[HN Gopher] Chuck Norris has died
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Chuck Norris has died
        
       Author : mp3il
       Score  : 669 points
       Date   : 2026-03-20 14:09 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (variety.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (variety.com)
        
       | philipallstar wrote:
       | An absolute class act of a human. Life well lived.
        
         | bovermyer wrote:
         | He had some pretty awful views that he was pretty loud about,
         | especially later in life. He also cheated on his wife at one
         | point.
         | 
         | However, so as not to speak (purely) ill of the dead, I will
         | say that he was an accomplished martial artist with a prolific
         | film career.
        
           | sys32768 wrote:
           | To be fair, you probably have some views some people think
           | are pretty awful.
        
             | bbkane wrote:
             | Me 5 years ago did. I agree with all my views today. Who
             | knows about me 5 years from now
        
             | praptak wrote:
             | I don't see how this matters. Whoever thinks I'm horrible
             | is 100% allowed to say this after I'm dead.
        
               | claytongulick wrote:
               | Or, another option is that we could all give grace to
               | others, even (especially) if they disagree with us.
        
               | ericwood wrote:
               | There's disagreement then there's being an outspoken
               | supporter of systematically trying to strip rights away
               | from others because of your religious beliefs. It's much
               | deeper than having differing views on fiscal policy.
        
               | ahhhhnoooo wrote:
               | Disagree? I think it's safe to say that someone who
               | campaigned to ban same sex marriage is more than just
               | disagreeing. He's trying to ruin millions of lives.
               | 
               | He was an Obama birther conspiracist.
               | 
               | He thought gays shouldn't be allowed to join Boy Scouts.
               | 
               | He was a big supporter of Netanyahu.
               | 
               | This aren't things that are even remotely in the same
               | ballpark as disagreement. If someone is using their
               | celebrity status to cause harm to millions or tens of
               | millions, I think we can say a few unkind words about
               | them when they go.
        
               | miltonlost wrote:
               | Don't give grace to racists who spout birther conspiracy
               | theories. Don't give grace to homophobes.
        
               | ericjmorey wrote:
               | Who are you granting grace to? Who are you denying it to?
               | 
               | We know the answers to these questions for Norris.
        
               | kelnos wrote:
               | I'm fine with people disagreeing with me. I'm not fine
               | when that disagreement results in campaigning for legally
               | restricting the rights of others. There's a huge
               | difference.
               | 
               | If every racist, homophobe, and transphobe (and others)
               | would stop trying to enshrine their views into law, I'd
               | have much less of a problem with them. I wouldn't want to
               | hang out with them, but I could safely ignore and not
               | care one bit about their views.
        
             | bovermyer wrote:
             | Oh, for sure. MAGA types think some of my views are
             | absolutely abhorrent. I'm pretty sure there are a few
             | cultures that would kill me for my views.
             | 
             | Just because they hate me, though, doesn't mean I can't
             | disagree with their position.
        
             | LightBug1 wrote:
             | There's a solid difference between 'awful' and just plain
             | 'dumb'.
        
             | kelnos wrote:
             | This is a tough thing. I do believe in moral relativism to
             | a large extent, but I also think there are some things that
             | are really just objectively morally and ethically "right"
             | or "wrong".
             | 
             | Hating on LGBT folks and trying to restrict their rights is
             | one of those things that is wrong no matter how you dice
             | it. People who believe otherwise are wrong, full stop.
             | 
             | So it's not really so much about people thinking someone
             | else's views are awful. It's about whether or not those
             | views truly are awful. And I feel very safe in saying that
             | if someone thinks my support of LGBT folks is pretty awful,
             | they're in the wrong, not me. And I'm in the right to think
             | their hateful views are awful.
             | 
             | (Yes, I realize how arrogant that sounds, but I have to
             | stand by it.)
             | 
             | I think this is something that transcends politics or
             | culture wars or anything like that. Having these sorts of
             | hateful views are actively harmful to humanity's and
             | society's future. That doesn't mean I think we should
             | censor people (rampant censorship is _also_ actively
             | harmful to our future), but it does mean we need to somehow
             | fix people and shift the culture toward one that lets
             | people live how they want in cases like this where doing so
             | doesn 't actually hurt anyone else. I have no idea how to
             | accomplish this, though.
        
           | moscoe wrote:
           | If I can quote Chael Sonnen, I'd like to say "you absolutely
           | suck!"
        
           | lich_king wrote:
           | > He had some pretty awful views that he was pretty loud
           | about, especially later in life. He also cheated on his wife
           | at one point.
           | 
           | In 1961, in his early 20s. You get ~80 years on this planet
           | to make mistakes and have views that some other people will
           | dislike. If these are the worst things we can accuse him of,
           | while acknowledging all his charitable work, I'd say he fared
           | OK compared to many other role models we have.
        
             | SilverElfin wrote:
             | Apparently much more recently too:
             | 
             | https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/01/13/chuck-norris-
             | homophob...
             | 
             | Turns out he was a MAGA Christian homophobe. That's ...
             | disappointing. But I guess I was naive to expect something
             | different.
        
             | myvoiceismypass wrote:
             | The Obama Birtherism nonsense was certainly not in this
             | dude's 20s
        
           | RIMR wrote:
           | "Don't speak ill of the dead"?
           | 
           | How about "Don't be a bad person when you're alive"?
        
             | bovermyer wrote:
             | Something I was brought up to believe was that you
             | shouldn't speak ill of the recently deceased. A courtesy to
             | those in mourning.
             | 
             | I struggle with that rule sometimes.
        
             | claytongulick wrote:
             | Great advice. Do you follow it?
             | 
             | Is there one way to be a good person?
             | 
             | Does being a good person also mean agreeing with your
             | politics?
        
               | ahhhhnoooo wrote:
               | There are good people whose politics I disagree with. If
               | you are using your celebrity status to cause harm to
               | millions on the international stage, systematically
               | attempting to strip their rights, I think it's fair to
               | say they weren't a good person.
        
               | kelnos wrote:
               | > _Does being a good person also mean agreeing with your
               | politics?_
               | 
               | Can we stop framing human rights as "politics"? People
               | hating on others because they don't like that they're gay
               | or trans or black or brown... that's just people being
               | fundamentally awful people, and has nothing to do with
               | politics.
               | 
               | The fact that they are then taking their awfulness and
               | engaging politically to enshrine their awful views into
               | law just adds another dimension to it.
               | 
               | I said this in another comment: if these people with
               | awful views would stop trying to make those awful views
               | laws, then I'd have much less of a problem with them; I
               | could at least just ignore them.
               | 
               | > _Is there one way to be a good person?_
               | 
               | What a useless, one-dimensional take on the problem.
        
         | taco_emoji wrote:
         | Yeah, his support of the Obama "birther" conspiracy was super
         | classy.
        
         | Findecanor wrote:
         | My dad was a film reporter in the late '70s/early '80s, and
         | told me that Chuck Norris had been one of the friendliest
         | celebrities he had ever met.
         | 
         | My dad had some antiquated views himself too. People can
         | have/be both, I suppose.
        
           | kelnos wrote:
           | That's the thing: you can be a perfectly pleasant person to
           | interact with, and people can genuinely enjoy interacting
           | with you.
           | 
           | But then you can start actively using your celebrity status
           | to advocate for legally restricting the rights of people you
           | don't like. _That 's_ the real problem, and that's why I
           | wouldn't want to look at people like Chuck Norris as role
           | models.
           | 
           | Being polite doesn't make you a good person. It just makes
           | you tolerable, or even pleasant, in personal interactions.
           | 
           | Sure, we can talk about things like your dad's experience.
           | But there's more to it than that.
        
         | gotofritz wrote:
         | "Class act" is doing a lot of lifting there
        
         | guywithahat wrote:
         | As far as I can tell he was an incredible person in life,
         | people only spoke well of him. Sad to see him go, although
         | happy he lived a full life
        
       | halcdev wrote:
       | He finally defeated life
        
         | freedomben wrote:
         | While normally making jokes after a person's death would be
         | socially questionable, in this case Chuck Norris himself loved
         | the Chuck Norris jokes. For me at least, a good sense of humor
         | is maybe the most endearing personality trait. RIP
        
           | blueflow wrote:
           | Giving people reason to laugh while you are old and dying is
           | a superpower. I wish i will have it, too.
        
