Behind The Chuck Norris Mystique
By now, your inbox has probably been visited a dozen or so times by an endlessly forwarded list of "facts" about legendary Walker, Texas Ranger star Chuck Norris ("Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried." etc etc), a litany compiled from the Random Chuck Norris Fact Generator. The LAT (by means of reprinting a Washington Post article from earlier in the week) tries to deconstruct the Norris Mystique, and who better to hold forth on the subject of the man's enduring appeal than the stoic actor's publicist?
While hardly an unbiased source, Jeff Duclos, who has been Norris' publicist since the last season of "Walker," chalks up Chuck Mania to Norris' "consistent persona."
"There are very few people who have projected that kind of image, that kind of mythical heroism," he says. "People, especially young men, appreciate the underlying principles of that character, the morality, the dignity, the sense of right and wrong."
We lost track of whether he's talking about the fictional ranger or the actor, but there you have it: Chuck Norris is kind of like Jesus, but instead of dying for your sins, he will karate-kick you in the face until you achieve salvation.