For the majority of people, being human comes with the common, healthy desire for self-improvement. However, for many young men today, this desire has morphed into a dangerous obsession with their own appearance—falling under a rising philosophy that claims success in life is determined purely by one’s physical appeal.

This philosophy goes by the name of “blackpill,” a deterministic ideology that has gained popularity in mainstream media in recent years.

The term “blackpill” derives from the 1999 film The Matrix. It introduces the concept of the “red pill,” where people are granted the ability to see the challenging realities of the “real” world. Modern online communities adopted this concept to create the term “blackpill,” which refers to the idea of “waking up” to the reality that physical attractiveness—determined almost entirely by genetics—is the single most important factor that dictates a man’s social, romantic, and financial success in life.

Yet despite this belief that genetics is such a dominating factor, many people in the blackpill community still engage in practices known as “looksmaxxing,” a process where people attempt to maximize their physical appeal. While looksmaxxing may start off with healthy grooming and hygiene practices, it can often mutate into an unhealthy fixation, leading to dangerous, unhealthy, and obsessive behaviors.

Struggling with the crushing weight of this philosophy and the constant pressure to fix their own flaws is the unfortunate fate of the many young men who have fallen into the blackpill trap. Shoving such superficial views on a young generation exacerbates unnecessary personal insecurities.

Profiting from Insecurity

Like the case for many hateful groups, the blackpill community has turned certain corners of the internet into cesspools, with social media allowing several blackpilled individuals to become creators on the internet.

These blackpill influencers specifically target audiences of primarily young men and teenagers, many of which aspire to maximize their physical appearance.

These blackpill creators take advantage of this, focusing the majority of their content on promoting specific actions to maximize physical appeal. However, rather than advocating for healthy and natural habits, they deceive their audience by promoting obsessive, dangerous behaviors—even going so far as promoting misuse of life-threatening, illegal substances—all while advertising it as a necessity. To the young and inexperienced, many may not be aware of the devastating consequences that may come from the use of these substances, with these influencers never mentioning side effects.

Essentially, these blackpill influencers exploit the insecurities of vulnerable young men by advertising this nihilistic mindset. They publicly aggrandize this vision of a “perfect man”, forcing others into this hunt for an impossible standard of physical perfection.

But as the pursuit for flawlessness feels increasingly and increasingly unattainable over time, all that is left in the audience is a vicious cycle of increasing insecurity—all while the creator profits from the revenue of increased viewership.

The Cost of Comparison

The consequences of blackpill are becoming increasingly evident throughout online spaces. On TikTok, there are thousands of edits that begin with a video or image of someone that the creator deems unattractive, before switching to a montage of conventionally attractive influencers or models. This incites extreme ridicule and mockery, even going so far as people creating dehumanizing ranking systems based on measurements of facial structures.

The modern blackpill philosophy is an excuse to prey on the insecurities of vulnerable males and slowly erode the essential emotion of empathy—all under the guise of “self improvement.” It not only teaches young men a superficial view of the world, it also manipulates an entire generation to see individuals as measurements rather than people. If this philosophy spreads and reaches more young men of this generation, society will end up trading its complicated, genuine humanity for a cold, heartless vision of perfection.

So if you have already taken the blackpill, spit it out. Know that it is as poisonous as the products and practices it promotes—and the influencers you idolize only capitalize on the insecurities that keep you coming back.