Tucker Carlson has always come across as a smug rich kid--and now we know that he's an arrogant and self-congratulatory gay-basher, too. One has to wonder how long MSNBC will keep this jerk on the air. C'mon MediaMatters and GLAAD--do your thing!
Plenty of observers have chronicled the Carlson story, in which he bragged about beating up a gay man, but here's a good wrap-up from Washington insider Steve Clemons, guest-blogging for Andrew Sullivan.
TCG thinks it's fine to keep order in public restrooms--sorry, Larry Craig!--but vigilantism and violence are never acceptable. (Which, come to think of it is, a good reason for having cops keep track of things, to protect everyone from thuggery, including gay cruisers, who need help, not a thrashing.)
But The Cable Gamer will simply add this to the Carlson story: What would Jesus Christ say to Tucker Carlson? I think I know: He would cite John 8, from the New Testament, in which the Lamb of God said, so memorably to a crowd of bullies: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone."
That would have been good advice for young Tucker. If an incident really happened, he should have called the cops, or a security guard, and let the duly constituted authorities handle the matter. Instead, he was a brutal punk. And still is, in his soul, as we can all see. Definitely a stone thrower.
God, of course, will always forgive anyone--after appropriate contrition, of course!
But the rest of us, with only our human power, should judge him, in our own lesser way. And judge him harshly. But we don't need to beat him up, of course, except with our clickers. We can just stop watching his fatuous TV show. That will go a long way toward wiping the smirk off Carlson's mouth, although he will still be a rich kid.
Finally, The Cable Gamer believes that God is with us, everywhere--even in the bathroom. The Almighty is totally pure, of course, and can never be defiled (the filth will always washed away immediately) but at the same time, His presence is always with us, whereever we might be.
So we might all reflect on the Divine message of redemption: We never know what will happen in someone's heart, so long as it is beating, and so to repeat, there's still time for Larry Craig and Tucker Carlson. And all the rest of us sinners. But the path to salvation begins by admitting mistakes and apologizing for them.
Come to think of it, that would make a good show for MSNBC! A show that legitimately wrestled with issues of sin, and, just as importantly, forgiveness.
But nah. The secular liberals who run that channel would never permit it. They would rather have Carlson as an apologetic gay-basher--and you can bet that Carlson will be groveling soon enough before gay groups, attending "sensitivity training" alongside Isaiah Washington--than as a sincere Believer, delivering a genuine moral voice on the air. Can't have that!
But The Cable Gamer thinks that there's a market hungering for just such a show--to be led, say, by someone such as Rick Warren. Let's get his take on the news. Not to argue, not to condemn, but rather, to observe and opine, from a Bible-based perspective. Nobody would have to watch, or agree, of course--but I'll bet that a lot of people would.
