The Very Last Blogpost

I will admit blogging about a book for a Biblical ethics class was more difficult than I realized, especially when it seems like I keep repeating myself about the book. But honestly there is only a couple things from the book that applied to the course, sexuality, the role of women and gender roles, as well as general ethical morals. As diificult it was to write blog about this book, the book itself, although a bit shocking and vulgar, it was a good read.

I still don't understand why there is such a person out here. Half of me wants to think that this guy just made it up as like a funny joke. The other half of me thinks that this is all true and this guy is either an idol among men and either a celebrity or a jerk among women. The stories didn't stop at the end of the book. There was also an appendix.

The first appendix is on Tucker Max's scale of women. Now I know that girls will rank guys in hotness, it is no surprising that guys do to. One guy friend had a scale on how many drinks it took for a girl to be attractive. So it doesn't surprise me that Tucker Max has a scale of attractiveness for women. However, reading the scale and the requirements to be ranked, I know that I would not want to be subjected to such requirements. One ranking says that specific ranking is the lowest of the low. Why would women want to know that there is a ranking system like that. I just don't understand, maybe I'm coming from a different world than Tucker Max (which I probably am,) but I do not think that any woman would want to be ranked.

Like we discussed on discussion board about how there are good things and then after the Fall, there has been a perversion of the good things. The Tucker Max ranking scale seems to be a perversion of beauty to the eye of the beholder. It only makes sense. There is a beauty in every human being because of the way they are made. The very complexity of DNA gives me proof that every human is made so specifically that there is a beauty there.

The second appendix is The Tucker Max Drunk Scale. Being in college, there are parties and there are drunk people at parties, but I've never seen or read anything like this before. He describes the different levels of drunkenness that he and his friends made up. It just blows my mind that this is considered to be okay for some people.

All together, this was a good book because it showed me a true perversion of all things good and how unethical that lifestyle. You think it's all fun and games, but then looking closely at the hedonistic lifestyle, there is little fulfillment in that life.

Penultimate Story

As the book winds down, Tucker Max closes his never ending slew of douchebaggery with the tale of his Book Tour. This will be the second to the last post. The last post will be wrapping up the book's epilogue and any last comments. As much as this book has been entertaining, it has also been horrifying and I simply need to give it back to the person I borrowed it from. But, anyhow, Tucker Max goes on a Book Tour with three of his friends. They help him sign the books and keep him company. I can only imagine that if a Book Tour is signing books, reading segments of your book, and letting everyone know who you are, it would be a rather lonely trip. Well, probably not for Tucker Max, he can always find someone to be with.

Surprisingly, and yet, not surprisingly, Tucker Max had more male fans and not as many female fans. I mean, it makes sense. To guys, Tucker is the ultimate hero. The one who got away from clingy girls. The one that pulled off more crazy stuff than any of them could dream! He and his friends go to a bar in North Carolina and instantly Tucker is surrounded by guys who want to talk with him, do shots, and get pictures. Normally, he would have been honored, but he was kind of annoyed that he didn't get two minutes to talk to a girl. Jeez, the problems this guy has to put up with! Anyways, his friends had so much fun. As Tucker is entertaining all the male competition in the room, his three friends were chatting up all the females in the bar. Lucky them! They got a good wing-man out of the trip.

Other stories followed because Tucker Max just can't stop. From town to town he goes all across the Eastern seaboard and beyond. He signs books, sleeps with girls, and continues to lead his luxurious life of hedonism. Every story is the same though. Nothing changes. I totally understand why he has more male followers than female followers. A girl has to have very little, or no, self-respect in order to want to be in the line of girls he hooks up with.

Looking at it from the girls perspective, this should not be how you live your life ethically. From a Biblical ethical point of view, your body is something sacred. It was not meant to be "abused" in this way. With this lifestyle, you open your body up for disease and deterioration. I do not think that is an ethically way to treat your body, however, some girls will justify and rationalize that it is. I can't change their mind, so...so be it.

The male fans in this story exhibit hero-worship towards Tucker Max and follow him around like an idol. This is where the Biblical ethics come in. Hero-worship towards anything else but God is idolatry. When all you care about is getting affirmation from that hero, your focus is no longer on leading the ethically moral life. Life is now skewed in such a perverse way that everything disassembles before your eyes. We were not meant to live this way, but we do not listen.

As his usual, Tucker Max continues living his life as he does. I am hoping that one day he will learn.

Tucker Max Does Have a Conscience

When I read this story, I was astounded. Wow, Tucker Max does have a conscience after all, under all those layers of "not-a-very-nice-name." In the story entitled "The Worst Tucker Story Ever," he is talking to at least two girls. One of the girls, a regular booty call, calls Tucker saying that she was pregnant. They talk about what they can do. "Sarah," the girl who was pregnant, told Tucker that she would have to get an abortion because she was starting chemotherapy for her ovarian cancer.

