'The Big Lebowski' is a great movie, claims Ajit Pai, who wants to make it harder to stream

As he zeroes in on the day on which he can finally smother net neutrality with a pillow, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai took to Twitter on Tuesday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Big Lebowski, a movie that's going to be harder, and more expensive to stream when net neutrality goes away.

Tuesday's homage from Pai also included a link on the film to your aunt's favorite weekly newsletter, Parade Magazine.

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As The A.V. Club notes, Pai has tweeted references to Lebowski on a number of occasions, the references sometimes more forced than others.

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Pai has been the driving force behind the effort kill net neutrality, something the FCC accomplished in December via a partisan 3-2 vote. The beginning of the end for net neutrality is currently scheduled for the not-too-distant future of April 23, 2018.

The repeal of net neutrality could pave the way for tiered internet speed access, meaning consumers and companies would be charged more for faster internet. And, to put it in terms maybe Pai would understand, paying more money is something that the Dude just wouldn't abide, man.

Besides paying more for access to internet that's fast enough to, you know, actually stream movies, consumers could also face higher subscription rates from services such as Netflix or Hulu that stream films like The Big Lebowski in order to offset higher costs.

Which is all well and good for Pai, who seems like the kind of guy who would boast about his "bitchin' man cave" (that NRA gun award would have really tied the room together) where he can rest in an old easy chair and watch his 19-year-old VHS copy of The Big Lebowski because VHS tapes "just give the film that nostalgic quality, ya know?"

But for the rest of us, we can only sit back and commiserate that the FCC is just like a bear and, as a wiser fella once said, "Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, he eats you."