Character Analysis
This communications monopolist is something of a mystery at first: He's super rich, puts a lot of money into religious organizations, and is interesting to Juanita, which makes him interesting to Hiro. After some research, Hiro discovers that Rife is at the center of a global conspiracy: he's manufacturing Snow Crash (the physical drug) to control the bulk of the population, the unwashed masses. And he's also manufacturing Snow Crash (the computer virus in binary code) in an effort to control the information elite, the computer programmers.
The whole control-programmers-agenda is kind of freaky. Apparently Rife placed audio and video bugs in the homes of his employees, "and harassed and threatened some programmers who were making what he called 'unacceptable lifestyle choices'" (14.39), such as engaging in oral sex with their spouses. In Rife's mind, the vessel hosting the information must be pure in order to keep the information pure. Or something like that. The dude's a bit of a religious nut, in case you hadn't noticed.
His lifestyle sounds oh so grand: He carts around the Pacific on his personal yacht—a re-purposed aircraft carrier—picking up refugees and making them into his minions by instigating the Asherah virus in their brains, so that they all speak in tongues and can receive his orders. His research into archaeology gave him access to the Sumerian artifacts containing the instructions to program people, while his research into radio astronomy gave him the means to transmit the virus in binary code.
Rife is a man with a plan. According to Hiro, "'He wants to be Ozymandias, King of Kings'" (57.16). By packaging a virus within a virally popular religion, Rife figured out how to tap into human nature and turn it to his own advantage. This makes him a scary enemy.
When Y.T. meets him, he appears "big, with a body like a fifty-five-gallon drum, and a mustache that turns up at the corners" (60.21). He's also annoyingly smug, taking pleasure in telling Y.T.: "'Shit, honey, you look like a drowned rat that got dried out again'" (60.22). While this is a super obnoxious thing to say, it just makes it all for more fitting that Y.T.'s former dog, now a Rat Thing, blows up Rife's plane as retaliation for him hurting Y.T. Who looks like a drowned rat now?
One last thing: Do you know about L. Ron Hubbard? He's the science fiction author who started Scientology, a controversial religion that purports to combine science and spirituality to unlock mankind's health, happiness, and all that jazz. Insofar as L. Bob Rife's name is a shout-out to Hubbard's, and the two share an investment in science and technological advancement as a means to understanding the mind and influencing the spirit, we're going to end this section with a link to the Scientology website as a little food for thought for you to gnaw on.