How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph) or (Feed Chatter #.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Then came all these pictures, and I was seeing all over the world, and there were explanations, but I was still asleep, and I couldn't figure them out. I saw khakis that were really cheap, only $150, but I didn't like the stitching, and then I saw them torn and there was blood on them. It was a riot on a street, and people were screaming in some other language, they were in khakis or jeans and T-shirts, and they were throwing stones and bottles, and the police were moving forward on horses, and a man in the crowd waved a gun, and then the firing started. They were in front of factories, and clouds of gas drifted through them and the American flags they were burning started to spark big, and the gas got darker and darker, and the people sped up, like a joke, grabbing at their necks and waving and sitting and slapping the ground. They fell down. I saw a sign with a picture of a head with a little devil sitting in the brain, inside the skull, with these like energy bolts coming out of his mouth. (30.3)
This is one of the few places where we see that not everyone is so gung-ho about the feed and the web of corporate influence and power. Titus doesn't quite get the connection here, though: he doesn't seem to realize that his purchasing power is in a way responsible for this riot. No way this could happen? One word: Foxconn.
Quote #8
"It's Riot Gear. It's retro. It's beat up to look like one of the big twentieth-century riots. It's been big since earlier this week." (31.6)
This is Loga, talking about the newest craze to sweep the high school set. The high school cool kids, that is. These kids are either completely oblivious to what's taking place around the world, or (like Titus) they just don't get it. Plus, we get the impression that the corporations are doing their darndest to commercialize these riots by producing and marketing these hip new clothing lines. Notice, though, how the look is "retro," which means it's from the past. By calling it "retro," the corporations are downplaying the fact there are riots taking place right now. Clever, clever.
Quote #9
It felt good. Really good, just to scream finally. I felt like I was singing a hit single. But in Hell. (40.30)
This fit or spasm or whatever is one of the prices that Violet pays for her resistance to the feed—but it's not all bad. In fact, something feels kind of good about it. But notice how, even when she's resisting, she still explains it in terms of consumerism and marketing.