           | mft_ wrote:
           | Fundamentally, I'd argue that very little should ever be
           | unreasonable or out of bounds to make jokes about; what is
           | important is that it's _good_ humour.
           | 
           | Case in point: https://theonion.com/hijackers-surprised-to-
           | find-selves-in-h...
           | 
           | And, as you say, in Chuck Norris' case, it's virtually
           | obligatory.
        
             | freedomben wrote:
             | > _Fundamentally, I 'd argue that very little should ever
             | be unreasonable or out of bounds to make jokes about; what
             | is important is that it's good humour._
             | 
             | On a personal level, I couldn't agree more. I do hope that
             | culturally we get to that point at some time :-)
        
               | Wololooo wrote:
               | I mean, jokes are made to uplift, intent in joking is
               | important and punching up is preferable to punching down,
               | this being said this didn't apply to chuck Norris that
               | would have already got to the punchline without throwing
               | a single fist.
        
       | rwoerz wrote:
       | Death has Chucknorrised?
        
         | breve wrote:
         | Chuck Norris didn't have a near death experience, Death had an
         | experience near him.
        
           | WesolyKubeczek wrote:
           | Commander Sam Vimes would like a word.
        
       | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
       | "We'd like to keep the circumstances private"
       | 
       | Yes, but now I'm like, super suspicious.
        
         | codingdave wrote:
         | There is nothing suspicious about a celebrity's family just
         | wanting to deal with death in private.
        
           | bdcravens wrote:
           | You're probably right, but that's not the usual wording you
           | hear. Of course, when grieving, proper proofreading may not
           | be (nor should it be) at the top of anyone's list.
        
           | djeastm wrote:
           | They usually don't put it like that, though. It's usually
           | just "please respect our privacy during this difficult time",
           | etc.
        
         | bombcar wrote:
         | He was defeated by Mr Rogers in a blood-stained sweater.
         | Understandable they're keeping that quiet.
         | 
         | (Ok, ok, technically it was Gandalf the Gray and White, and
         | Monty Python and the Holy Grail's Black Knight)
        
           | Rooster61 wrote:
           | And Benito Musollini, and the Blue Meanie. And Cowboy Curtis
           | and Jambi the Genie
        
             | jcranmer wrote:
             | And Robocop, Terminator, Captain Kirk and Darth Vader. Lo-
             | Pan, Superman, every single Power Ranger.
        
               | stego-tech wrote:
               | And Bill S. Preston, Theodore Logan, Spock, The Rock, Doc
               | Ock, and Hulk Hogan.
        
       | WithinReason wrote:
       | I'm sure he'll get better soon
        
         | pixel_popping wrote:
         | Chuck never dies.
        
       | whizzter wrote:
       | The Grim Reaper wished that Chuck Norris had only come to play
       | chess with him!
        
       | kyleee wrote:
       | How did he die?
        
         | hirako2000 wrote:
         | Boredom, last enemy to defeat was life itself.
        
         | volkercraig wrote:
         | He was 86 years old
        
           | ekropotin wrote:
           | How do you know that? Scientists tried to measure Chuck
           | Norris' age. The number refused to exist.
        
       | huhkerrf wrote:
       | Death had to take Chuck Norris sleeping, for if he had been
       | awake, there would have been a fight.
        
         | moralestapia wrote:
         | Haha, good one.
         | 
         | I will have to steal this one for my upcoming valedictorian
         | speech.
         | 
         | The crowd is going to love it.
        
           | plasticsoprano wrote:
           | Except is was said by Vice President Thomas R. Marshall upon
           | Theodore Roosevelt's death and co-opted as a Chuck Norris
           | joke.
        
             | ohjeez wrote:
             | It's a kickass obituary, no matter the subject!
        
               | moralestapia wrote:
               | I agree!
               | 
               | It is funny because you usually think of Death as
               | something inevitable and people just accept it but then
               | ... some of these guys put up a fight. Mega-LMAO!
        
             | chungy wrote:
             | Teddy Roosevelt was the Chuck Norris of his day. It is
             | appropriate.
        
               | GolfPopper wrote:
               | I think that comparison is quite unfair to Teddy, and
               | overly flattering to Chuck Norris.
               | 
               | Historian, sheriff, war hero, governor, explorer, and a
               | successful President who reshaped America largely for the
               | better. While Roosevelt was human, he led a life that
               | very few have ever matched.
               | 
               | That said, the line does fit them both.
        
               | projektfu wrote:
               | Literally saved Football.
        
               | SebastianSosa wrote:
               | All due respect, no comparison, teddy is a real legend
               | not just cinema. Lets not conflate the two. Much love to
               | chuck though.
        
           | AdmiralAsshat wrote:
           | I believe it's stolen from a quote said about Teddy Roosevelt
           | 
           | https://markloveshistory.com/2018/01/06/death-had-to-take-
           | ro...
        
         | wnevets wrote:
         | they were better when they were Vin Diesel jokes.
        
           | fullshark wrote:
           | The Vin Diesel jokes I remember had an absurd quality to them
           | beyond "He's really tough." One I recall fondly was "Vin
           | Diesel writes Donkey Kong Fan Fiction."
        
           | huhtenberg wrote:
           | Chuck Norris jokes were making rounds well before Vin Diesel
           | was even born.
        
             | wnevets wrote:
             | Is this _a_ joke?
        
             | cthalupa wrote:
             | The Chuck Norris fact page that really kicked this all off
             | started as a Vin Diesel fact page.
             | 
             | Most of the original funny Chuck Norris facts were from the
             | original Vin Diesel ones.
        
               | wnevets wrote:
               | The kids today don't know their internet lore. smh.
        
         | thiagoharry wrote:
         | And yet death was defeated. And with that, Chuck Norris took up
         | its mantle.
        
         | ndsipa_pomu wrote:
         | Chuck Norris never slept, he just waited
        
         | jm4 wrote:
         | Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits.
        
       | seydor wrote:
       | Chuck Norris let him win
        
       | westurner wrote:
       | Total Gym XLS has a 1-1.25" carriage bar for adding weight. 5gal
       | bucket weights are the correct diameter to leave a gap between
       | the weights and the floor.
       | 
       | Chuck Norris facts:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Norris_facts
        
         | breve wrote:
         | > _" Chuck Norris actually died 20 years ago, but Death hasn't
         | built up the courage to tell him yet."_
         | 
         | Death finally worked up the nerve.
        
           | westurner wrote:
           | "The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book" (2009) https://www.goog
           | le.com/search?q=The+Official+Chuck+Norris+Fa... re: Official
           | Chuck Norris Facts #1 - #101 w/ scripture:
           | 
           | > #1: _" Chuck Norris was bitten by a cobra, and after five
           | days of excruciating pain ... the cobra died."_
        
             | westurner wrote:
             | Of this list of martial arts films:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_martial_arts_films
             | 
             | Which are similar in plot and character arc to
             | 
             | "Man of Tai Chi"?
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_of_Tai_Chi
             | 
             | Which Chuck Norris films are also similar?
             | 
             | > Forest Warrior, A Force of One, The Octagon, Forced
             | Vengeance, Sidekicks,
             | 
             | Which "hacker films" are also similar?
        
       | ramesh31 wrote:
       | Chuck Norris disagrees.
        
       | neurocline wrote:
       | Chuck Norris dominated WoW Barrens chat back in the day. It was
       | kind of weird and amazing at the same time.
        
       | sourcecodeplz wrote:
       | RIP legend
        
       | lhakedal wrote:
       | Death becomes Chuck Norris.
        
       | forinti wrote:
       | He was supposed to die last year, but death took a while to
       | muster the courage to call him.
        
         | blitzar wrote:
         | Death once had a near-Chuck experience
        
       | jonplackett wrote:
       | Chuck Norris doesn't die. Death gets Chuck Norris.
        
