"Gnostic" as in hidden knowledge -- "You're really in the Matrix!" Surely that's what "red pill" is about(?); that's the film reference. Though asterices could

"Gnostic" as in hidden knowledge -- "You're really in the Matrix!" Surely that's what "red pill" is about(?); that's the film reference. Though asterices could perhaps be a dog whistle too: "Only my desired recipients understand." A dog whistle of taboo gnosis. (When you go to an art gallery you hear lots of dog whistles: The text describing each piece is full of strange word-patterns. Often the repetition or gratuitous insertion of an unexpected word, e.g. "bodies", often as a double- or triple- entendre. The cant(ations) are easy to notice, once you dwell on the strangeness and ask yourself: "Why are they talking like that?") I suppose gnosis tends to live outside the Overton Window, thus would go hand-in-hand with dog-whistles. Related, the groups with this "knowledge" tend to have developed their own (incompatible) moralities -- and indeed, induction to such a group involves violation of the conventional morality (think killing a random person to enter a gang). "You can't leave us now; among the Others you'll feel guilt." So these three go together: Gnosis, dog-whistles, and "righteous sin". I suppose the last one develops last.