Is Chuck Norris a Terrorist?
In his column at the far-right WorldNetDaily, he cites the national debt, Obama administration, and a lack of religious values, as reasons for putting out his call to action:
How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution?
He says Texas will be leading the revolution, he quotes Sam Houston, he remembers the Alamo, he promises to “run for president of Texas,” and… wait, it keeps getting better! He says he and Fox’s Glenn Beck (who says the Obama administration will put conservatives in FEMA internment camps) have organized a telecast called “We Surround Them,” in which “thousands of cell groups will be united.”
And, to top it all off, he puts in a promo for his next martial arts event, so folks can see “a good example of the raw Texas fighting spirit” that’s he is advocating.
Let me catch my breath. Ok. Wait. Ok. I can barely process how hilarious and absurd and infuriating this is. Chuck Norris is advocating violent revolution, and having a conference call about it.
If an animal rights activist, environmentalist, anarchist, or any other “domestic terrorist” had put out an oped like this, and organized a conference call with cells, A CONFERENCE CALL WITH CELLS, the Joint Terrorism Task Forces would be kicking in doors RNC-style.
Geez, an American Idol star was labeled a “terrorist” for giving money to the Humane Society.
Animal rights activists in California have been indicted as “terrorists” for home protests. Activists in Utah have been arrested as “terrorists” for allegedly releasing mink from fur farms. Environmentalists have been sentenced to 20 years in prison for “conspiring” to destroy property. And none of those people have harmed anyone, advocating harming anyone, or armed themselves to harm anyone.
This isn’t an isolated example of the blatant hypocrisy of the War on Terrorism. Right-wing groups, for example, aren’t on the Department of Homeland Security’s list of terrorist threats.
So why isn’t Chuck Norris a threat? Because the government crackdown on activists as “terrorists” has nothing to do with crimes or the potential for violence, it’s about prosecuting ideology and chilling dissent. Even though Chuck Norris is using extreme rhetoric, the ideology behind the rhetoric–religious fervor, capitalism, empire–isn’t a threat. It’s not dissent. It’s the norm.
And that’s why, no matter how powerful his roundhouse kicks, and how many “cells” he organizes, Chuck Norris is less of a threat than animal rights activists with chalk.