       | looneysquash wrote:
       | There's not a body inside Chuck Norris's casket, there's just a
       | fist.
        
       | booleandilemma wrote:
       | I'm surprised Chuck Norris agreed to this.
        
       | willio58 wrote:
       | There was a period of like 2 years when I was a kid where chuck
       | Norris jokes were all the rage on the playground and I made an
       | iPhone app that listed them all.
       | 
       | Jokes like "Chuck Norris is able to slam a revolving door."
       | 
       | Anyway, I "built" this stupid app when I was like 13, copy-pasted
       | like 300 jokes in there and a random one would show every time
       | you tapped the screen.
       | 
       | Chuck Norris's estate blocked the app from going live. I wish I
       | had printed that rejection out and framed it.
        
         | alias_neo wrote:
         | I'm pretty sure they were all the rage when _I_ was at school,
         | but that was long before the iPhone.
         | 
         | I'm curious on what grounds they blocked the app.
        
           | dfxm12 wrote:
           | If you're curious, maybe you can look into Chuck's lawsuit
           | against Penguin's book of Chuck Norris facts. He would
           | eventually "co-author" his own book. The obvious guess here
           | is trademark infringement (over use of Chuck's name/likeness)
           | and/or copyright (if some of these facts were lifted from his
           | book).
        
             | alias_neo wrote:
             | Interesting. I get the likeness thing, but surely one could
             | publish jokes about anyone they wish and that would be
             | satire or fair use or something?
             | 
             | Facts and copyright is an interesting one, because I'm
             | surprised a fact can be copyrighted, unless it's the
             | wording specifically.
        
               | dfxm12 wrote:
               | For better or worse, in the US you can pretty much sue
               | anyone for anything. A court certainly requires more
               | evidence to declare liability than Apple would to remove
               | an app.
               | 
               | As far as copywriting facts, are you really under the
               | impression that Chuck Norris is the only man who can
               | _factually_ slam a revolving door? :)
        
           | bananaflag wrote:
           | (Not the parent poster) I found out about them in 2008-2009,
           | and they were quite popular online and offline.
        
           | PurpleRamen wrote:
           | > I'm curious on what grounds they blocked the app.
           | 
           | The app probably used his pictures or his name, which are
           | easy candidates for copyright or trademark-claims.
        
           | willio58 wrote:
           | Mentioned below in a few comments but it was on the grounds
           | of using his name/likeness.
        
         | MBCook wrote:
         | It was so funny how that whole thing happened.
         | 
         | For the first time in over a decade he was suddenly relevant in
         | a way. People remembered he existed, and they were playing off
         | his tough guy image.
         | 
         | And what did he do? Try and shut it down and start suing
         | people. Stupid.
         | 
         | It took him a couple of years to come around to it. If it
         | wasn't for those jokes would he be remembered anywhere as well?
         | Or would he be a much more obscure celebrity by now?
        
           | petcat wrote:
           | > would he be remembered anywhere as well?
           | 
           | You underestimate how popular Walker, Texas Ranger was. It
           | wasn't pulling ratings like Seinfeld, ER, or Friends, but it
           | was a solid primetime staple for almost a decade.
           | 
           | I never watched it myself, but the 50+ demo loved it.
        
             | MBCook wrote:
             | And he would be known by those people. I remember him being
             | famous in the 90s.
             | 
             | Would the people who grew up in the early 2000s, or
             | especially 2010s, know much of anything about him?
             | 
             | I mean how much do younger people know about Scott Baio or
             | the Corys or Candice Bergen these days?
        
               | spencerflem wrote:
               | Haha haven't heard of either of those but I do know that
               | when Chuck Norris does pushups he pushes the Earth down
        
               | ben7799 wrote:
               | You might be able to argue he was a bigger star than any
               | of them.
               | 
               | His career lasted far longer. He had big movie
               | appearances for 30 years, none of those people
               | accomplished that.
               | 
               | Norris' first movie role was in 1968, first big credited
               | appearance was 1972, Walker Texas Ranger finished in
               | 2001.
        
               | allturtles wrote:
               | > You might be able to argue he was a bigger star than
               | any of them.
               | 
               | I think that's a hard argument to make.
               | 
               | Candace Bergen's career was just as long. Her first movie
               | role was 1966, she was nominated for an Oscar in 1979,
               | and she was on a popular sitcom from 1988 to 1998 that
               | won her five Emmies and attracted national commentary
               | after criticism from the Vice President.
               | 
               | I was a kid in the 80s and 90s and to me even then Chuck
               | Norris was a B-movie self-parody joke character. He was
               | not an A-list "action star" in the sense that
               | Schwarzenegger, Stallone, or even Van Damme were.
        
               | kakacik wrote:
               | The dude was a badass, 6 time undefeated karate world
               | champion (!!!), created his own variant of karate mixed
               | with korean martial arts, was a good friend with Bruce
               | Lee and that scene in Colloseum - probably the coolest
               | thing I saw as a kid growing up behind iron curtain...
               | not many actors can have such a resume on top of their
               | acting career.
               | 
               | Those who cared would/will know him regardless. But
               | obviously those people would be relatively few and far
               | apart.
        
               | smartmic wrote:
               | An immense amount of time, dedication and talent must
               | have went into all those achievements. This requires
               | mastery of body and mind at an exceptional level. Putting
               | aside all jokes and acting roles, the martials arts is
               | where he earned my full respect and that will also stick
               | in my memory about him.
        
               | beAbU wrote:
               | He had is own line of denims, with extra stretchy
               | crotches. Makes roundhouse kicking baddies in the face
               | easier.
        
             | rayiner wrote:
             | I loved that show! I was a teenager. Peak 1990s.
        
             | PoignardAzur wrote:
             | Maybe for people in the US. Internationally? I haven't
             | watched a single episode of WTR, I don't know anyone who
             | has, but _everyone_ knows who Chuck Norris was.
        
               | pingou wrote:
               | It was quite popular in France.
        
               | flagos10 wrote:
               | In France, it was popular enough that everybody knew
               | Texas ranger before the Chuck Norris jokes.
        
               | johnisgood wrote:
               | Same in Hungary.
        
               | trizoza wrote:
               | Same in Slovakia
        
               | riffraff wrote:
               | Same in Italy, it was prime time TV for a few years.
               | 
               | Not overly popular, but many people already knew him from
               | the Bruce Lee era, so it had a following by default.
        
               | RajT88 wrote:
               | Lots of fans in the Philippines, apparently.
        
               | debo_ wrote:
               | I watched it all the time in Canada.
        
               | tadfisher wrote:
               | Lies. Everyone knows _The Red Green Show_ is the only
               | television program legally allowed in Canada.
        
               | beAbU wrote:
               | Huuuuuuuuge in South Africa.
        
               | rmonvfer wrote:
               | I loved WTR as a child in Spain! (This was like 15 years
               | ago tho)
        
               | davidw wrote:
               | Seinfeld wasn't at all well known in Italy when I lived
               | there, but WTR was.
        
               | riffraff wrote:
               | IIRC Seinfeld aired on Tele Montecarlo/La 7, while WTR
               | aired on Italia 1, the difference in audience was
               | massive.
        
               | davidw wrote:
               | I seem to recall it aired at some kind of weird time too.
               | It didn't seem to be very widely known or watched.
        
               | Anonyneko wrote:
               | It was extremely popular in Russian-speaking areas in the
               | late 90s.
        
               | sharyphil wrote:
               | Yes! Oldfagi remember. Also, he was just called "Cool
               | Walker", which was appropriate.
        
               | czbond wrote:
               | As a gent born and raised in Texas, and has never seen
               | the show - I am pleasantly surprised to see these
               | comments about how popular WTR was internationally. If I
               | had been asked to bet, I would have lost money on this
               | one.
        
               | pessimizer wrote:
               | I've got the impression that the big US exports are ones
               | that play into big American stereotypes, e.g WTR,
               | Baywatch, Friends. Not even that they see these shows and
               | get programmed with these stereotypes, but that they have
               | these stereotypes (Texas, California, NYC) and shows like
               | this feed their imaginations and give them detail.
               | 
               | Exported media is weird. Like the huge proportion of
               | British/BBC output (usually period, but also often
               | detective in a way redolent of Christie) that is made
               | primarily for export to foreign consumers who think of
               | British upper-class culture as aspirational.
        
