The internet is a space where jokes and memes can be generated at the spur of the moment, and the most interesting part about this process is that it can be any kind of content. Examples include Keyboard Cat, with Mashablereporting on the impact and history of the famous meme. A more recent instance involved the re-release of the critically panned filmMorbius, which was facilitated by people on the internet turning the titular character into an ironic icon through the fictional catchphrase 'it's morbin' time,' which ended up being a second-time flop according to Vulture.
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These examples highlight how impactful memes have become in modern culture, and the beginnings of this phenomenon can be traced back to the mid-2000s when Chuck Norris facts took the internet by storm.
The Texas Ranger with impossible skills
The Daily Dot reports that Chuck Norris Facts has an unexpected origin story that was engineered by Ian Spector, the creator of the meme phenomenon. Initially, Spector had created a website that listed facts about Vin Diesel following the release of the film The Pacifier in 2005, and the nature of the facts revolved around Diesel’s impossible skills and accomplishments.
Although there was a positive reaction to the memes the response to Vin Diesel was mixed, thus Spector put up a poll to expand onto other characters and the majority of the people voted for Chuck Norris. By that point, Norris had built a strong rapport as an action movie star who even played a strong antagonistic role against the legendary Kung Fu martial artist Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon.
How Norris became a meme king
The pivotal moment the meme capitalized on came through the television series Walker, Texas Ranger in which Norris took the lead role. The series follows Texas Ranger Sergeant Cordell Walker face against insurmountable odds with impossible feats of strength and intelligence. Spector’s incorporation of Norris on his website lined up perfectly with the image that Norris had built up over the years, and the rest was history.
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