At the bottom of the abyss, in lies…

When humanity rejected truth as the highest value, the era we now call the “post-truth era” began. A time when the idea of God, embodying truth, ceased to be necessary, and lies, however ugly their essence, were elevated to the status of an absolute.

Whether humanity’s fall into the abyss of cynicism accelerated from that moment is hard to say. As we have observed before, there was never any parity of relationships between the state and citizens. But we must give credit that the forms of governance were different back then, not envisaging the equality of opportunities that today are declared as one of the fundamental principles of the state structure.

That is, we cannot say that there was more cynicism and lies before, as rulers of feudal and slave-owning states deceived their subjects. On the contrary, they were honest in their desires, aspirations, and declared goals.

But now, when we hear everywhere that the state stands in defense of the rights, freedoms, and interests of its citizens, when in the Constitution of each such country equality before the law and equality of opportunities are written, yet in reality none of this happens. We can boldly say that those people who de facto are the state are cynically deceiving us. And with every new twist in history, this lie takes on more sophisticated forms.

People, supposedly full-fledged citizens of the country — those who once were considered subjects of history, have now become the main resource of the system, like sheep in an endless shepherd’s flock.

The cynicism of the new era has reached its peak in politics, economics, and society. Today, all those who hold power no longer even hide their true goals, camouflaging their greed. And each new generation of statesmen more openly views the people as the primary source of income, capable of replacing hydrocarbons, gold, and other resources with taxes squeezed from the human mass, like juice from a lemon.

This is no longer hidden slave exploitation, but open and shameless robbery. The person of the new age is no longer a bearer of rights and freedoms, nor a bearer of ideas, nor a creator of cultural and technological breakthroughs, but merely a slave of the system, necessary for generating profit. Their life is measured in numbers on accounting sheets, their labor and time — in resource tables of those who manage the system.

The absurd scene from the iconic film "The Matrix," where people are used like batteries to power the system, no longer scares, and increasingly resembles the scenario of the future that inevitably awaits us.

Each of us becomes a part of a huge machine, where personality dissolves, giving way to a faceless functional unit. And this system works only to maintain its own comfortable existence, while ordinary people are left with less and less space for a real life, for dreams, and for freedom.

So, what should we do?

How do we stop this fall into the “Matrix”?

First of all, we must reject the handouts by which politicians buy votes. The principle "better a coin in the pocket today than the fight for a bright future tomorrow" has become a trap in which most citizens live. They must understand that short-term benefits condemn us to long-term suffering.

Corruption, which permeates many levels of society, can neither be forgiven, nor justified, nor encouraged. It is a cancerous tumor, and it doesn't care that the organism it kills will die along with it.

Corruption corrupts and destroys not only the management system but also people's faith in justice, honesty, and the possibility of change. Therefore, the fight against it must become an integral part of every citizen. This is not a matter of convenience; it is a matter of human survival.

People must reject apathy and believe that the fight for the future is not a utopia, but the only possible way for their species' survival.

We need to raise a generation that will not be afraid to speak the truth and fight for it, even if it is difficult. Only in this way can we stop humanity from becoming a resource for the system, preserve the dream, and build a world where a person is valued not as a battery but as an individual.