               | VTimofeenko wrote:
               | There is US exported media that just randomly becomes
               | popular in a specific demographic. Case in point:
               | Adventures of Ford Fairlane, a flick with Andrew Dice
               | Clay that got a razzie the year it came out. IIRC it got
               | a cult following in Norway because the voice over was
               | done by a popular radio DJ.
        
               | quickthrowman wrote:
               | Walker, Texas Ranger and Baywatch were both created by
               | non-network studios as syndicated shows, they weren't
               | prime time network shows. The budgets for syndicated
               | content is a lot lower than network produced content.
               | 
               | The rights to air these sorts of shows are dirt cheap
               | compared to Friends or Seinfeld, so it makes sense that
               | cheap syndicated garbage like Walker, Texas Ranger and
               | Baywatch were popular internationally, the rights were
               | cheap.
        
               | pafje wrote:
               | As others have said, WTR is very well-known in France
               | while most people have never heard of Seinfeld.
               | 
               | Same with Dallas and The Dukes of Hazzard.
        
               | kelnos wrote:
               | Assuming this sort of phenomenon extends further than
               | France, this quite well explains many of the
               | misconceptions Europeans have about the US.
               | 
               | Thinking WTR, Dallas, or TDoH are representative of
               | American culture is... hilarious.
               | 
               | But I guess shows that hit the big American cultural
               | stereotypes hard are maybe the ones that do better
               | abroad?
        
               | riffraff wrote:
               | I think Hazard didn't sound stereotype at all, like,
               | nobody had a clue why the car was called General Lee, or
               | what the confederate flag meant.
               | 
               | It was just a fun show. Magnum PI, Different Strokes,
               | McGiver.. were just as popular.
        
               | karel-3d wrote:
               | From my memory from the 90s: Baywatch, X-Files, that
               | speaking car one, Beverly Hills 90210, Ninja Turtles.
               | Some dumb sitcom named Step by Step? edit: oh and ALF
               | 
               | Oh and Married with Children, but it was always very late
               | night and I was not allowed to watch it.
               | 
               | And our teacher always played us ET on VHS. (and that dog
               | playing basketball.)
               | 
               | that's america for me when I was a kid
        
               | zem wrote:
               | dallas was _huge_ in dubai in the 80s. like to the extent
               | that people would plan to sit home on the evening it was
               | on.
               | 
               | (I didn't watch it; my parents believed soap operas were
               | unsuitable for kids)
        
               | MBCook wrote:
               | Yeah. As an American I would've absolutely never guessed
               | it was that popular.
        
               | quickthrowman wrote:
               | It was a syndicated show, the goal is to license it to as
               | many companies as possible. It was never a network TV
               | show like Seinfeld, those syndication rights are way more
               | expensive than created for syndication shows like WTR.
        
               | harperlee wrote:
               | In Spain it was on the TV also for like a decade, and
               | everybody knows who he is. Also in France.
        
               | chistev wrote:
               | Haven't watched it and first time hearing about it too.
               | But I knew who Chuck Norris was.
        
               | buran77 wrote:
               | > Maybe for people in the US. Internationally?
               | 
               | It was big internationally. But the jokes made Norris
               | known to a whole different generation than the one
               | watching WTR.
        
               | amarant wrote:
               | I'm Swedish and I was only vaguely aware Chuck Norris
               | even had a career outside the jokes.
        
               | tmtvl wrote:
               | Belgian here, only thing I ever watched that had Chuck in
               | it was Way of the Dragon.
        
               | sixtyj wrote:
               | Czechs love Chuck Norris and WTR. It aired between 1995
               | and 2012. The series is still occasionally rerun.
        
               | karel-3d wrote:
               | It was very popular here (Czech Republic). Not prime-time
               | popular, but popular enough.
        
               | CalChris wrote:
               | So Chuck Norris is an Anna Kournikova, famous for having
               | been moderately famous and monetized ad infinitum?
        
               | zem wrote:
               | I remember watching a few episodes on TV as a kid but I
               | could not have told you who acted in it
        
             | beAbU wrote:
             | Any person from South Africa from that era will have a
             | certain tv announcement permanently etched in their
             | memories. It goes something like:
             | 
             | "Friday night is action night with Walker Texas Ranger"
        
             | UncleOxidant wrote:
             | The only time I ever saw Walker,Texas Ranger was when I was
             | living in Italy for a few months in the aughts. It was
             | dubbed in Italian. Apparently it was popular there.
        
             | calmbonsai wrote:
             | Somehow, I don't think he'll be remembered for Karate
             | Kommandos ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6hb602588
        
             | BrandoElFollito wrote:
             | Never heard about this series in France. I discovered him
             | through the jokes. I am 55
        
             | TheGRS wrote:
             | Personally I was at a prime age watching a lot of Conan
             | O'Brien's Late Night show and one of his best skits was the
             | Walker Texas Ranger Lever. They would pick the most
             | ridiculous clips from the show and just run them out of
             | context. IIRC Chuck Norris even showed up on the show one
             | time to give him a "stern talking to".
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIEyn9G6_8
             | 
             | Also, he fought Bruce Lee! One of my favorite face-offs
             | ever filmed, esp in the martial arts movie genre. Not many
             | actors who could say that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
             | NlTyJhbTxxo&pp=ygUZY2h1Y2sgb...
        
             | jcmfernandes wrote:
             | It was super popular in Portugal.
        
             | agumonkey wrote:
             | I can report that french reddit thread all mention Walker
             | Texas ranger all along the page. These Sunday lunch shows
             | hit different.
        
           | dfxm12 wrote:
           | Maybe not _as_ well, but between the  "Walker gave me aids"
           | clip and Conan's Walker Texas Ranger lever, he'd still have
           | been known well enough.
        
             | MBCook wrote:
             | Oh good point.
        
             | khazhoux wrote:
             | The quote is "Walker says I have AIDS"
        
           | seba_dos1 wrote:
           | This post certainly wouldn't be here right now.
        
           | romanhn wrote:
           | Found out about his passing from my teenage kids. They knew
           | him as some legendary tough guy based solely on the jokes,
           | but had no idea who he actually was. To be fair, looking at
           | some other comments here about his political and personal
           | leanings, I didn't know who he actually was either.
        
           | observationist wrote:
           | His proximity to Bruce Lee earned him more or less permanent
           | kung fu cinema fame. Walker,Texas Ranger and other work he
           | did definitely boosted it, but the memes clinched it.
        
           | beAbU wrote:
           | Chuck Norris made a Chuck Norris joke in one of the
           | Expendable movies, and for that I'm willing to forgive all
           | his indiscretions.
        
             | tracker1 wrote:
             | That is hands down one of my ATF scenes in any movie.
             | Expendables 2 was IMO just about the most "fun" movie I've
             | ever seen as well. It wasn't great cinema, or a specific
             | classic.. but it was fun. I have similar feelings about
             | Gremlins 2 as well. We need more fun movies, but too many
             | people seem to have not been issued a sense of humor these
             | days.
        
               | beAbU wrote:
               | X1 is also great imo. Just the perfect blend of action,
               | self awareness and cheese.
        
             | tim333 wrote:
             | Maybe https://youtu.be/OBGtINJmFto?t=79
        
               | beAbU wrote:
               | Yep, this is the one
        
           | basisword wrote:
           | >> If it wasn't for those jokes would he be remembered
           | anywhere as well?
           | 
           | You're assuming the jokes make people dive deeper. In reality
           | I know the jokes and didn't have a clue who he was and never
           | cared enough to find out. The reality is the probably didn't
           | make much of a difference to how well he or his work was
           | actually known.
        
