Fuck That Meme: No More Norris.

[logansrogue]

This is apropos of nothing in my tumblr, but something that occurred to me while reading a timeline of violent rhetoric that had bugged me for years.

Everyone and their dog or cat has had fun with the Chuck Norris meme.  But it always bothered me, because Chuck Norris really is a total asshole.  So you know what?  Fuck that shit.  Chuck Norris is not my comically tough martial arts warrior of choice.  You know who has been, since I was a kid?

Bruce. Fucking. Lee.

He was kick-ass. He was awesome. He’s responsible for some of the best martial arts movies in history, he could easily kick Chuck Norris’ white arse and you know what else?

He fought for the recognition of Asian actors in cinema, and displayed a startlingly insightful intelligence behind the mastery of martial arts.  His ideas are so versatile, they can be applied to anything.  Shit, I apply his “Be Water” philosophy to my style as an artist, successfully.  From kick-arse to creation, baby.

So if I’m going to make reference to an awesome 70s martial artist, it’s going to be Bruce Lee.  Not because he broke bones or intimidated the opposition, but because he tried to change the world while he was here, and he was active in sharing his ideas about that with the world.  He was an amazing person.

I prefer the shit out of him to Chuck “Butthead” Norris, at any rate.

Comments

[daemonnoire.livejournal.com]

The Chuck Norris meme started off as the Vin Diesel meme anyways. So not only is it a meme about a total asshole, it's a co-opted meme about a total asshole.

[meleth.livejournal.com]

Vin Diesel, btw, got so much hotter once I discovered that he's actually a huge geek.

[boomstick.livejournal.com]

What's funny is Bruce Lee is basically responsible for Chuck Norris being so famous, since he gave Chuck his first huge movie role in Way of the Dragon.

But I agree, Chuck Norris is a douche. I never liked that stupid meme.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Amen. Let the Repubs idolize Norris.

[zzzzsleep.livejournal.com]

You've probably seen this before, but I thought I'd share it anyway....

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Aww! Thanks for that! I love my Ten boo, he so cute! *chortle*

[hippiegal22.livejournal.com]

Chuck Norris has always been overrated.

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Funny, I thought the point of the meme was that Chuck Norris is, in fact, blatantly not nearly that tough/awesome/etc. He needs all the help he can get, right?

Bruce Lee, OTOH, is just so clearly awesome he doesn't need any help at all.

One has a whole lotta noise promoting how awesome he is, one just gets on with the job of being awesome without needing the talking up.

[mawaridi.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about Chuck Norris except that meme, and I saw an episode of Walker Texas Ranger once, which was hilarious (in an unintentional way). But your reasoning seems sound to me :D

[come-love-sleep.livejournal.com]

My favorite version of that meme has Toph Bei Fong in it.

(Vin Diesel was always cooler than Chuck, anyway. And Bruce Lee is one of the coolest of them all.)

[originalnilson.livejournal.com]

Not only is Bruce Lee tougher, and more intelligent, but he is really really hot.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that, but I was paranoid of exoticising him. And, you know, he's not hot because he's asian, or anything like that. He's hot because he's a damned fine looking man. *fans self* My childhood crush on Bruce Lee has never waned!

[shantari.livejournal.com]

I kinda always thought that the point of that meme was that it was ironic, in that there's no way that guy was awsome at all even, but then the usage got spread to being about people you genuinely found admirable. I was wrong?

[shadzane.livejournal.com]

Agreed. The Chuck Norris meme is so ironic, it hurts. It would never have worked with Bruce Lee, partially because Lee is genuinely admirable, and partially because Lee is dead...

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

The unfortunate thing about Ironic Hipster Humour is that there is often positive splashback to the person the humour is about. Rick Astley, for example, had renewed interest in his career, and even managed to sing at the Macy's Christmas Parade, twenty years after his notorious hit, "Never Gonna Give You Up". Likewise, I'm sure Chuck Norris has benefitted from the attention brought to him by the meme. The problem with this humour is that in the end, it doesn't matter what you intended. In the case of Chuck Norris, his legend is cemented.

[mysanal.livejournal.com]

A-fucking-men.