Quotes / Inherent in the System

"Man, don't you know? The law ain't made to help earthy cats like us. Here on our planet, back in the old days - back in the real old days - it was just every man for himself, scrooblin' and scrat-scroblin' for the good stuff, the greenest valleys. And the strongest, meanest men got the best stuff. They got the green valleys and were like 'The rest of you, y'all scrats get sand.' And that's when they made the laws, you see? Once the strong guys got it how they liked it, they said 'This is fair now, this is the law.' Once they were winning, they changed the rules up."

—Jake the Dog, Adventure Time, "Ocarina"

"A place like that doesn't change. Not from the inside, not from the out. You sign on there, it changes you. Puts things in your head, spins your compass needle around 'til you can't cross the street without tripping the proverbial old lady and stepping on her glasses."

—Spike, Angel ("Soul Purpose")

"Corruption? Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations. That's Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win."

—Danny Dalton, Syriana

"The first day I became mayor, they sit me down at the desk: big chair, dark wood, lots of beautiful things. I’m thinking, how much better can it get? There’s a knock at the door, in the corner of the room, and Pete comes walking in, carrying this gorgeous sieve, silver bowl, hand-chased—it was this big. It’s from the unions, he says. So I think it’s a present, something to commemorate my first day as mayor. He walks over, puts it on the desk; I look down at it. It’s disgusting. I say, 'What the hell is this?' he said, 'What the hell’s it look like?' I said, 'It looks like shit. What do you want me to do with it?' He says, 'Eat it.' Eat it? He says, 'Yeah, you’re the mayor. You gotta eat it.' So okay, it was my first day; Pete knows more than I do; So I go at it. And just when I finish, there’s a knock on the door, and in walks Pete carrying another silver bowl. And this one from the blacks. This too? And he nods. I start eating, and when I’m finished, there’s another knock and another bowl. This one’s from the Polacks. Then after that, one from the ministers. And you know what, Tommy? That’s what it is. You’re sitting eating shit all day long."

—Tony, The Wire ("Unto Others")

'"You are touched by darkness, Ambassador. I see it as a blemish that will grow with time. I could warn you, of course, but you would not listen. I could kill you, but someone would take your place. So I do the only thing I can: I go."

—Elric, Babylon 5 ("The Geometry of Shadows")

"Its just money; its made up. Pieces of paper with pictures on it so we don't have to kill each other just to get something to eat. It's not wrong. And it's certainly no different today than its ever been. 1637, 1797, 1819, 37, '57, '84, 1901, '07, '29, 1937, 1974, 1987—Jesus, didn't that fucker fuck me up good?—'92, '97, 2000 and whatever we want to call this. It's all just the same thing over and over; we can't help ourselves. And you and I can't control it, or stop it, or even slow it. Or even ever-so-slightly alter it. We just react, and we make a lot money if we get it right. And we get left by the side of the side of the road if we get it wrong. And there have always been and there always will be the same percentage of winners and losers, happy fucks and sad sacks, fat cats and starving dogs in this world. Yeah, there may be more of us today than there's ever been, but the percentages-they stay exactly the same."

—John Tuld, Margin Call after he triggers the Great Recession rather than let his company go under from the worthless stocks they'd taken on under his leadership.

"It’s true I don’t do it because of my code, because of what I stand for, but there’s another reason too… I truly believe that if I did it, that if I killed Joker, Gotham would just send me someone worse. Maybe even send him back, worse than before…"

—Batman, Death of the Family

"What’s interesting about "Past Tense" is that the story doesn’t feature a bad guy. As much as Sisko tries to keep things under control, he doesn’t find himself pitted against one figurehead. Sure, he has to keep B.C. from killing the hostages, and Vin from getting himself killed, and negotiate with the local police, but there’s a sense that Sisko is dealing with something a lot less tangible. The real enemy is the system around him. We even get a short little scene of how the police negotiator is ultimately powerless in the grand scheme of things; just a cog in a large machine...It’s telling that the actual riots accomplish very little. The riots are put down rather swiftly and brutally. Given how the SWAT team remarks that they are moving on to “pacify” the rest of the district, one gets a sense that this is a blood bath."

—Darren Mooney on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

"Like all fairytale heroes, she needs a villain to be the yin to her yang and make her feel complete."