             | MBCook wrote:
             | No, I didn't mean it that way. I meant they wouldn't even
             | know the name.
             | 
             | Not that they actually know about him past the tough guy
             | persona of the jokes.
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | > And what did he do? Try and shut it down and start suing
           | people. Stupid.
           | 
           | Isn't that an obligation when you own a trademark? That you
           | sue people, or else you may lose the trademark?
        
             | fooqux wrote:
             | > Isn't that an obligation when you own a trademark? That
             | you sue people, or else you may lose the trademark?
             | 
             | It's not quite as cut and dry as you suggest. Besides, in
             | which way was a trademark being violated? Last I knew
             | merely talking about and referencing a celebrity by name
             | was not a trademark violation.
        
           | chirau wrote:
           | Chuck Norris was and is still an international sensation.
           | Chuck Norris is right up there with Arnold Schwarzenegger and
           | Jean Claude Van Damme.
           | 
           | His round kick, Walker Texas Ranger and his fight with Bruce
           | Lee. In Africa, to this day, some TV channels still play his
           | stuff.
        
           | block_dagger wrote:
           | If it weren't...subjunctive mood. Sorry, it's Pedantic Friday
           | in my small world.
        
         | AdmiralAsshat wrote:
         | Was this before or after Mike Huckabee started publicly
         | offering Chuck Norris as his solution to "border security" on
         | the campaign trail?
        
         | dstroot wrote:
         | John Wick wears Chuck Norris pajamas. RIP to a legend.
        
         | Cthulhu_ wrote:
         | I'm still enjoying the Nolan jokes / memes, but in a weird way
         | because of course, via
         | https://www.reddit.com/r/CroppedNorrisJokes/
        
         | dilawar wrote:
         | In India, we have Rajni (Rajnikanth) jokes that keep increasing
         | in number and are still pretty popular...
         | 
         | I remember reading 'The Vinci Code' in college which was very
         | popular those days and getting a SMS from a friend almost the
         | same day, "Rajnikanth gave Monalisa that smile!".
        
         | make_it_sure wrote:
         | i created a Facebook App that did something similar, it posted
         | random jokes on your wall
         | 
         | This was like 2005-2006
        
         | beAbU wrote:
         | I printed out all the jokes on my dad's home office printer and
         | sold copies at school. This was pre smartphones.
        
         | QuiEgo wrote:
         | The expendables had a scene that was basically the meme in live
         | action, highly recommend. It's all over YouTube.
        
           | gljiva wrote:
           | That scene makes the movie one of the few 10/10 movies in my
           | opinion. It's perfect for the target audience.
           | 
           | Seeing my dad, who grew up on these actors' action flicks,
           | laugh himself to tears when Chuck Norris appears is one of my
           | favourite memories.
        
         | Cpoll wrote:
         | Having been near the epicenter, I recall that Vin Diesel jokes
         | (same format) pre-dated Chuck Norris ones. I always found it a
         | shame that the Chuck Norris ones caught on; Vin Diesel is, imo,
         | a better role model.
         | 
         | I bet Vin wouldn't have blocked your app.
        
         | tracker1 wrote:
         | Only God could defeat Chuck Norris.
        
           | ithkuil wrote:
           | Well, that remains to be seen
        
         | Lukas_Skywalker wrote:
         | I did something similar when Microsoft gave away Windows Phones
         | for every app published on the app store. I used the Chuck
         | Norris API though. The one I used is sadly no longer available
         | (I think it was called CNDB). But there's a new one:
         | https://api.chucknorris.io
        
         | mindslight wrote:
         | > _Chuck Norris's estate blocked the app from going live. I
         | wish I had printed that rejection out and framed it._
         | 
         | Seeing the youthful spirit run headfirst into the corprocracy
         | of locked down devices and app stores is depressing. Twenty
         | years ago you would have made a webapp or flash animation, most
         | likely avoided scrutiny and not even been shaken down. Thirty
         | years ago you would have made a QBasic program and
         | floppy/email/dcc it to your friends, completely illegible to
         | the corprocracy. But these days simply trying to publish
         | through the common channels, and you're immediately subject to
         | restrictions made for businesses.
        
         | psadauskas wrote:
         | The Ruby gem "Faker" is used for generating fake data for
         | testing, like legit-looking names, emails, phone numbers, lorum
         | ipsum text, etc. About 10 years ago I was working on a
         | messaging app, and wanted some real messages to see in the UI
         | while I was developing it. One of the best engineering
         | decisions I've made in my career was to pick the Chuck Norris
         | Facts generator for the messages, so every time I re-seeded my
         | local db or looked at a review app on staging, I was greeted by
         | two fake people sending a half-dozen Chuck Norris facts to each
         | other.
         | 
         | https://github.com/faker-ruby/faker/blob/main/lib/locales/en...
        
         | eddyzh wrote:
         | In had one app like that from Cydia Loved it.
        
         | HarHarVeryFunny wrote:
         | Jeff Dean got his Chuck Norris app published by Chuck Norris.
        
         | incanus77 wrote:
         | I knew of "Walker, Texas Ranger" but the jokes definitely kept
         | him relevant to my generation (age: 49) for a resurgent period
         | of time.
         | 
         | The only one I remember offhand:
         | 
         | "Chuck Norris doesn't do pushups, he pushes the world down."
        
         | fortran77 wrote:
         | His _estate_? While he was still alive?
        
         | kelnos wrote:
         | The "slam a revolving door" one was absolutely one of my
         | favorites. Also "Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups; he pushes
         | the Earth down".
        
           | zem wrote:
           | I loved "chuck norris had a fight with superman. loser had to
           | wear their underwear outside their pants."
        
       | Noe2097 wrote:
       | It's a trick; he will come back unscathed in the next episode.
        
       | tchock23 wrote:
       | First Wade Boggs and now this. Just awful.
        
         | messe wrote:
         | Wade Boggs is very much alive. He lives in Tampa Florida. He's
         | in his late 60s.
        
       | markus_zhang wrote:
       | Oh this guy is a legend. Did he do anything with tech
       | peripherally? I hope we can put up a dark top for him as an
       | exception.
        
         | krapp wrote:
         | Not even every important influential person in tech gets the
         | black bar. You think an actor who is mostly known for low-
         | effort internet memes and pretending to be a cowboy on tv
         | deserves it?
        
           | kstrauser wrote:
           | I guess it's a generational thing, because I shouldn't
           | actually be surprised that someone would know so very little
           | about Chuck Norris.
        
           | markus_zhang wrote:
           | nvm just a thought.
        
       | reactordev wrote:
       | Chuck Norris didn't die, we simply phased out of his reality.
        
       | bnchrch wrote:
       | I can only assume Chuck has decided to relieve the grim reaper of
       | his duties, leaving us all here to meet our own end not with a
       | scythe but a roundhouse kick.
        
         | 5555624 wrote:
         | Shades of Piers Anthony's "On a Pale Horse," Death showed up to
         | take Chuck Norris and Chuck killed him, taking his place.
        
           | ourmandave wrote:
           | I loved that series, until the last book. Maybe the novelty
           | had worn off.
           | 
           | It's been a long time since I read it, but didn't the current
           | Death decide to retire and pass the role on?
        
             | bell-cot wrote:
             | If you're referring to
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_a_Velvet_Cloak - note
             | that it was _written_ a couple decades after the prior
             | books of the series, for a different publisher, to a
             | different length. Those would be yellow flags with almost
             | any author.
        
             | 5555624 wrote:
             | In "On A Pale Horse," Zane kills the current Death and
             | assumes the role. I don't recall that he then steps down in
             | a later book.
        
       | npn wrote:
       | A part of internet dies with him. RIP.
        
       | endriju wrote:
       | Wishing him speedy recovery! Legend
        
       | Archit3ch wrote:
       | He immediately asked the ferryman for a coin to get to the other
       | side.
        
       | vardump wrote:
       | So I guess Chuck Norris has now keys for the Pearly Gates and is
       | the one who gets to pick the heavenly club members. I'm sure
       | roundhouse kicks are somehow part of the process.
       | 
       | Why do I feel like an era has ended...
       | 
       | Rest in peace.
        
