Althouse: "The anti-Americanism of Jackie Chan."

January 12, 2013

"The anti-Americanism of Jackie Chan."

"He is passionately political, a staunch defender of the Chinese Communist Party and harsh critic of anyone he sees as opposing Beijing. Today, that includes the United States."

42 comments:

ndspinelli said...: His agent was just rushed to the hospital after suffering a massive stroke.; 1/12/13, 9:13 AM
edutcher said...: Luckily for him, the days of his big movies are probably over. He pretty much did a Ditzy Twits on himself.

And sounds like one of those people from the 30s saying Adolf, Joe, Benny, and Hidi had the right idea.

Wonder if this love of the guys in the Forbidden City happened before or after Hong Kong passed from British hands?; 1/12/13, 9:17 AM
Phil 314 said...: Now that he's relegated to juice commercials he's free to speak.; 1/12/13, 9:18 AM
Unknown said...: What a relief to know I never voluntarily gave him any money.; 1/12/13, 9:19 AM
Humperdink said...: Jackie Chan, newly minted member of the Michael Moore/Thomas Friedman wing of the Democrat party.; 1/12/13, 9:20 AM
Anonymous said...: He's burnishing his credentials for an honorary doctorate in humanities from UW.; 1/12/13, 9:22 AM
Christopher said...: Given what Jackie Chan has said about his own people to justify Communist Policy (i.e. that they need to be controlled) I imagine "useful idiot" is an appropriate term here.; 1/12/13, 9:23 AM
cubanbob said...: Does anyone really expect a high profile Chinese not to tow the party line?; 1/12/13, 9:23 AM
Aridog said...: How about Mr Chan go live in mainland China. I suspect he's not very highly respected there since he's mostly been a dancing clown for Yankee film makers. He may not grasp that kow-towing to western barbarians is not merit worthy in his ancestral homeland.; 1/12/13, 9:31 AM
gerry said...: Red China stirs up international tensions when internal crises are mounting. Recently there have been riots in cities, farming communities have protested against local party overlords, and the party just recently handed power down to the next generation of gerontocrats.

Chan is a puppet performing as required for the homeoffice.; 1/12/13, 9:59 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: In all fairness to Mr. Chan, it would appear that it's a microphone that activates his brainwashing.; 1/12/13, 10:03 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Chan is definitely correct about the level of financial and political corruption in the U.S.

The outrageous banking/financial/derivatives scam is the biggest ripoff in human history.

Maybe he's right that the U.S. might have relinquished any right to carry on about justice in the aftermath of this nightmare.; 1/12/13, 10:11 AM
AllenS said...: I wonder what Jackie Chan and the Chinese in general think about the trillion dollar coin idea.; 1/12/13, 10:16 AM
edutcher said...: Shout, if you're right about that last point, Charlie's brother has a whole lot o' 'splainin' to do about Tianamen Square and all the Potemkin Cities the Reds are building not only in China, but now Africa.; 1/12/13, 10:58 AM
Joe said...: Jackie Chan spent most of his childhood at the China Drama Academy in Hong Kong which was a very rigorous school with little freedom. Interestingly, Sammo Hung went to the same academy; I wonder if his views mesh with Chan's.

I also found it telling that Chan got into legal trouble for illegal possession of a firearm. I suspect his embrace of the Chinese leadership is as shallow as many American actors' embrace of liberal leadership and is ultimately more about ingratiating himself with those in power than anything else.; 1/12/13, 10:59 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Every story about the trillion dollar coin I passed on, it was that instinctually repulsive. I kept seeing items and links all over the place and each one sparked my own stupid trillion dollar coin story to out ridiculous whatever might be said, and that failed because the ideas all seemed somewhat plausible in today's political-economic-cultural landscape.

If you were to coin one then why not 10 while you're at it?

Since the idea is to make money meaningless then why not 100 while you're at at making 10?

Okay, mint 100,000 or so, more or less, platinum coins and shoot them to disperse around Saturn amongst its rings. And whoever finds one and brings it back to Earth owns a very valuable coin indeed with a face value of a trillion dollars but an actual value that could far exceed that because this find will occur in the future where inflation has steadily eroded the dollar's value, but hey, in the coin world and in the art world, and the world of treasure hunts the value can be anything. It'll amount to the satisfaction Jean-Luc Picard feels in his moneyless society when he recovers an important archaeological item on his spare time.; 1/12/13, 11:01 AM
Anonymous said...: I didn't know Jackie Chan was Chinese. Things you learn...; 1/12/13, 11:01 AM
Anonymous said...: I thought 'Chan' was just abbreviated to prevent confusion with Carol Channing.; 1/12/13, 11:03 AM
Baron Zemo said...: Hey Jackie Chan can think what he wants. If he loves the commies he is no different than our President and most of the main stream media.

