Character Analysis
Titus and his friends run into this dusty old fossil at The Rumble Spot, which is about the last place you'd expect to find someone in a tweed jacket and bow tie. We get the impression that this old guy is trying (and judging from the kids' reactions to him, failing) to present an image of retro hip to the other club-goers—but his real reason for being at the Rumble Spot is something way more sinister.
With no warning, this old guy touches a metal rod to Titus and his friends' heads, which allows him to take over their feeds, and they start broadcasting this guy's subversive message to the rest of the club. And it's some pretty weird stuff: "Blood on the tarmac. Fingers in the juicer. Towers of air frozen in the lunar wastes. Models dead on the runways, with their legs facing backward" (5.98).
Wait, what?
Turns out, this guy is part of a shadowy underground group called The Coalition of Pity. They see it as their job to wake people up about what's really going on in the world and how the feed is essentially ruining everything by pushing people to consume, consume, consume.
Fair enough; that actually seems like a valid criticism of what's going on in Titus' world. Unfortunately, like Violet, this old guy pays a price for his resistance: he gets beaten by the police right in the club and, as we find out later, dies. Just like Violet, come to think of it. It sounds like rebellion has serious consequences in the future.