       | throwaway29303 wrote:
       | Godspeed. ;~;7
        
       | calebelac wrote:
       | What a legend.
       | 
       | I enjoyed reading the comments here. RIP.
        
       | delichon wrote:
       | I fear the crime wave as the thugs hear about this and take the
       | streets back. Be careful out there people.
        
       | Insanity wrote:
       | Oh wow, coincidentally I watched a Chuck Norris film recently
       | with my (90 year old) grandmother, which resulted in me diving
       | down a bunch of Chuck Norris memes for the first time in more
       | than a decade.
       | 
       | RIP
        
       | with_a_herring wrote:
       | The headline is inaccurate. Chuck Norris is alive and kicking in
       | another dimension.
        
       | vladde wrote:
       | one of my favorite stack overflow questions: Why does HTML think
       | "chucknorris" is a color?
       | 
       | https://stackoverflow.com/q/8318911
        
         | ChrisArchitect wrote:
         | Some recent discussion on that one a couple Advents ago:
         | 
         | https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/20/
         | (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42468318)
        
         | bityard wrote:
         | I came to the conclusion a long time ago that early browser
         | developers must have really been on quite a lot of drugs.
        
           | m463 wrote:
           | _And the beast shall come forth surrounded by a roiling cloud
           | of vengeance. The house of the unbelievers shall be razed and
           | they shall be scorched to the earth. Their tags shall blink
           | until the end of days._ -- from The Book of Mozilla, 12:10
        
       | figassis wrote:
       | This just means we're in a simulated universe. He's respawned
       | elsewhere.
        
       | raffael_de wrote:
       | he has become death.
        
       | rootusrootus wrote:
       | Chuck Norris does not go to heaven, heaven comes to him.
        
       | aimanbenbaha wrote:
       | The Grim Reaper requested permissions from Chuck Norris to take
       | his soul.
        
       | simpaticoder wrote:
       | Chuck Norris (and Michael Landon) were golden age role models for
       | young men. Strong but thoughtful, firm but compassionate, and
       | deeply principled but also practical. Yes, these were acting
       | roles but they picked those roles for a reason. Rest in peace,
       | Chuck.
        
         | ceejayoz wrote:
         | "Deeply principled" really doesn't describe Obama birther
         | conspiracists.
        
         | amjnsx wrote:
         | He was openly maga and a homophobe and a transphobe. I wouldn't
         | consider these qualities for a role model.
        
           | sschueller wrote:
           | Many like myself did not know this as a kid in the 80s-90s.
           | Some of the movies he made like "sidekicks" left a positive
           | impression at that age.
        
             | nazgulsenpai wrote:
             | In the 80s-90s his positions would have aligned fine with
             | the center left.
        
               | EnPissant wrote:
               | Forget the 80s-90s - Even California passed prop 8 in
               | 2008.
        
               | rootusrootus wrote:
               | Some of them, perhaps. I don't think the center left
               | would ever have been into the birther conspiracy.
        
               | nazgulsenpai wrote:
               | There were conspiracy theories in the 80s and 90s too.
        
               | sanktanglia wrote:
               | There is a huge difference between general conspiracy
               | theories and the birther lie which was more racist
               | astroturfing than a legitimate conspiracy
        
               | something765478 wrote:
               | No, I'm pretty sure they would have. I remember during
               | the primaries, Hillary tried to attack Obama by showing
               | him in a "Muslim" garment.
        
           | DennisP wrote:
           | GP said "these were acting roles." They were talking about
           | the characters, not the actors behind them.
        
             | LetsGetTechnicl wrote:
             | But then he said he "picked them for a reason" implying
             | that he chose those characters based on the characteristics
             | he shared with them
        
               | DennisP wrote:
               | Whatever the reason, it wasn't because his characters
               | were "openly maga and a homophobe and a transphobe,"
               | because they weren't. Bruce Lee movies and Texas Ranger
               | didn't address those issues at all.
               | 
               | And in spite of his flaws, it's possible that he had some
               | good qualities as well, or at least aspired to them. So
               | maybe those other qualities were what he looked for in
               | the characters he played.
        
               | LetsGetTechnicl wrote:
               | Doesn't seem like he aspired all that hard, since instead
               | of expressing empathy for people who weren't like him, he
               | continued to be a bigot in nearly every aspect. But sure,
               | if you were a white cis straight guy I'm sure he was
               | perfectly kind.
        
           | raw_anon_1111 wrote:
           | I think you forget that Clinton signed the Defense of
           | Marriage Act and put in the policy of "Don't ask don't tell"
           | and Obama supported it originally.
           | 
           | Of course they both had a change of heart- was it true change
           | or they saw the direction of the political winds? Who knows?
           | 
           | I don't know Chuck Norris's views on LGBT. But if he was a
           | self proclaimed "born again Christian" and a rabid Trump
           | supporter, I can only guess. But I no more expect people who
           | were insulted by what he said (which I personally don't know)
           | to give him more grace or reverence than I do is a Black man
           | who couldn't give two shits about a dead racist podcaster.
           | 
           | Other people no more need to "contextualize" homophobia than
           | I feel a need to "contextualize" the racism of a dead
           | podcaster.
        
             | ceejayoz wrote:
             | > put in the policy of "Don't ask don't tell"
             | 
             | DADT was a significant improvement over the status quo of
             | "we ask, you tell, and then you get dishonorably
             | discharged". Considering it evidence of homophobia is
             | revisionism. Did it go far enough? No. Was it a good step
             | towards where we wanted to go? Yes.
        
               | raw_anon_1111 wrote:
               | And the Defense of Marriage Act?
        
               | ceejayoz wrote:
               | > It passed both houses of Congress by large, veto-proof
               | majorities. Support was bipartisan, though about a third
               | of the Democratic caucus in both the House and Senate
               | opposed it. Clinton criticized DOMA as "divisive and
               | unnecessary".
               | 
               | Sure doesn't seem like a Clinton issue?
        
               | raw_anon_1111 wrote:
               | Again he still signed it. It's like Susan Collins who
               | always has "serious misgivings" about things that her
               | fellow Republicans do and then votes the party line
               | anyway trying to stay in her party's good graces while at
               | the same time not pissing off her liberal constituents
        
               | ceejayoz wrote:
               | > Again he still signed it.
               | 
               | It was gonna be law either way; signing it removed a
               | political weapon from the folks pushing its passage.
               | Arguing this is something _Clinton_ did to gay people is
               | counterfactual.
        
               | raw_anon_1111 wrote:
               | That's a really poor excuse to sign on to something that
               | you disagree with. I would not sign a petition for making
               | the "Confederacy Day" law if I lived in Mississippi just
               | because it would become law anyway. You have to stand for
               | something.
               | 
               | Would you think it was okay if Tim Scott signed such a
               | law just so his fellow Republicans couldn't hold it
               | against him in the primary? Well actually I wouldn't be
               | surprised if he did...
        
               | ceejayoz wrote:
               | > That's a really poor excuse to sign on to something
               | that you disagree with.
               | 
               | It's a pragmatic excuse.
               | 
               | Not signing changes nothing; clear statements that it's
               | bad law; avoid giving the assholes pushing it more
               | likelihood of winning the next election.
        
               | raw_anon_1111 wrote:
               | A clear statement of it being a bad law is not signing
               | it. Should he not do anything that would give assholes an
               | excuse to argue with him?
               | 
               | Am I suppose to be okay if he signed a law overturning
               | "Brown vs Board of Education" because it would become law
               | anyway?
               | 
               | Was the fact that he signed off on executing a mentally
               | retarded man because it would show he was "tough on
               | crime" just him being "pragmatic"?
               | 
               | https://jacobin.com/2016/11/bill-clinton-rickey-rector-
               | death...
               | 
               | Getting back on topic, I don't get to praise Chuck Norris
               | because of his anti-racism stances but then dismiss his
               | stances against non straight people.
        
               | kelnos wrote:
               | > _I don't get to praise Chuck Norris because of his
               | anti-racism stances but then dismiss his stances against
               | non straight people._
               | 
               | Sure, but I think it's fair to praise people when they do
               | good things, and criticize them for the bad that they do.
               | That's true fir Chuck Norris, Bill Clinton, Barack
               | Obama... anyone.
               | 
               | Totally agree, though, that it's bullshit to think that
               | having positive views on some issues wipes away the bad.
        
