Tonight it finally clicked for me.
Neo asks her the classic question:
“If you already know what I’m going to do… do I really have a choice?”
And she hits him with the line:
“You’ve already made the choice. You’re just here to understand why.”
For years I thought this meant “there’s no free will.” But that’s not it.
Here’s the real insight:
Free will doesn’t exist in the moment.
It exists in the identity that leads to the moment.
The actions you take right now?
They’re mostly automatic - shaped by your conditioning, experiences, fears, habits, and past.
But the person you’re becoming?
That’s where your freedom actually lives.
You don’t choose the moment.
You choose the man who will meet the moment.
Or put in another way:
Determinism writes the past.
Identity writes the future.
Because when your life isn’t where you want it to be, the answer isn’t “make better choices.” The answer is: become the version of yourself who makes better choices automatically.
That’s the real red pill.
BREAKING: Journalist and college professor Stacey Patton goes viral by penning a stunningly powerful statement about how she was on Charlie Kirk’s “digital hit list” and recounting the horror that he inflicted on her.
We cannot allow this tragic assassination to whitewash Kirk’s legacy…
“I am on Charlie Kirk’s hit list,” Patton wrote to her 215,000 followers on Facebook. “His so-called ‘Professor Watchlist,’ run under the umbrella of Turning Point USA, is nothing more than a digital hit list for academics who dare to speak truth to power. I landed there in 2024 after writing commentary that inflamed the MAGA faithful. And once my name went up, the harassment machine roared to life.”
“For weeks my inbox and voicemail were deluged. Mostly white men spat venom through the phone: ‘bitch,’ ‘c*nt,’ ‘n****r.’ They threatened all manner of violence,” she continued.
“They overwhelmed the university’s PR lines and the president’s office with calls demanding that I be fired,” Patton wrote. “The flood was so relentless that the head of campus security reached out to offer me an escort, because they feared one of these keyboard soldiers might step out of his basement and come do me harm.”
“And I am not unique,” she added.
“Kirk’s Watchlist has terrorized legions of professors across this country. Women, Black faculty, queer scholars, basically anyone who challenged white supremacy, gun culture, or Christian nationalism suddenly found themselves targets of coordinated abuse,” Patton wrote.
“Some received death threats. Some had their jobs threatened. Some left academia entirely. Kirk sent the loud message to us: speak the truth and we will unleash the mob!” she continued.
“That is the culture of violence Charlie Kirk built. He normalized violence. He curated it, monetized it, and sicced it on anyone who dared to puncture his movement’s lies,” she wrote.
“And now, in the wake of his shooting, there’s all this national outpouring of mourning, moments of silence, yellow prayer hands, and tributes painting him as a civil debater,” Patton continued. “But the truth is that Kirk and his foot soldiers spent years terrorizing educators, trying to silence us with harassment and fear!”
“And now the same violence he unleashed on others has come full circle.”
“But what i find especially jarring is the dissonance in public mourning for a smug white man whose life work was actively hostile to certain groups,” she continued. “Kirk spent years demonizing LGBTQ people, mocking gun survivors, spewing racism about Black folks, and pushing policies that literally shorten lives.”
“It is so revolting to watch a bipartisan wave of grief sweep over this hateful racist as if he was a neutral community servant,” she concluded.
This is pure unvarnished truth from Patton. Charlie Kirk did not deserve what happened to him, but nor did his victims deserve the hell that he unleashed on them. If Americans are going to build a more peaceful future for ourselves we must condemn political violence while also condemning the hateful, bigoted rhetoric that made Kirk a multimillionaire.
Please retweet and ❤️ if Patton’s message struck a chord with you!
@den_shorts@901Meg@ZacDraper_@ShamsCharania I don’t think you realize a buyout does NOT have to be discussed if one party (the Nuggets) aren’t willing to buyout a player. They absolutely can just say “no thanks” if Jonas asks to be bought out with pay. He’s under contract and must fulfill that contract.
@mitchf7 @enuj_95 @LakeShowYo More depth? Players who could contribute off the bench with more energy since they don’t have to be allocated starter minutes.