Just as the Matrix offered a pleasant fiction to humans in exchange for their subordination to the machine world, American society offers such an "opiate to the masses", in a variety of forms through a variety of channels. When Morpheus presented Neo with a choice between the red pill, which would lift the veil of illusion provided by the Matrix, and the blue pill, which would enable Neo to maintain the comfort of his illusory life, Neo went with red. Like others before him, Neo chose reality, complete with its harshness and challenges. However, this choice enabled him to shed the smothering comfort of the soul-engulfing Matrix. "