             | kelnos wrote:
             | My charitable interpretation is that it was political
             | winds, but possibly not in the way you're implying.
             | 
             | I do believe that Obama was 100% cool with gay marriage,
             | but believed it was politically foolhardy to admit that
             | publicly and in policy positions, but was able to advocate
             | for his true feelings once the political climate changed.
             | Still not awesome, but understandable from an electoral
             | perspective.
             | 
             | I'm not really sure about Clinton. I would guess he's
             | personally in favor of gay marriage and gays in the
             | military today, but hard to say what his views might have
             | been in the 90s (as I was a teenager at the time who wasn't
             | all that interested in politics).
             | 
             | Also on supposedly-liberal people doing homophobic things:
             | let's also not forget that California voters banned gay
             | marriage statewide in 2008. 2008! And this was a ballot
             | measure where all voters got a say, not something passed by
             | the legislature.
        
           | phishin wrote:
           | Imagine basing your entire opinion on a man about how they
           | feel about that other man.
        
             | ryandrake wrote:
             | Imagine having a lot of people you once admired and looked
             | up to as role models, from actors all the way to even your
             | parents, suddenly all within a decade or so take their
             | masks off and reveal that they are actually villains.
        
               | saintfire wrote:
               | Is it revelatory that human beings having a quality you
               | admire aren't the ideal person you projected them to be?
               | 
               | I'd reckon you'd be hard pressed to find a single person
               | that matches every quality/belief you imagined them to
               | have.
        
               | ryandrake wrote:
               | I don't think this is about nit picking some small detail
               | that causes them to fail a quality/belief checklist. It's
               | not like finding out your hero picks his nose or doesn't
               | like chocolate ice cream. When someone goes mask-off as
               | MAGA, they are revealing fundamental core beliefs and
               | values that totally flip the kind of person you might
               | have thought they were.
               | 
               | I have friends and family who I never thought had a
               | hateful, cruel, or belligerent bone in their bodies,
               | suddenly start acting like totally different people, in
               | the span of a few years. This isn't me holding them to
               | some purity checklist!
        
               | mindslight wrote:
               | Agreed. Additionally, when someone says something
               | latently bigoted or hateful, it's easy to just let it
               | slide because we all have our failings and societal
               | progress is slow. Whereas maggotry is about _openly
               | embracing_ those failings, taking on _additional types_
               | of failings from other people, and then socially
               | validating it all as a purported political movement. But
               | the only real thing tying it together is frustration with
               | the world culminating in lashing out, which is why when
               | they get into power there are no actual constructive
               | policies _in any_ political framework [0]. (apart from
               | lining the preachers ' pockets of course, and now
               | apparently a holy war)
               | 
               | nit: I wouldn't call it "mask off" though, as if it's
               | been there the whole time. I'd say it's more like there
               | is tiny a kernel of that (and let's be honest, who
               | doesn't have this in some form or another?), combined
               | with a lack of willpower and critical thinking, that
               | causes them into give in to the siren song of easy
               | answers from mass-personalized propaganda.
               | 
               | [0] ancap and religious fundamentalism are the only
               | frameworks I've been able to find that fit the maggot
               | movement, and they're not particularly constructive.
        
               | parrellel wrote:
               | "Good People" suddenly going all in on racist rants and
               | hard-core misogyny is never going to stop being
               | disturbing.
               | 
               | Some of them taught me how to behave!? Did they just not
               | believe any of those things?
               | 
               | MAGA is a horrifying movement.
        
               | Applejinx wrote:
               | It's an object lesson on how certain historical things
               | happened. We go, oh no how could those people have all
               | been inhuman monsters? If only we understood what made
               | them like that.
               | 
               | And the monkey's paw curls...
        
               | fhdkweig wrote:
               | Fred Rogers was the same kind, thoughtful person in
               | everyday life as he was when he acted on his show. You
               | can watch the congressional tapes of him testifying on
               | increased funding to PBS and also testifying on not
               | making VCRs illegal.
        
               | kelnos wrote:
               | That's a little bit of a false dichotomy, though. I agree
               | that it would be rare, even impossible, to find people
               | who match every quality I imagined they had.
               | 
               | But some of those failings are forgivable, others are
               | not.
               | 
               | Getting genuinely confused about pronouns sometimes:
               | forgivable.
               | 
               | Being a loud, public MAGA homophobe transphobe: not
               | forgivable.
        
             | cthalupa wrote:
             | I stopped being a Chuck Norris fan when I learned he was a
             | frequent contributor to WorldNetDaily, that he actively
             | campaigned against gay marriage, and that he advocated for
             | the theory that Obama was not born in America and saying
             | shit like 'Electing Obama will plunge America into a
             | thousand years of darkness.'
             | 
             | Him liking Trump was a symptom of his regressive,
             | homophobic, and racist beliefs.
        
           | mindslight wrote:
           | You either die a hero, or you live long enough to become a
           | Faceboot psychosis villain. It's basically the politics
           | version of "Why is everything so cold?"
        
           | delabay wrote:
           | Save it for reddit
        
           | rishabhaiover wrote:
           | A kind person with humility would never say this.
        
           | encom wrote:
           | Incomprehensible levels of based.
        
       | canucker2016 wrote:
       | from his instagram for his last birthday (
       | https://www.instagram.com/p/DVtiSHbETbX/ )                 I
       | don't age. I level up.            I'm 86 today! Nothing like some
       | playful action on a sunny day to make you feel young. I'm
       | grateful for another year, good health and the chance to keep
       | doing what I love. Thank you all for being the best fans in the
       | world. Your support through the years has meant more to me than
       | you'll ever know.            God Bless,       Chuck Norris
        
         | arkaic wrote:
         | Literally 10 days ago
        
       | fiftyacorn wrote:
       | I grew up watching action films in the 80s and 90s. I always like
       | Chuck Norris ones as they had a humour and ridiclousness about
       | them
       | 
       | Films like Missing in Action ,or delta force where the motorbike
       | fires a rocket were just great at the time
       | 
       | I get he had some funny views later in life - but the films were
       | a laugh at the time
        
       | boubacardiallo wrote:
       | My condolences, he was one of my favorite childhood actor :(
        
       | LetsGetTechnicl wrote:
       | Honestly some of the most successful PR ever to paint a
       | conservative religious bigoted homophobic freak as simply a meme
       | of hyper-masculinity.
        
         | rdiddly wrote:
         | They're not that far apart, honestly.
        
           | LetsGetTechnicl wrote:
           | That's true. These days it seems the ideal conservative man
           | is more like a caveman eating steak off the bone versus a
           | thoughtful caring Atticus Finch type.
        
       | Beijinger wrote:
       | From Reddit: "I heard that the opening 27 minutes of Saving
       | Private Ryan were loosely based on a game of dodgeball played by
       | Chuck Norris in 2nd grade." ;-)
        
       | wvlia5 wrote:
       | Chuck Norris didn't die, Death chucknorried.
        
       | lschueller wrote:
       | Wouldn't be suprised, if he dies back and announces a film for
       | next year.
       | 
       | He made it that far in life, that even if you might disagree with
       | him on all and everything, you would still like him.
        
         | pcardoso wrote:
         | Just like Val Kilmer?
         | 
         | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/mar/18/val-kilmer-resu...
         | 
         | RIP both...
        
       | ekropotin wrote:
       | Clickbait. He is not dead, he just decided to retire from the
       | world of mortals.
        
       | Goofy_Coyote wrote:
       | Chuck Norris once slapped Pi so hard it became rational for a
       | moment.
       | 
       | RIP dude, we'd continue the jokes, may your soul laughs as hard
       | as we do.
       | 
       | Chuck Norris once bet 42 is a prime. He won.
        
