Clerks
written by Kevin Smith
Randall: You know what I just watched?....Return of the Jedi....There was something else going on in Jedi. I never noticed it until today....All right, Vader's boss....the Emperor. Now the Emperor is kind of a spiritual figure, yes?....He's like the Pope for the dark side of the Force. He's a holy man; a shaman, kind of, albeit an evil one....Now he's in charge of the Empire. The Imperial government is under his control. And the entire galaxy is under Imperial rule....Then wouldn't it logically mean that it's a theocracy? If the head of the Empire is a priest of some sort, then it stands to reason that the government is therefore one based on religion....Hence, the Empire was a fascist theocracy, and the Rebel forces were therefore battling religious persecution....The only problem is that at no point in the series did I ever hear Leia or any of the Rebels declare a particular religious belief....You know what else I noticed in Jedi?....They build another Death Star, right?....Now the first one they built was completed and fully operational before the Rebels destroyed it....And the second one was still being built when they blew it up. Compliments of Lando Calrissian. Something just never sat right with me the second time they destroyed it. I could never put my finger on it--something just wasn't right....the thing is, the first Death Star was manned by the Imperial army--stormtroopers, dignitaries--the only people on board were Imperials....So when they blew it up, no prob. Evil is punished....The second time around, it wasn't even finished yet. They were still under construction. A construction job of that magnitude would require a helluva lot more manpower than the Imperial army had to offer. I'll bet there were independent contractors working on that thing: plumbers, aluminum siders, roofers. Not just Imperials....In order to get it built quickly and quietly they'd hire anybody who could do the job. Do you think the average stormtrooper knows how to install a toilet main? All they know is killing and white uniforms....All those innocent contractors hired to do a job were killed--casualties of a war they had nothing to do with. All right, look--you're a roofer, and some juicy government contract comes your way; you got the wife and kids and the two-story in suburbia--this is a government contract, which means all sorts of benefits. All of a sudden these left-wing militants blast you with lasers and wipe out everything within a three-mile radius. You didn't ask for that. You have no personal politics. You're just trying to scrape out a living. That never sat right with me.
Kudos and much thanks go to Templeton for this monologue , it is very much appreciated. It has been edited slightly for the sake of the monologue.