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.