         | domador wrote:
         | Sorry, but these Chuck Norris jokes are more like Bruce
         | Schneier facts: https://www.schneierfacts.com/
        
           | ndsipa_pomu wrote:
           | I used to love the Schneierfacts, I mean I still do, but I
           | used to as well.
           | 
           | They were obviously a bit more niche, but that made them
           | funnier to my mind.
           | 
           | > For Bruce Schneier, all zeros of the Riemann zeta function
           | are trivial.
        
       | proxysna wrote:
       | I remember having a "Chuck" plugin installed on our Jenkins back
       | in mid 2010's. Gave me a Chuckle every time i forgot it was
       | there.
        
       | dnw wrote:
       | Chuck Norris hasn't died, he summoned the death. RIP.
        
       | polothesecond wrote:
       | Very cool thread. Middle school jokes and culture wars. I'm so
       | glad we don't allow political threads on here and can instead
       | bask in the intellectual might of people talking about TV man the
       | did/didn't like.
        
       | snerc wrote:
       | Walker told me I have AIDS https://youtu.be/pQZX0nzvMag
        
       | Kye wrote:
       | He kicked it, but the consequences of his long-standing support
       | of the march toward hatred and division linger on.
       | 
       | The section on his Wikipedia page is helpfully succinct if you
       | want to understand the basis of my not joining in the japes and
       | jokes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Norris#Political_views
        
       | racl101 wrote:
       | Chuck Norris decided to take the final sleep on his own. Death
       | tried years ago, but Chuck didn't feel like it.
        
       | u1hcw9nx wrote:
       | Chuck Norris promising the USA will have 1,000 years of darkness
       | if Obama wins in 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ae9b-B_EQ0
        
         | zorobo wrote:
         | Still 986 years to go!
        
       | northlondoner wrote:
       | He was a hero in tech and science as well. I recall during my PhD
       | studies, we always create new memes on our field that Chuck can
       | finish things in no time. In loving memory of Chuck Norris.
        
       | northlondoner wrote:
       | The only person that can train LLMs with his mind.
        
         | monista wrote:
         | Strange if you never heard about Bruce <s>Lee</s> Schneier.
        
       | esher wrote:
       | Chuck Norris counted to infinity. Twice.
        
       | SeanDav wrote:
       | The earth was too scared to have him on it anymore...
        
       | k6hkUZtLUM wrote:
       | I remember trade chat (/2) in wow on the Medivh server would
       | often turn into Chuck Norris jokes. There were always about how
       | bad ass Chuck was. How tough and impossibly manly.
       | 
       | One of my favorites.
       | 
       | Chuck Norris jumped into a lake. Chuck Norris didn't get wet. The
       | lake got Chucked.
        
         | encom wrote:
         | Trade chat (like /b/) was never great, but one of the first WoW
         | addons I developed was designed to filter out garbage like
         | this, and make idling with your guildies in Ironforge
         | tolerable.
         | 
         | It's funny for a while, in measured amounts, and then it
         | becomes tiresome.
        
           | mewse-hn wrote:
           | Anal [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]
        
       | jiveturkey wrote:
       | Chuck Norris doesn't die. He prepares himself for the next
       | battle, with Jeff Dean.
        
       | ferfumarma wrote:
       | https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/01/13/chuck-norris-homophob...
        
       | saltyoldman wrote:
       | He'll be missed. I basically grew up on his movies.
        
       | arduanika wrote:
       | "Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and
       | the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be
       | immortal."
       | 
       | -- Chuck Norris
        
       | cwoolfe wrote:
       | Chuck Norris died? I didn't think that was possible...
        
       | dark-star wrote:
       | Chuck Norris didn't die -- Death just became Chuck Norris
        
         | theandrewbailey wrote:
         | Death did not come for Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris came for
         | Death.
        
       | yawpitch wrote:
       | He hasn't died, he's just moved on to an eternity of roundhouse
       | kicking Satan.
        
       | jongjong wrote:
       | The headline is incorrect. Chuck Norris didn't die, he
       | transcended.
       | 
       | Also, the grim reaper hasn't yet gathered the courage to tell
       | him.
        
       | dbacar wrote:
       | I even remember the times he was not vintage yet, but the real
       | thing. Maybe even watched his famous fight scene with Bruce Lee
       | on the cheap cinemas back in the day. Good days. RIP .
        
       | uwemaurer wrote:
       | 17 years ago we launched the first "Chuck Norris Facts" app for
       | Android (March 2009). It was a big success until end of 2010 when
       | Chuck Norris sent his lawyers after us to get the app removed
       | from the Android market. Chuck Norris won, we took the app down
        
       | NoSalt wrote:
       | What in the Hell could possibly take down Chuck Norris??? We are
       | all DOOMED!!!
        
       | teeray wrote:
       | Jokes aside, this octogenarian was living his golden years
       | enviably. He was summiting peaks last fall, doing 500 lb barbell
       | curls, and still sparring in his birthday video just 10 days ago.
       | We've all gotta go sometime, but the way Chuck Norris went out
       | was the way I'd want to go--able to do it all right up until the
       | end. He was a lot of folks' childhood hero, but that title is
       | freshly renewed in my eyes. I have new inspiration in my fitness
       | endeavors going forward.
        
         | maerF0x0 wrote:
         | > 500 lb barbell curls
         | 
         | ?
        
           | teeray wrote:
           | https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-2-oV5vk8q/?igsh=MWFtZmR5MHl.
           | ..
           | 
           | EDIT: acknowledged. fake.
        
             | threetonesun wrote:
             | Those are... very fake weights. Or AI. But probably just
             | fake weights.
        
             | pesus wrote:
             | He forgot to actually curl it. Like someone else said, the
             | weights are almost certainly not actually 500lbs. Even
             | elite bodybuilders and strongmen in their prime don't come
             | close to curling 500lbs, let alone an old man.
             | 
             | Looking at the video, if it was legitimate, it would be
             | 585lbs (6 45lb plates on each side plus a 45lb bar), which
             | is even less believable.
        
             | yunwal wrote:
             | To be clear, this is 100% a joke.
             | 
             | The world (at least as of a few years ago), was about half
             | that weight.
             | 
             | https://old.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/pdklnx/l
             | e...
        
       | brailsafe wrote:
       | Anyone remember barrens chat?
        
       | Scotrix wrote:
       | Chuck Norris doesn't die.
        
       | nasaeclipse wrote:
       | Chuck Norris didn't die. He simply moved to a parallel Earth that
       | needed him.
        
       | moron4hire wrote:
       | My mother told me, "Chuck Norris passed today at 86" and my mind
       | immediately went to, "I would never expect him to pass anyone on
       | the sidewalk at any slower speed."
        
       | donohoe wrote:
       | Chuck Norris doesn't upvote on Hacker News. His presence alone
       | sends posts to the front page. No more.
        
       | ncrtower wrote:
       | So many commenters here are, or choose to be, completely
       | obvlivious to the fact that Chuck Norris was a racist little man
       | who decried Obama becoming president, supported Trump through
       | both campaigns, and openly hated muslims and gay people.
       | 
       | Yeah, really tough guy.
        
         | tmountain wrote:
         | Yeah, I was pretty bummed with how Chuck Norris and Hulk Hogan
         | turned out in the end.
        
       | jstrebel wrote:
       | Death will soon realize that he messed with the wrong man.
        
       | monista wrote:
       | Chuck Norris haven't died, he just went to carry out the Last
       | Judgement of God (ant probably torture Satan on the way).
        
       | kelnos wrote:
       | I had no idea he was in his 80s (older than my parents would be),
       | and that he did Walker, Texas Ranger when he was in his 50s. The
       | final episodes aired when he was 61! That's nuts.
       | 
       | Not a fan of him in real life (based on how he portrayed himself
       | publicly), but I do find his level of physical fitness even more
       | impressive back in the 1990s (and even up until his death), given
       | his age.
        
       | aanet wrote:
       | From one of my friends:
       | 
       | "Chuck Norris didn't die. Death had a near-Chuck Norris
       | experience."
       | 
       | RIP
        
       | DDayMace wrote:
       | he's not really dead, one of his morning push-ups just launched
       | him into a new universe.
        
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       (page generated 2026-03-20 23:01 UTC)