Movieclips
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2017–2026
2:39 · 13M views · Oct 21, 2012
The courtroom scene from A Few Good Men in which Col. Jessep, played by Jack Nicholson, shouts 'You can't handle the truth' at Tom Cruise's character.
Used as a reference or joke about authority figures who think they are above the law, and occasionally about sympathy for the military.
4 comments from Hacker News
It's because Americans and many Europeans under the shield of the U.S. military and have never in their lives felt a moment of fear about external threats.[1] They never have to meaningfully confront the central fact of their existence: that they enjoy a vastly disproportionate share of the world's bounty in a way that would be impossible without overwhelming military power. I suspect people living in say Ukraine don't talk like this. [1] As I get older, I'm more sympathetic to Colonel Jessup: this video .
I can only imagine the people running these organizations share the perspective of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men this video They believe they are the law, not that they're subservient to it.
Thanks! For those who didn't get the joke, I want to point you to this moment of decision in A Few Good Men. (spoiler alert) - this video
To be clear this is a reference to this scene: this video edit: it's a scene where this exact conversation is playing out.