His time would be better spent taking acting lessons. He might have starred in a lot of corny movies but he has a long way to go to even begin to approach the sublime acting talenst of Hop Sing.; 1/12/13, 11:04 AM
jr565 said...: Jackie Chan, newly minted member of the Michael Moore/Thomas Friedman wing of the Democrat party.

Exactly. How are his views all that different from say the avergage lefty. Or, say, Thomas Friedman.
Remember all the recent talk about how quaint the contitution is by some on the left. and think about Chan talking about the negatives of too much freedom. The ideas are sympatico.; 1/12/13, 11:05 AM
Baron Zemo said...: Why should Jackie Chan care about your "little book?"

I mean don't be a cornball brother.; 1/12/13, 11:08 AM
William said...: I'd give Chan a pass on liking China better than America. I'm supporive of his idea that if you're Chinese, you shouldn't go around bad mouthing your own country in foreign climes. I wish American movie stars had the same attitude... His anti-Americanism sounded more like hyperbole than genuine dislike. I do take issue with his criticism of Taiwan, however. In the four thousand year old history of China, this is their first democracy, and it has achieved a standard of living that exceeds many western countries. There is far more to emulate than to criticize in Taiwan's example, and, if he doesn't know it, he's stupid.; 1/12/13, 11:33 AM
Methadras said...: If you hang around leftards long enough, their shit eventually starts to make you stink as well. Welcome to the fold Jackie, you impudent sucker.; 1/12/13, 12:10 PM
Revenant said...: "Chinese person is passionate defender of China" ain't exactly what I would call newsworthy.; 1/12/13, 12:22 PM
Astro said...: Really?
LMAO; 1/12/13, 12:29 PM
JAL said...: Too bad.

Must have lost something in tran$lating what how the United States benefited him.; 1/12/13, 12:38 PM
hombre said...: Well, there might be other terms for Obama, the other grads of Rich Daley's machine and appointees like Eric Holder who comprise the current Administration, but "corrupt" seems more apt than most.; 1/12/13, 12:57 PM
Cedarford said...: Not shocking that a patriotic Chinese or Russian would act 1st as an admirer of their own nation and people and take their side in most controversies.
We need a lot more rich and famous Americans to behave similarly. Enough with the celeb and billionaire schtick: "I'm ashamed of America but love the high life there and making money off my fellow citizens...Which I then take the max tax-deductable chunk I can and give to the Haitians and Africans in need, not Americans. So I can be a morally pure citizen of the world."

And overseas, I will publicly defend America, especially back when I was representing the nation in uniform..even when the foreigners criticism is not without substance and validity. Which we do concede to foreigners in private on occasion.

Jackie Chan is hardly incorrect about the disgusting spectacle of Ruling Elites of both Parties outed as corrupt whores of the corrupt Jewish and WASP rulers of Wall Street. It was on display for the whole world to see - the rotteness behind our own gleaming Potemkin villages of Manhattan and the power corridors of DC.
How no one was jailed, even punished, even had to pay the taxpayers restitution..

It will take decades to clean up America from LBJ, Reagans Voodoo economics, the vile corruption of the financiers and their lobbies, the neocons that made billions off wars like Feinsteins husband. The disgusting Pelosi, Tom DeLay, Inouye, Hastert, Frist, Friends of Bill, etc.; 1/12/13, 1:07 PM
furious_a said...: While Mr. Chan could show a little more gratitude to us round-eyes who ponied up for his buddy movies, at least he's a loyal Chinese national speaking up for his country.

OTOH, there's no excuse for Thomas Friedman's Durantyish toadyism.; 1/12/13, 1:38 PM
Mary Beth said...: Jackie Chan, shown here at a comedy show in San Diego, disparaged the United States on a Chinese TV show. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

I'm having a difficult time getting any further than this. They think Comic-Con is a comedy show?; 1/12/13, 3:23 PM
Anonymous said...: This is a guy that took the opportunity, as his son was receiving an award, to *belittle his son*.

In case it wasn't perfectly clear, the son was getting the award, not Chan.

