The Eyes of the Ranger (w/ Jesse Brenneman)

This episode is a little different. Rather than dissecting an influential conservative book written by long-dead intellectual, Matt and Sam are joined by Know Your Enemy's brilliant producer (and host of the very funny podcast, Tech Talk) to unpack a different kind of "text"—the hit CBS television show from the 1990s, Walker, Texas Ranger, starring the very much still-living Chuck Norris. Set in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Norris stars as Sergeant Cordell Walker, a member of the storied Texas Rangers who takes on drug dealers, Satanists, corrupt cops, and other bad guys, a task aided by his incredible martial-arts skills. The episodes of Walker discussed in this conversation were carefully curated by Jesse, and they provide a great deal of fodder for understanding conservatism (and America) in the 1990s, law and order politics, the American penchant for moral panics, how the Right has changed in the decades since the show aired, and more.

Sources:

Walker, Texas Ranger on IMDB

"Chuck Norris's code of honor," drawn from the Chuck Norris System of martial arts (Chun Kuk Do)

Chuck Norris, Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America (2008)

Aaron Cantú, The Chaparral Insurgents of South Texas,The New Inquiry, April 2016.

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