These are quotes I’ve collected from USA network TV show Mr. Robot, one of my favorite TV shows. Its about a computer security engineer who is recruited into a hacktivist group known as fsociety by a mysterious fellow referred to as Mr. Robot. It deals with issues of mental disorders, the gray area of computer hacking (whether ethical or not, or as a means to the greater good), the ever expanding world of multi billion dollar technology, drug use, altered reality, etc. I could go on all day. Photos courtesy of Mr. Robot on tumblr.
Mr. Robot : Is any of it real? I mean, look at this, look at it! A world built on fantasy! Synthetic emotions in the form of pills! Psychological warfare in the form of advertising! Mind altering chemicals in the form of food! Brainwashing seminars in the form of media! Controlled isolated bubbles in the form of social networks. Real? You want to talk about reality? We haven’t lived in anything remotely close to it since the turn of the century! We turned it off, took out the batteries, snacked on a bag of GMOs, while we tossed the remnants into the ever expanding dumpster of the human condition. We live in branded houses, trademarked by corporations, built on bipolar numbers, jumping up and down on digital displays, hipnotizing us into the biggest slumber mankind has ever seen. You’d have to dig pretty deep, kiddo, before you can find anything real. We live in a kingdom of bullshit, that even you have lived in for far too long. So don’t tell me about not being real: I’m no less real than the fucking beef patty in your big mac. As far as you concerned, Elliot, I am very real. We are all together now, whether you like it or not.
Elliot Anderson : Is it that we collectively thought Steve Jobs was a great man, even when we knew he made billions off the backs of children? Or maybe it’s that it feels like all our heroes are counterfeit. The world itself’s just one big hoax. Spamming each other with our running commentary of bull**** masquerading as insight, our social media faking as intimacy. Or is it that we voted for this? Not with our rigged elections, but with our things, our property, our money. I’m not saying anything new, we all know why we do this, not because Hunger Games books makes us happy but because we wanna be sedated. Because it’s painful not to pretend, because we’re cowards. F*** society.
Elliot Alderson : How do I take off a mask when it stops being a mask, when it’s as much a part of me as I am?
Elliot Anderson: This is the world we live in. People relying on each other’s mistakes to manipulate one another and use one another, even relate to one another. A warm, messy circle of humanity.
Elliot Alderson: What I’m about to tell you is top secret. A conspiracy bigger than all of us. There’s a powerful group of people out there that are secretly running the world. I’m talking about the guys no one knows about, the ones that are invisible. The top 1% of the top 1%, the guys that play God without permission.
Elliot Alderson: Is that what God does? He helps? Tell me, why didn’t God help my innocent friend who died for no reason while the guilty ran free? Okay. Fine. Forget the one offs. How about the countless wars declared in his name? Okay. Fine. Let’s skip the random, meaningless murder for a second, shall we? How about the racist, sexist, phobia soup we’ve all been drowning in because of him? And I’m not just talking about Jesus. I’m talking about all organized religion. Exclusive groups created to manage control. A dealer getting people hooked on the drug of hope. His followers, nothing but addicts who want their hit of bullshit to keep their dopamine of ignorance. Addicts. Afraid to believe the truth. That there’s no order. There’s no power. That all religions are just metastasizing mind worms, meant to divide us so it’s easier to rule us by the charlatans that wanna run us. All we are to them are paying fanboys of their poorly-written sci-fi franchise. If I don’t listen to my imaginary friend, why the fuck should I listen to yours? People think their worship’s some key to happiness. That’s just how he owns you. Even I’m not crazy enough to believe that distortion of reality. So fuck God. He’s not a good enough scapegoat for me.
Mr. Robot: The world is a dangerous place, Elliot, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.
Tyrell Wellick: Power belongs to the people that take it. Nothing to do with their hard work, strong ambitions, or rightful qualifications, no. The actual will to take is often the only thing that’s necessary.
Antara Nayar: A guy walks up to a woman at a bar. He flirts with her. He makes small talk, but the woman insists she isn’t gonna go home with him. Guy says, “What if I offer you a million dollars to sleep with me?” The woman’s never had a million dollars in her life. She stops and considers the offer very seriously. The guy changes his mind, says, “What if I change my offer to a dollar instead?” Woman is aghast. “What kind of woman do you think I am?” Guy says, “We already figured that out. Now we’re just negotiating.”
Phillip Price: In my life, as I was making my way, I always asked the question: “Am I the most powerful person in the room? And the answer needed to be “Yes”. To this day, I still ask that question, and the answer is still “Yes”. In every room in the entire world, the answer is “Yes”…with exception of one…or two. And that drives me. I intend to leave a legacy, the standard of which was set by God when he created the Earth and man after his own image. Anything less is not worth mentioning.
Romero : I’m too broke to be superstitious.
Elliot Alderson : I do see the beauty in the rules, the invisible code of chaos hiding behind the menacing face of order.
Darlene : Trust me, in this day and age, it’s sicker not having panic attacks. Since when did pretending everything’s okay suddenly become the almighty norm?
Mr. Robot : Think about it, Bill. If you died, would anyone care? Would they really care? Yeah, maybe they’d cry for a day, but let’s be honest. No one would give a s***. They wouldn’t. The few people that would feel obligated to go to your funeral would probably be annoyed and leave as early as possible. That’s who you are. That’s what you are. You’re nothing to anyone, to everyone. Think about it, Bill, ’cause if you do, if you let yourself… You’ll know I’m telling you the truth. So instead of wasting any more of my time, I need you to go call someone that matters, because Bill, you don’t.
Derrick Witness 