Things we don't hate... — Page 4

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Originally posted by: TheSessler
Damn the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo and their Nano-viruses.

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The Patriots, also known as the La-li-lu-le-lo, is a fictional Illuminati-like organization that controls the United States of America in the Metal Gear video game series. The organization's first appearance in the series was Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (altough is mentioned in Metal Gear Solid as "them" by Colonel Campbell) and their origin was further expounded upon in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Largely through the actions of their secret agent, Revolver Ocelot, the manipulative Patriots are ultimately responsible for almost all of the trials, difficulties, and terrorism faced by the main protagonists of the Metal Gear Solid series (Snake, Raiden, and Big Boss), which arguably makes the Patriots the main antagonists of the series.


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The Patriots are presided over by a council of twelve individuals that is known as the "Wisemen's Committee". It is unknown if there is any more depth to their organization than this in terms of heirarchy; however, the Patriots have numerous spies and agents spread throughout the government agencies of the USA. The President of the United States himself is subordinate to them; available information suggests that one must be an agent of the Patriots in order to become President. The fictional Commandant of the Marine Corps, Scott Dolph, knew of their existence, having referred to them as the "La-li-lu-le-lo". A man named "Richard Ames", who was identified as a Secret Service agent, a member of the DIA, and given the rank of "Colonel" at one point, was an agent of the Patriots before his death. Revolver Ocelot is another Patriot spy.

In Metal Gear Solid 3 it is revealed that the Patriots are an off-shoot of a larger international group known as [[the Philosophers]]. The Philosophers consisted of the leaders of the US, USSR, and China; during World War 2 they agreed to pool together their respective countries' financial and military resources in order to defeat the Axis Powers. However, the father of Colonel Volgin, the villian of Metal Gear Solid 3, was in charge of the money laundering activities of the group, and during the war stole the money they had amassed. In 1964, the events of Metal Gear Solid 3 explain how the U.S. branch of the Philosophers retrieves the money from Volgin. Upon finally acquiring all the money from the various banks throughout the world in 1970, the U.S. branch of the Philosophers split from the international group and became the Patriots. While Metal Gear Solid 3 did explain whom the names on the disc that Otacon and Solid Snake had at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2, it still left the identity or identities of the Patriots at the time of Metal Gear Solid 2 as a mystery. However, Metal Gear Solid 3 established that Ocelot was a Patriot spy during that game, and that he was reporting to the Director of Central Intelligence of the United States.

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What are the Patriots
There have also been numerous theories about their origin, since the only piece of information available is at the ending of the game itself when they converse with the main character through his CODEC radio. The Patriots insinuate that they are not quite... human. They appear to have all the characteristics of a disembodied computer A.I., but claim to have existed for 200 years as a consciousness developed in the "primordial soup" of the White House. Near the end of Metal Gear Solid 2, they appear as a skull-like visage that briefly flashes on and off in the middle of a codec conversation. One of the strongest theories, backed up by the declaration of the themes for each game by Hideo Kojima during the E³ 2004, is that they are beings born out of information and Memes.

Of course, there is no real reason to believe anything the Patriots actually say, since they consistently deceive everyone they deal with, including their own agents like Revolver Ocelot. It's entirely possible the story of their origins is simply a myth created to mislead the main characters, and dissuade them from pursuing the idea that the Patriots are flesh and blood men who can be found and killed.

Regardless of their true nature, the Patriots have a strong interest in controlling the development of human civilization, through controlling the information humans accept as fact (in essense, telling them what version of history to believe). Their purpose to create Arsenal Gear is to test the S3 (Selection for Societal Sanity), a system to control and select memes that are supposed to be 'good' for the human race, since natural selection cannot happen in the current information flow where every piece is kept.

Colonel: But in the current, digitized world,
trivial information is accumulating every second, preserved in all its triteness. Never fading, always accessible.
Rose: Rumors about petty issues, misinterpretations, slander...
Colonel: All this junk data preserved in an unfiltered state, growing at an alarming rate.
Rose: It will only slow down social progress, reduce the rate of evolution.
Q]