Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt): (sarcastically) “Ah yes, we’re all the same. We’re all equal… Next he’ll be telling us we’re a community, we’re one people.”

Watched the movie “Killing Them Softly” last night. Definitely not a crowd-pleasing movie (I could tell the popcorn-going audience mostly hated it or were confused), but I thought it was a good one especially because the character politics throughout.

The closing lines of Brad Pitt’s character, hitman Jackie Cogan, about the business-like politics of American people’s morals are powerful and poignant.

[SPOILERS]

President Obama (on TV): “…to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one…

Driver: “You hear that line? Line’s for you.”

Jackie Cogan: “Don’t make me laugh. One people. It’s a myth created by Thomas Jefferson.”

Driver: “Oh, so now you’re going to have a go at Jefferson, huh?”

Jackie Cogan: “My friend, Thomas Jefferson is an American saint because he wrote the words “All men are created equal”, words he clearly didn’t believe since he allowed his own children to live in slavery.

He’s a rich white snob who’s sick of paying taxes to the Brits. So, yeah, he writes some lovely words and aroused the rabble and they went and died for those words while he sat back and drank his wine and fucked his slave girl.

This guy wants to tell me we’re living in a community? Don’t make me laugh. I’m living in America, and in America you’re on your own. America’s not a country. It’s just a business. 

Now fuckin’ pay me.”

(Source: youtube.com)