r/AskReddit • u/DrCompenomics • 13h ago

Who’s the best real-life example of “you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” and what happened?

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863

u/benneladoo 13h ago

Jackie chan was one of the few brave celebrities who spoke about the 1989 tianemman square attacks 

He later became the biggest lapdog of CCP 

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u/webkilla 11h ago

Iirc he became that lapdog because his son got in legal trouble, and this was how Jackie was able leverage his own celebrity status to save his kid. Selling out to avoid his son in prison

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u/MathematicianSuch234 11h ago

His son got done for possession of marijuana whilst the CCCP where doing a celebrity crack down and ended up in prison.

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u/Pinwurm 5h ago

CCP*.

CCCP is the USSR. 👀

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u/benneladoo 11h ago

Actually it's the reverse, when china announced their war on drugs, everyone laughed at it 

At that time, jaycee got caught and they asked Jackie to make him a public spectacle and he agreed . A lot of celebrities do get caught with drugs but they are hushed up 

Jackie made his son's trial a spectacle like oj simpson trial to make common men fear taking drugs 

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u/NomDePlumeOrBloom 8h ago

Let's not act like Jackie didn't stay tied to CCP China for his movie $$$.

He made the choice on how he was making money way before any that started.

Regardless, he's a piece of shit for many reasons beyond just this one.

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u/jaxspider 4h ago

Devil's Advocate here for the People's Republic of Common Sense. Its easy to say that from the luxury of your mom's boyfriend's basement. Not so easy when you are a Chinese citizen and rely on China's government to keep making money. And on top of that, have your good for nothing son get caught in a drug bust in one of the world's harshest countries. Any father who cares about their child would bend over backwards to save their child.

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u/Abacus118 2h ago

Jackie Chan is not a father who cares about his children.

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u/mbklein 11h ago

Leveraged his celebrity status to save the kid whose existence he acknowledged.

He’s got a whole other kid he abandoned.

•

u/Gutterflame 5m ago

Would be weird if he had a partial other kid... 

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u/dpezpoopsies 11h ago edited 9h ago

I've never understood his whole ''I will donate my net worth upon my death so my children can find their own way" thing. Maybe different culture, and I certainly understand not wanting to raise a bunch of spoiled entitled brats. That said, I think I'd personally be so saddened if I died with the ability to provide a saftey net that let my kids fully pursue their dreams and instead they were left to fend for themselves.

I get like maybe not the whole fortune, but not even some of it?

ETA: sounds like I fell victim to headline propaganda, and he has actually stated that he will leave some of his fortune behind

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u/Jetboy01 10h ago

Didn't he say something like he intended to leave them enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.

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u/renegadecanuck 9h ago

I thought that was Bill Gates who said it, but I could be mixing it up.

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u/graboidian 8h ago

Yea, I also confuse Jackie Chan with Bill Gates quite frequently. /s

5

u/adolfojp 8h ago

I mean, they were both known for their furniture oriented acrobatics.

1

u/21Rollie 1h ago

Gates will leave his kids 1% each of his net worth, which is more than enough to do absolutely nothing for the rest of time. Each one of his kids could become a billionaire easily with that kind of inheritance.

4

u/Porn-Again-Christian 6h ago

That was Warren Buffet.

There are variations on the quote, but he may have said it different times with slightly different wording.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10447262-i-want-to-give-my-kids-just-enough-so-that

https://www.azquotes.com/quote/689453

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u/dpezpoopsies 9h ago

Ah, if that's the case then I understand more. Maybe I just saw the headline bites that implied otherwise

21

u/Most-Mix-6666 9h ago

Context: Bill Gates said the same thing. That doesn't mean his children don't have multi -million trusts, just negligible compared to his fortune

4

u/WantsToBeUnmade 7h ago

My father in law did that to his children. He didn't even have a huge estate, he was just a dick.

He got mad at his eldest (my wife) because she wouldn't turn over medical proxy to his wife who had dementia (there was a reason my MIL didn't give him medical proxy to begin with.) And then he got angry at his youngest daughter because she wouldn't quit her PHD program to become his full time nurse.

So he left his half million dollar estate to his 84 year old neighbor.

Some people just don't see their kids as anything other than their property.

