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The Japanese "alphabet" is recited like 'Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko, Ta Ti Tu Te To' and so on - but in Japanese there is no distinguished 'L' consonant (hence the whole "Engrish" thing).

So what this actually means is that The Patriots, as a secretive organization, are hiding in the very blind spots of language itself.

Emma touches on this idea when she mentions the human genome was sequenced, but a whole bunch of the information was surpressed - there's actually far more genetic markers than the public (or even the scientific community) knows about.

It's bringing the idea of censorship into focus within the context of the games discussion on memes and memetic engineering - language being the most important meme in human development. How can you pass on your ideas about something you can't even name? For the English-speaking characters, they can't warn anyone about The Patriots, discuss them, or expose them, because they can't even say the words "The Patriots" - their nanomachines scramble the words in their mouths and it comes out as this gibberish.

For the Japanese-speaking audience this goes even further, because the code-word exists outside their language. They cannot even correctly pronounce "La Li Lu Le Lo" nor write it with their alphabet. The Patriots are practicing a form of "memetic stealth"; they are an idea that has assumed a form that cannot be expressed, communicated, or reproduced.

As for why this is relevant, compare this to... lets say the current state of the Australian government, who have outlawed anything related to whistle-blowing. How can corruption be exposed when pointing to it is outside the boundaries of legal discourse? Government Corruption now occupies a memetic blindspot and can proceed unchecked.

So the "La Li Lu Le Lo" routine is another way that Metal Gear explores the supremacy of stealth; you are most able to achieve your goals when no-one even knows that you or your goals exist. How can you defend against something you can't even perceive?

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