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.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
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. :)
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. :)
Friday, November 16, 2012
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.
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.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
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?
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?
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