85

u/MathematicianSuch234 13h ago

I don't think he had much choice in the matter once Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese.

16

u/aaronupright 10h ago

For about 10-15 years post handover Beijing had a live and let live policy, mostly.

It was only as the Chinese economy grew exponentially that HK lost most of its leverage.

At time of handover the British economy was a little nder twioce the size of Chinas. Today the Chinse economy is 5 times bigger.

In 1997 Hong Kong on its own as 1/5 of China's economic output.

Today its about 2%, or in other words its the 6 largest city by GDP in China. Its not even the bigegst city in its immidate area, Shenzen which borders it is bigger economy wise.

15

u/benneladoo 11h ago

But many celebrities like andy lau, jet li, maggie chen etc keep them at arms length and nothing happens to them unless they go on a active hate train over CCP 

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u/KingDarius89 11h ago

...he's rich enough to immigrate anywhere he wants.

-6

u/shinypenny01 11h ago

To abandon his family?

28

u/Phazushift 10h ago

He fucking abandoned them anyways lmao.

4

u/jedifreac 7h ago

Nah, Chow Yun Fat remained outspoken even after. Jackie sold out. He's not a good guy.

136

u/chaosticfrog 12h ago

Don't forget he cheated, which resulted in a daughter, never supported her, then cut her off for being a lesbian

142

u/LuminoZero 10h ago

This is factually untrue.

The daughter herself confirmed that she’d never had a relationship with Chan and she didn’t want one.

The facts are she was his daughter, she came out as a lesbian, she was homeless. The tabloids created a story where none existed.

3

u/Pennsylvasia 3h ago

Is he despised in China? Or just among fans overseas? I ask because there are countless American celebrities and athletes who proudly support Trump and other conservatives and they are widely accepted domestically.

16

u/Mantis42 11h ago

He's a bad father and husband but supporting the CCP just puts him in line with hundreds of millions of Chinese people.

5

u/benneladoo 11h ago

Actually a lot of chinese celebs like jet li, andy lau etc keep CCP at arms length and they aren't bothered 

But jackie chan, donnie yen etc were told to bend but they grovelled 

7

u/MathematicianSuch234 9h ago

Jet Li was born in China, Jackie Chan was born in Hong Kong and spoke out against The CCP when Hong Kong was still a British territory, there is a big difference.

8

u/KingDarius89 11h ago

He basically betrayed Hong Kong, the city that made him famous.

6

u/Vivid-Cod-6608 9h ago

As somebody who loves watching hong kong films,it's interesting how you can clearly feel the different "eras". Right along the time when HK and China first started to merge plenty of films seemed to discuss a sense of paranoia and the feeling of lost identity and you can even notice how the previously kinda crass nature of Cantonese films slowly eroded to a more "publicly accepted" feeling. Imo the days of Hong Kong cinema is truly dead and it's sad to say but I don't think we can see another golden age in the future. The last great big hurrahs of Cantonese films to me will always be Infernal Affairs, Ip Man and Kung Fu Hustle

1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 6h ago

"OKAY, I LOVE YOU!!"

1

u/AscendingAgain 5h ago

Isn't Jackie Chan a notorious POS father?

•

u/40-percent-of-cops 53m ago

So still a hero

-1

u/crappilydesigned 8h ago

You can always count on Reddit to be sinophobic and russophobic.

-114

u/TorinEkenskolde 13h ago

The Communist Party has provided great leadership for China.

41

u/slam99967 12h ago

2 month old account and 5k karma? Bot account.

14

u/normal_hombre 13h ago

As someone has mentioned already in this comment section, the same could be said for Hitler/nazis. If WW2 wouldn't have happened, Germany would have become a world power much sooner, and would have spread nazi ideology much further than it did. Doesn't mean they were good for everyone, or good for the world in general.

24

u/Loki-L 13h ago

If WW2 hadn't happened they wouldn't have been able to cover up the failures of their economic policies and the enormous graft and self-dealings by the higher ups.

The ideology wasn't invented by the Nazis either fascism was going around at the time and Hitler was just one of the many who took it up.

Without him other fascist movements in other countries like the UK might have had a better chance.

-24

u/Ok-Eggplant-9081 12h ago

Wish i had been born in china :'(

5

u/GucciTheSnowman 11h ago

Not too late to leave.