thank you for smoking

• christopher buckley'in aynı isimdeki romanından uyarlanmış bir filmdir.
  
  filmin başlarında, nick naylor ile ev ödevini yapmakta olan oğlu arasında şu ilginç diyalog geçer:
  
  --- alıntı ---
  
  joey: dad, why is the american government is the best government.
  
  nick: because of our endless appeal system. [pause] joe, you are not writing down what i just said are you?
  
  joey: mm -hmm
  
  nick: joey, stop for a second. what is the subject of your essay?
  
  joey: why is the american government the best government in the world?
  
  nick: your teacher crafted that question?
  
  joey: yeah. why?
  
  nick: well... i will look past the obvious problems of syntax for a moment. i will focus more on the core of the question. i mean, (a) does america have the best government in the world? and (b), what constitutes the "best government"? is it crimes, is it poverty, literacy? hmm? and america ıs definitely not the best, perhaps not even better than most. we do have an entertaining government, i mean...
  
  joey: daaad...
  
  nick: i am sorry... are you familiar with the term "b.s."
  
  joey: bullshit?
  
  nick: yes, exactly. b.s. if i may, is what questions like the one your teacher posed are made for. because, even if america had the best government, there would be no way to prove it. now how many pages are you writing?
  
  joey: two pages.
  
  nick: two pages... definitely not in two pages.
  
  joey: so, what am i suppose to write?
  
  nick: you can write whatever you want.
  
  joey: okay.
  
  nick: write about..., write about america's amazing ability to make profit by breaking down trading tariffs and bringing american jobs to third world countries. or, how good we are to execute felons. they are correct answers.
  
  joey: i can do that?
  
  nick: see, joey, that is the beauty of argument. 'cause if you argue correctly, you're never wrong.
  
  joey: dad, if i finish this essay within an hour, can we stay up all night?
  
  nick: that's a negotiation, not an argument.
  
  --- alıntı sonu ---
  
  bu diyaloğu ilginç kılan, ilkokul öğretmeninin sorduğu sorudaki (zaten açık olan) anlamsızlıklar değil, nick naylor gibi bir karakterin konuya yaklaşım şeklidir. filmin ilk 15 dakikası izlenerek nick naylor hakkında gerekli bağlam edinilebilirse, yukarıdaki diyalog ile seyirciye anlatılmak istenenler çok daha kolay bir şekilde anlaşılabilir.
  
  (bkz: mantık hataları/@derinsular)