Before this conversation, Tucker got called by another booty call. After the conversation with Sarah, the other girl, "Mimi," comes over. Tucker feels bad so he takes care of Mimi, but Mimi comes with the news that she was five months pregnant and miscarried, her husband blames it on her.Tucker realizes the difficult situation he is in. He tries to deal with both women with a pros and con list. Mimi wins. But Tucker's subconscious won't stop leaving him alone.

Tucker Max does have a conscience. The whole while he is with Mimi, his conscience won't let him alone. In away this is good because our conscience is an innate moral compass. Earlier in the book, I had honestly given up on Tucker's moral compass. It wasn't there at all. I mean, even if Tucker's conscience was only there for a little bit of time, like 10 minutes. It was still there.

To lead an ethically moral life, we have to or choose to listen to our conscience because that is how we help ourselves decide what is right and what is wrong. It can be difficult at times, but it is important that we think through what is right and what is wrong. In the end, Tucker Max helps Sarah out a little, but does so because he felt guilty and disgusted with himself. He finishes this story by saying that he hopes that they serve beer in hell. Honestly, if they did serve beer in hell, I would hope that they wouldn't give Tucker Max any. But that is just my response to him and his book.

This is the 3rd to last post so I will be going over the last two short stories in this book. :)

Me, Myself and I

One thing that brings all these stories together in I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is Tucker Max, not because he was involved in every story, but because he was constantly working for affirmation and attention from the other characters involved in the story. Tucker, even though he has had some embarrassing moments, like the appendix story, never actually takes a second to realize that he is not the center of the universe. But honestly, Tucker Max always has to be the one who wins. He always has to be the center of attention and when that is taken away from him, his life suffers. In one particular story in which Tucker goes 3-minute dating. He can't just help out his friend, whom he is going with and be a good wing-man. No, Tucker Max has to be the center of attention. At the 3-minutes dating, the guy in charge made a joke. "Guys, if you get confused as to where t go next, just follow the guy in front of you."

Tucker, being the raging asshole he is, blatantly shouts, "The last time I did that I got syphilis." From that moment on Tucker Max was dubbed "That Guy" (Max 284). He gained affirmation by gaining all the attention in the room. He goes through the whole ordeal, making fun of the women, who were coming to have fun. Tucker Max goes through the entire evening making fun of the system, making himself the constant center of attention. He enjoys talking about himself and this is very much the essence of Tucker Max.

He insults the other women in order that he might be amused. How does one person has so little feelings for the rest of the world? How does one person think that this is an okay way to live? It doesn't take much to think of others before yourself.

Where Tucker Max might have a conscience

For the past three blog posts, we talked about Tucker Max's "moral" life, Tucker Max's treatment of women, and Tucker Max's close shave of vulnerability and humility. In this blog post, I will be looking at one story, titled "Tucker Has a Moment of Reflection; Ends Poorly." Most of the stories in this book are frustratingly similar. I say "frustratingly" because it would seem that there is the never-ending cycle of women who throw themselves at Tucker, yet he does nothing to uphold their human dignity, instead treating them as if they are not human beings, but just toys for his enjoyment.

So, in the story, "Tucker Has a Moment of Reflection; Ends Poorly," Tucker receives a phone call from one of the many girls he calls to come over late at night. They fool around 30 minutes before her date and then she leaves to go pretend to be happy on the blind date. Tucker stays in his apartment drinking beer, watching Iron Chef, and thinking (always a bad idea.) At first, Tucker was reveling in the fact that he had fooled around with a girl before her date. These happy thoughts soon turned to thoughts of guilt. Tucker felt bad for the guy who was taking his booty call out on a date. Then it hit Tucker. What if that has happened to him? If it's happened to other guys, why couldn't it happen for him? Tucker's worldview was shaken, turned upside down and beaten over the head. Tucker's thinking quickly comes in a full circle: if he can fool around with girls before dates, why can't other guys do that to him? It would only make sense. The horror of this happening to THE Tucker Max was appalling to him. Tucker Max then feels so bad for himself that he continues to be a jerk to other human beings with no regard for human dignity.

Human dignity is what separates us from animals. When someone disregards the important of human dignity, that someone is lowering their fellow human beings to a status the same as an animal. This kind of humiliation and violation is similar to what we are talking about with the cloning this next week. The possibility of human cloning for organ donation or surrogate mother. There is no value of human dignity here. If they are just like us, shouldn't they have the same rights as us. This may not be the same situation but the value of human dignity is the same.

Needless to say, Tucker Max finally got over his horrific realization and as always, rolled with the punches and continued on with his life in the never-ending cycle of The Tucker Max life. There is no other way to describe his life except for The Tucker Max life. I keep hoping that maybe he will realize that there is more to life,  but the more I read, I don't see any sign of reform yet. But I'm not done with the book. Maybe there's hope?

Vulnerable and Humility

So I've pointed out the Hedonistic way of life Tucker Max lives. I've also showed you the way Tucker Max treats women. In this blog post, I'm going to review one story, Tucker tells, that shows himself in a humiliating and vulnerable light. We can only hope that he will learn from it.

