I think 'they', figuratively speaking, take gold and mix it with feces. That's what happens with so many things in the world. Matrix has good ideas in it, but it is distorted in many ways.

They also make gold smell like feces and make manure smell like roses. Then they force people with good eyes and bad sense of smell fight people with bad eyes and good sense of smell. There may be some truths to what you fight against, but 'they' manipulate us into fighting each other using our anger and hatred.

As for the Matrix, the general idea may be truthful in some way, and it rings true to many people. BUT. The film gives the feeling of hopelessness. It says that people who are plugged in are enemies, and they cannot be unplugged without defeating the system. And the system is super-powerful and we are like ants compared to it. And apart from that it confuses people and distorts their thinking when people start feeling like being in some matrix-like system. The film pre-loads some picture which then distort thinking of people about their lives.