"You're Here Because You Know Something"
(Source: Unsplash / Aiden Frazier and Markus Spiske, with edits.)
There’s an iconic scene in The Matrix in which Neo, a hacker, is given a choice: Take the blue pill and return to life as he’s always known it—a life that may ultimately be an illusion, but one that is at least familiar, predictable. Or take the red pill and learn the world-shattering truth about The Matrix.
Strong Towns is a red-pill organization. Through our content, advocacy, and community building, we try to expose the fallacies of the Growth Ponzi Scheme. The Growth Ponzi Scheme is ubiquitous in North America; like the Matrix in the movie, it is the air our cities breathe. The problem is that the Growth Ponzi Scheme is also enslaving our cities; instead of growth serving us, we end up serving growth. The Growth Ponzi Scheme is also bankrupting our cities. And it is standing in the way of the real work that must be done, the work of building stronger, more resilient, and more truly prosperous places.
“Thank you for all the work that you do. I am 23 and I graduated during the pandemic, and because of your book & podcast I found appreciation for the small town that I grew up in resenting. Not only did you help me find appreciation in a time of sacrifice, you also helped me find courage to make my hometown my home again instead of moving to a city in some other land like just about every other person who graduated with me.”
My favorite part of that scene isn’t when Morpheus offers Neo the two pills. It’s just before that when Morpheus says to Neo: “You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind—driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?”
Neo came to Morpheus because he was looking for answers. Similarly, many people find Strong Towns because they’re ready for answers. Maybe they have sensed something that is wrong with their cities. For example, why are my taxes going up while services are going down? Why can’t my town pay to maintain or repair its roads and pipes? Why does one part of town feel more amenable to humans—safer, more walkable and bikeable, more vibrant—while everywhere else feels hostile to humans? They find Strong Towns because we have answers.
“Getting introduced to Strong Towns was being let in on a grand secret that has been everywhere hidden just below the surface, but easily uncovered by anyone willing to dig a bit and ask a few obvious questions.”
Others found the answers on their own but came to Strong Towns because it is a hub for like-minded advocates. In this extended metaphor, Strong Towns is Morpheus. People like you are Neo. You’re the hero, and our mission is to help you succeed in building stronger, more resilient cities where you live.
At the same time, we want to make sure as many people as possible get to make the choice: Red pill or blue pill? Will you help us grow this movement by becoming a member today?
“I am so happy that you guys are doing this work. I live in a community that stands to benefit from a lot of these ideas and I can’t thank you enough for putting vocabulary to the solutions, and working to make better public spaces the norm, rather than the exception.”