I know people worship him, but I cannot relate to the feeling at all.; 1/12/13, 3:26 PM
Aridog said...: Shouting Thomas and Cedarford ...WTF?

Maybe he's right that the U.S. might have relinquished any right to carry on about justice in the aftermath of this nightmare.

Better we should have this and this?

Better Chan go live in the splendid land of mainland China, not Hong Kong [China's Potemkin City if there ever was one] and earn his living there, not here....you know, from the valiant workers in the rural countryside who are paid so highly they can afford his shows and movies. Oh, wait...

Those who think Asian Communism is somehow righteous and benign obviously missed a couple of our wars over that issue. Witness up close first hand how it works over there and come back and tell me how we're bad and they're Jim Dandy.

Between Piers Morgan [a mouth built just for blow jobs] and Jackie Chan [with the face that resembles a nasty crotch] we shall over come, right? Soon we can be just like China and the UK....won't that be grand?; 1/12/13, 4:41 PM
Aridog said...: BTW...there is a difference between saying good things about your homeland and slamming some one else's. Especially when one was not born in the claimed homeland...but in British Hong Kong long before the hand off.

In short: Mr Chan is a fake.; 1/12/13, 4:50 PM
Synova said...: Firstly... I don't think that more than a fraction of his wealth is from US sales.

Secondly... a Chinese man likes China best. Shocker.

Third... he's very *Chinese* in his attitude toward authority and always has been.; 1/12/13, 5:53 PM
Tibore said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/12/13, 9:04 PM
Tibore said...: *Shrug* A chinese man likes China over America. Shocker. Sure, his comments were hyperbolic and full of it, but I don't look to movie stars for wisdom. Otherwise, I'd grant some legitimacy to someone like Marion Cotillard and think 9/11 trutherism might have validity. Obviously, most of us know better than that.

The big nation that has the big impact on world events is the one that gets lions share of the attention and criticism. I don't like it, and I especially don't like all the baseless crap - there's enough honest criticism that has to be dealt with that it's just stupid to have to deal with the fake garbage - but at the same time it's just something that's expected. Just let this nation stick to its principles. You can't help idiots who make unfounded rips.; 1/12/13, 9:09 PM
Anonymous said...: It would have been more impressive if Chan had taken this stand of political conscience, if that's what it is, at the beginning of his career rather than at its end.

Another leftie-fascist creep, another hypocrite.; 1/12/13, 9:54 PM
Synova said...: It's totally different when an American does it. And I really wish a few more Americans got the thing about saving your criticisms for "at home" instead of airing them to the world.; 1/12/13, 10:03 PM
Revenant said...: not Hong Kong [China's Potemkin City if there ever was one]

I don't think you know what "Potempkin City" means. It is a fake model city that doesn't actually function.

Hong Kong is certainly unlike any other city in China, but the LAST thing it is is fake. It is, bizarrely enough, a shining example of what unbridled free market capitalism can achieve. It is one of the most "real", dynamic, and successful cities on Earth.

On a related note, they have far lower taxes and far more economic freedom than we do. They have (and have always had) less political freedom than Americans ostensibly do, but it just goes to show how overvalued the ability to vote is compared to the ability to work without government meddling...; 1/12/13, 11:11 PM
Aridog said...: Revenant said...

Quoting me: "... not Hong Kong [China's Potemkin City if there ever was one] ..."

I don't think you know what "Potempkin City" means. It is a fake model city that doesn't actually function.

Tell it to Cedarford, who was also addressed in the cited comment. I merely responded to his inaccurate earlier terminology, reference NYC, in kind. Guess you missed that...and the fact I used "city" not "villages." But thanks for your concern and all that. Oh, BTW...the word is spelled without the "p."; 1/13/13, 7:06 AM
Aridog said...: Synova said ...

Secondly... a Chinese man likes China best. Shocker.

No surprise at all, but that isn't my point. However the little entertainment toad just had to call the US the "most corrupt" etc. while praising the glorious mainland. All I've said is fine, let him stay there.

Even my criticisms of Asian Communists has not called them anything but Communists. I doubt you want to debate "corruption" vis a vis Chinese, Cambodian, North Korean, or Vietnamese Communist corruption.; 1/13/13, 7:16 AM
Douglas B. Levene said...: Chan is just a sell-out. The vast majority of Hong Kong Chinese have no love for the Chinese Communist Party. But Chan has figured that the market is much bigger on the mainland so he's sucking up to the Party bosses there. There's no ideology involved; this is strictly business.; 1/13/13, 10:26 AM