The story is when Tucker ruptured his appendix. He was filming with MTV and he had major pain in his abdomen. He put off going to the hospital because he was filming with MTV until some of his doctor friends persuaded him to go the ER because one should never underestimate internal pain. After several tries of trying to get looked at at the ER, Tucker leaves, not willing to wait in line. Unfortunately for Tucker, the pain just gets worse. Of course, being in pain doesn't help his respect for other people. In fact, Tucker is just as rude when he was in pain than he was in not in pain.

After a rude interaction with some nurses, Tucker Max has a full physical examination with a doctor, including a prostate exam. Needless to say, I think Tucker Max was feeling a little uncomfortable. I mean, the way he lives his life, it's basically all about sex and that can't get out of his head. They decide to prep Tucker for surgery so, of course, there has to be a catheter (medical protocol and all that.) With a prostate exam and a catheter to boot, I would say Tucker Max's meter of humiliating things was getting pretty full at this point. He ended up not needing surgery so had to endure the pain of the removal of the catheter.

This didn't stop Tucker from being a total jerk to the nurses and the doctors. You'd think that being humiliated would somehow make him look at his life and somehow be humbled a little. But, you would see that this is Tucker Max and he doesn't care about that. It seems to me that the human gut reaction to do when you are poked and prodded into a humiliating and vulnerable state, we tend to lash out at the others around us. This may be the human gut reaction, but that should not stop us from respecting one another as human beings. It's like the Golden Rule, the universal moral code. We should treat others with respect just as we would like them to treat us with respect...apparently, Tucker Max hasn't exactly understood that rule yet. But we can always hope....right?

Women in Tucker Max

This week and next in Biblical Heritage we were talking about gender roles and the ethical views the Bible gives in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Tucker Max book, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, there are several outlandish stories of Tucker's one-night stands, girlfriends, and any random girl that was a hook-up after too many tequila shots.

One part of gender roles is how one see women and men. Tucker Max seems to see the girls he flirts with, sleeps with, and, in other words, exploits, as notches on his headboard. Deep down, there is a little piece inside of me that wants to think that Tucker Max does not see the women as such, but the stories in his crazy book seem to lean towards that view.

You're probably wondering (like me,) why on earth would women flock to this guy, throw themselves at him, sleep with him, and then be turned out like some dirty laundry? Oh, we're done now, you can go. Don't expect a call or text later. If this man is as famous as he seems in the book, you'd think women would know that this guys is a world-class womanizer.

In one particular story, however, Tucker Max meets his match and questions whether this was okay to do to a girl. "Girl Beats Tucker at His Own Game" is about a girl who goes on a couple dates with Tucker. At this point, Tucker admits that he hadn't had sex in a week and therefore was, of course, going to agree to a second date. At this point, the girl agrees to sleep with Tucker, but on her terms. Tucker agrees because he's just interested in sleeping with her. Later on in the night, Tucker finds out that sleeping with this girl means completely humiliating her and hurting her in the process.

While reading this story, I was totally baffled. I understand that Tucker Max is a womanizer and is proud of it. But I honestly could not understand why the girl wanted to be treated this way.

I started thinking about how ethically we should treat fellow human beings. Like the video of John Piper that Dr. Novakovic showed us in class, we are a society that doesn't treat women or men poorly. A husband is more likely to go downstairs and check if a burglar is in the house. We are taught as kids to treat others with respect. Shouldn't this follow through to adulthood? Yes! But in some cases, like Tucker Max, the lifestyle of a hedonist seems so much more enjoyable than a life of respect and tradition.

Tucker Max and A Moral Life?

“My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole” (Back Cover of I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell). Reading the back of this particular narrative, one can only hope that this man, Tucker Max, is elaborating and telling one tall tale. Unfortunately, this book is completely true. This man lives a life of drinking, sleeping with women, and being an all-around professional jerk. In other words, Tucker Max does not live an ethical, moral life.

The opening story, “The Famous Sushi Pants Story,” gives a wonderful illustration of how Tucker Max lives his life in the most hedonistic way. In this particular story, Tucker tries to see how high he can get his Blood Alcohol Content by blowing on the portable alcohol breathalyzer(Max 1). In the course of this event, he describes his surroundings, where he is, who he is in company with, and other details like that. As the night progresses, he becomes consumed with the attention he gets from blowing a higher BAC. The night progresses so that Tucker Max is very drunk. When this man is drunk, he gets belligerent and not very polite to his fellow human beings. In this story, Tucker Max exhibits behavior of a proud individual who won’t take no for an answer, who has to put down his fellow human beings so that he ends up on top.

To live the good life, one must achieve happiness as says Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics). One might say that Tucker Max is a happy guy. He achieves happiness through drinking excessively, sleeping with many women, exploiting the women, and never taking no for an answer. This is Tucker Max’s life! This is who I will be looking at and whether he lives an ethical, moral life.