— Maddie, explaining why Apple is upset about Raven's Heel–Face Turn

Ezri Dax: You're not going to like what I have to say.

Worf: Tell me.

Ezri: I think that the situation with Gowron is a symptom of a bigger problem. The Klingon Empire is dying; and I think it deserves to die.

Worf: (beat) You are right, I do not like it.

Ezri: Don’t get me wrong, I’m very touched that you still consider me to be a member of the House of Martok, but, I tend to look at the Empire with a little more skepticism than Curzon or Jadzia did. I see a society that is in deep denial about itself. We're talking about a warrior culture that prides itself on maintaining centuries-old traditions of honor and integrity. But in reality, it's willing to accept corruption at the highest levels.

Worf: You are overstating your case.

Ezri: Am I? Who was the last leader of the High Council that you respected? Has there even been one? And how many times have you had to cover up the crimes of Klingon leaders because you were told that it was for the good of the Empire? I... I know this sounds harsh, but the truth is, you have been willing to accept a government that you know is corrupt. Gowron is just the latest example. Worf, you are the most honorable and decent man that I've ever met. And if you're willing to tolerate men like Gowron, then what hope is there for the Empire?

— Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Tacking Into the Wind"

“Starve the center and you reap anarchy.

Feed the center and you reap tyranny.

The problem is obvious to every man.

A solution has been revealed to no man.”

— Uueg Tching, 54th Emperor of the Kitel Phard Dynasty on Atrisia, as quoted in Star Wars: The Essential Atlas.

"People used to think 'broken' meant a system that can only respond to a crisis. But that's not broken. Broken is a system that can't even respond to a crisis."

— Jim Hilger, Requiem for an Assassin

"It's a series of conspiracies, conflicting agendas and petty jealousies, all building upon, feeding upon, and excreting into an unending web of drek that people wade through every day and call it Life. If there was one Dark Lord controlling everything and we could drive a magic sword through his heart to free the world, that would be grand. Such clarity! Such focus! Alas.

So what's the lesson in all of this? That I did all of it for nothing?

Just the opposite, schmuck. The lesson is this - the game is rigged. The cards are stacked. The dice are loaded. It's the same as it always was. Every cycle. People in power exert power. Little people cower in their homes, think what they're told to think, and buy whatever product will help them forget how horrible their lives are for another day.

And that's why we don't *play* their fragging game. We don't swallow their drek sandwich and politely ask for another. It's why we run the shadows."

— Harlequin on the Sixth World, Shadowrun Returns

Cryptocurrency does nothing to address 99% of the problems with the banking industry because those problems are patterns of human behavior. They’re incentives, they’re social structures, they’re modalities. The problem is what people are doing to others, not that the building they’re doing it in has the word "Bank" on the outside.

— Dan Olson, Line Goes Up - The Problem With NFTs

The men "of always" aren't interested in the children "of never."

—Pablo Escobar, Narcos

Emil Norvell: I don't have that kind of power! I can't dictate policy like a tyrant! I answer to a board — shareholders — AND Dynamic is just one company, Superman! How many American firms have defense contracts? A thousand? More? With how many executives? Board members? Large stakeholders? And how many lobbyists haunt the Pentagon and Congress to make sure those contracts keep flowing? Congress allocates the money — that's 435 seats in the House and 100 in the Senate — and there's a defense contractor handing out jobs in every single house district. All of them. And that's just the U.S.! Other nations account for almost two-thirds of the world's military appropriations!
Earth-6 Superman: Is that so?
Emil Norvell: I can't imagine how many businesspeople, generals, government-types — even voters — you'd have to coerce — I mean, convince — worldwide.
Earth-6 Superman: Huh. That does sound like an awfully big job.
Emil Norvell: Huge!
Earth-6 Superman: Massive. Damn near impossible.
Emil Norvell: Yes!
Earth-6 Superman: Guess I better get busy, then.
Emil Norvell: Wait—what?!

— Tales from Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee, "Make War No More"

Oh rain, rain, rain, rain
A storm, it comes our way
And those who rise through distorted lies
Poisoning the veins
But we like to point the blame, blame, blame, blame
It's easier to blame
But point the mirror at ourselves
We're all part of this old money game

— Ren, Money Game Part 2

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