. It happened because I read books and articles until my eyes were sore and my brain was aching. Because I was looking for facts. I wanted to learn and to understand. I analyzed an immense amount of information. And most important of all: I dared asking questions and looking for answers.

To me this is all what the read pill is about. You look for the answers and work hard to get them. It’s the opposite of being told what the truth is. It’s much harder than it was for Neo.

Bending The Knee To Coercion

2021 becomes the year of mass vaccinations. I don’t like it. I don’t want to take it. I want to shield my daughter from it. But once more I have exhausted myself. The quick clay project has been all consuming. I feel like shit.

And I don’t want another discussion with my partner about this. I don’t want to rip up the wounds from the discussions we had on the Pandemrix vaccine.

I give in. We take the jabs. All three of us. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Luckily, none of us experience any immediate complications. And so far, so good. But today, looking back at my choice, I feel ashamed. I feel that I have been totally irresponsible. And worst of all – I feel that I have been a bad father.

Tears come streaming down my face as I write this. I hope Milda can forgive me one day. I hope she will be fine. I feel I let others down as well. I shouldn’t have taken the blue pill again back in 2010. It was irresponsible. It was short-sighted of me. If I hadn’t taken it, I might have been able to convince many others to say no to the jabs. Maybe I could have saved some lives.

Correcting My Mistakes

In the summer of 2022, price inflation soars all over the world, including in Norway. I decided it’s about time to write a short book on inflation. I want to inform people about the fact that inflation is a deliberate policy. I want to complete what I started with the op-ed in 2008.

I don’t tell my family about the project. Once more I bury myself in books, and I write in hiding for three intense months.

Two weeks before I launch the book, I admit to my fiancée that I have written a second book. I explained to her that I couldn’t sit still with this knowledge, and not share it with the public. People need to know what inflation is, that it is a policy, and that it destroys society. They also need to be able to protect themselves against it. I don’t want to make the same mistake as I did with the vaccine. When I silenced myself and passively took part in a horrendous experiment, instead of warning people.

She accepts this as a matter of fact. Nothing to do about it now, anyway. Even though I promised her and Milda that I shouldn’t do it. And she doesn’t like it.

I fully understand her. Once more I have given priority to educating others, instead of focusing on the well-being of my family.

Two books. Many wounds.

Taking the red pill can be incredibly costly.

Finding Support And Momentum

But this time, I am lucky. I get to know many who share my values and thoughts. A retired professor in economic history believes in my project. A gold dealer supports me from the outset, a group of young men in a municipality that has been in constant decline get behind me and soon dozens of Bitcoiners follow suit. I manage to sell about 300 books before the book goes to print.

Economists, and even the financial community, become interested. People from all walks of life start reading the book, men and women, young and old, rich and poor. Suddenly I have people around me who sacrifice their time and energy to spread the word. It feels fantastic. It gives me hope.

Suddenly luck strikes again. A madman named Elon Musk takes over Twitter. I had barely used the platform previously. I had 16 followers or something before I launched the inflation book.

And then Musk decides to let people tell their story freely. He even exposes the corruption of the media, and how Big Pharma and the politicians took advantage of the pandemic.

After a short while I have hundreds of followers. Then a thousand. And now more than 1,700. I interact with all sorts of people, all over the world. It’s a movement. People who worship truth and public discourse enjoy a rare moment of intellectual and spiritual freedom.

Fraudcoin

The Fraudcoin book concentrates on explaining what inflation is, and I knew little about Bitcoin when I wrote it. Afterwards I have learned a lot more from many great Bitcoiners in Norway and around the world. I meet Mattis Storhaug, a gifted graphic designer with a lot of experience from the advertising industry. We decide to create a book about Bitcoin together. It’s going to be an illustrated introduction to what Bitcoin is, a primer, written for the average reader.

Orange Pilled

I realize that I share many values with the Bitcoin community. My profile picture on Twitter has laser eyes now, and I guess you can say that I have been orange-pilled. I am also busy working on setting up the Eindride Foundation, an organization that will work to educate children and youth in economics and especially on the importance of monetary freedom.

I don’t know how long this will last or where we are heading. But at least I am filled with hope. I feel capable, and most important of all - I take action.

I have started reading again. I once more give my business the attention it needs. And slowly but surely, I hope to mend the social and emotional wounds that I caused to others when I gave priority to writing books.

Thank you for reading this article and for taking part in this great freedom experiment that we are all working on.

Love you all.

Orange pill for ever.

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