[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Matt Van Swol [@matt_vanswol](/creator/twitter/matt_vanswol) on x 279.3K followers Created: 2025-07-25 15:35:30 UTC I’ve wanted to write this story for awhile, but every time I try, I end up deleting it. So if you’re reading this, I finally did it… I think my red-pill journey is likely very different from most, but starts very similarly. It starts with apathy and empathy. A surprisingly dangerous combination. In my late teens/early 20s, I barely paid attention to the news. I read the headlines and that was enough for me to glean “the news”. As I navigated getting my first corporate job, the dating scene, social media… I think somewhere along the way incentives just slowly aligned for a more liberal worldview. At work, talk about politics was taboo… except for when people dunked on Trump. Then it was just considered great humor. You want to fit in, you’re young, you haven’t done the research, you’re busy… you join in. The same is true is dating. The same is true in social media. You watch as people are ostracized for saying anything pro-Trump, ever. You see headlines day after day of Trump being a Russian spy, random clips of what seem like crazy statements, university professors and “expert” just dunking on Trump and Republicans all day. You read things like the “Muslim Ban” and heartbreaking stories of refugees and kids in cages… you read these stories and your empathy for those who are hurting, is sky high. …and then you read these stories every single day That’s the news. That’s your co-workers. That’s your dating life. That’s the TV at the gym. That’s the push notification on your phone. It’s everywhere. It was my choice not to do the research to find out the truth… but at the same time, I thought that if the same story was being repeated by EVERYONE, there was no chance it could be false, right? That there was no possibility that there was a gigantic political bent to stories because then they would be called out by “true journalists” for the bias… …so you just believe them, because everyone, seemingly everywhere is telling you all the same stories Until one day. One day… the story you hear from the news is one you know better than anyone else on the planet. Because you are living it. And you watch the news, you get the push notifications and you walk out your front door… and it’s just not true. Hurricane Helene was that watershed moment for me. The moment where the news, the experts, the Democrats, the media, the politicians, the activists… and my reality in Western North Carolina were polar opposites. I watched as the media moved on from Helene as the election grew closer. I watched as FEMA failed to deliver aid fast enough. I watched as the Biden administration handed HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars to Ukraine while I was on the phone with victims begging to not get kicked out of their FEMA hotel rooms into the snow. I got the text messages of people panicking being declined from FEMA. I drove the RVs to kids and their mom’s LIVING IN SHEDS WITH PROPANE HEATERS. I lived through it. I did the work the government promised it would do… and failed. I did the reporting the MEDIA I TRUSTED said it would do… and never did. Then, and only then, did I realize that the matrix I was in… was truly a house of cards. The “experts” weren’t the experts. The journalists weren’t unbiased. The government didn’t care about us more than their arbitrary rules. The help that was promised to come for so many… just never came. It took one little push on the walls of that house of cards… that I had been too scared to do for so long for everything to come crashing down. Some never push. It’s safe in that house. It’s great to never be called a bigot, a fascist, a liar. It’s great to never have your job threatened or opportunities taken away from you. It’s great to not be swatted, sent death threats, or lose friends. The house is safe. But it’s also a lie. And I get why many, many people never want to push on the walls of that house to find out if it’s real. The cost is so, so high. But there comes a point where the cost of denying the truth becomes greater than the safety of living in the house. Because if the house is made of cards… then it really never was all that safe. One little breath of truth could make it come tumbling down anyways. So you leave… and yes for me, all the terrible things I mentioned above did happen. They still do. But my life and my family’s life, is so much better for it. The truth will set you free. I don’t know if anyone reading this would actually change their mind… but I hope it does. XXXXXXX engagements  [Post Link](https://x.com/matt_vanswol/status/1948769082108449012)
[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]
Matt Van Swol @matt_vanswol on x 279.3K followers
Created: 2025-07-25 15:35:30 UTC
I’ve wanted to write this story for awhile, but every time I try, I end up deleting it.
So if you’re reading this, I finally did it…
I think my red-pill journey is likely very different from most, but starts very similarly.
It starts with apathy and empathy.
A surprisingly dangerous combination.
In my late teens/early 20s, I barely paid attention to the news. I read the headlines and that was enough for me to glean “the news”.
As I navigated getting my first corporate job, the dating scene, social media… I think somewhere along the way incentives just slowly aligned for a more liberal worldview.
At work, talk about politics was taboo… except for when people dunked on Trump. Then it was just considered great humor. You want to fit in, you’re young, you haven’t done the research, you’re busy… you join in.
The same is true is dating. The same is true in social media.
You watch as people are ostracized for saying anything pro-Trump, ever. You see headlines day after day of Trump being a Russian spy, random clips of what seem like crazy statements, university professors and “expert” just dunking on Trump and Republicans all day.
You read things like the “Muslim Ban” and heartbreaking stories of refugees and kids in cages… you read these stories and your empathy for those who are hurting, is sky high.
…and then you read these stories every single day
That’s the news. That’s your co-workers. That’s your dating life. That’s the TV at the gym. That’s the push notification on your phone.
It’s everywhere.
It was my choice not to do the research to find out the truth… but at the same time, I thought that if the same story was being repeated by EVERYONE, there was no chance it could be false, right?
That there was no possibility that there was a gigantic political bent to stories because then they would be called out by “true journalists” for the bias…
…so you just believe them, because everyone, seemingly everywhere is telling you all the same stories
Until one day.
One day… the story you hear from the news is one you know better than anyone else on the planet.
Because you are living it.
And you watch the news, you get the push notifications and you walk out your front door… and it’s just not true.
Hurricane Helene was that watershed moment for me.
The moment where the news, the experts, the Democrats, the media, the politicians, the activists… and my reality in Western North Carolina were polar opposites.
I watched as the media moved on from Helene as the election grew closer.
I watched as FEMA failed to deliver aid fast enough.
I watched as the Biden administration handed HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars to Ukraine while I was on the phone with victims begging to not get kicked out of their FEMA hotel rooms into the snow.
I got the text messages of people panicking being declined from FEMA.
I drove the RVs to kids and their mom’s LIVING IN SHEDS WITH PROPANE HEATERS.
I lived through it.
I did the work the government promised it would do… and failed.
I did the reporting the MEDIA I TRUSTED said it would do… and never did.
Then, and only then, did I realize that the matrix I was in… was truly a house of cards.
The “experts” weren’t the experts. The journalists weren’t unbiased.
The government didn’t care about us more than their arbitrary rules.
The help that was promised to come for so many… just never came.
It took one little push on the walls of that house of cards… that I had been too scared to do for so long for everything to come crashing down.
Some never push.
It’s safe in that house. It’s great to never be called a bigot, a fascist, a liar.
It’s great to never have your job threatened or opportunities taken away from you.
It’s great to not be swatted, sent death threats, or lose friends.
The house is safe.
But it’s also a lie.
And I get why many, many people never want to push on the walls of that house to find out if it’s real. The cost is so, so high.
But there comes a point where the cost of denying the truth becomes greater than the safety of living in the house.
Because if the house is made of cards… then it really never was all that safe.
One little breath of truth could make it come tumbling down anyways.
So you leave… and yes for me, all the terrible things I mentioned above did happen.
They still do.
But my life and my family’s life, is so much better for it.
The truth will set you free.
I don’t know if anyone reading this would actually change their mind… but I hope it does.
XXXXXXX engagements
