That being said, I must admit that I have a slightly (maybe
more than slightly) warped attitude towards
. . . well . . . things. One of
my favorite television programs is South Park. I used to own three volumes of Truly Tasteless Jokes. So after the past
months of you-can’t-make-this-up stuff, I couldn’t help myself. And, since a little rationalizing always
helps when you can’t help yourself, one of the purposes of this blog is to show
readers that they aren’t the only people in the world who have held “the
opinions [they are] afraid to express”.
The Media, social and otherwise, has been bristling with
everyone’s opinions. Some are about Josh
himself, but what stood out for me was that what people were really interested
in was the hypocrisy rampant in the situation.
Josh, of course, is a hypocrite for presenting himself as a fine young
Christian man, who just said no until he got married. His parents are hypocrites for hiding their
son’s crimes in the first place, then presenting themselves as examples of
Christian parenting and giving opinions on what they see as everyone else’s
sins. (Michelle Duggar has been speaking out against a bill protecting the
rights of LGBT people, saying its passage would lead to coed restrooms which
would lead to predators lying in wait for innocent women and girls.) Their church leaders who helped them cover up
are also hypocrites for reasons too numerous and obvious to mention.
Then there are those who call these critics even bigger
hypocrites, saying they are presenting themselves as loving, forgiving people
who even called former bishop Heather Cook a beloved child of God after she
killed a man when she was texting while driving drunk, but are not doing the
same for Josh because he does not agree with their liberal views.
This gave the liberals a chance to express shock that they
are being made victims.
Maybe we could settle this by
bringing it to the experts.
How about a
reality show called The Biggest
Sinner?
Start with a panel of experts, maybe a couple of bishops
(Episcopal and Roman Catholic), a leader of the religious right, a prominent
Jewish leader (Jon Stewart?), Mormon Mitt Romney, and for the atheists, Bill
Maher. Maybe we could include Phyllis
Schafley and Gloria Steinem.
For a moderator, I can’t decide between Regis Philbin and
Nancy Grace.
In Round 1, the names of two sinners are given to the panel, for instance, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.
The experts decide who is the bigger sinner and give their reasons. “It was a tough choice, Reeg, but I’m gonna
have to go with Jim Bob rather than Michelle.
After all he’s the man and is the head of the house.” Whoever gets the most votes goes on to Round
2 against another sinner involved in the scandal, and so on until we get to the
Biggest Sinner of the Week.
The next week, the principal players in another scandal are
voted on. This could go on for several
weeks until the Final Challenge of all the winning sinners. By now, excitement has mounted and the
audience, both in the studio and watching on television, also casts votes. The finalist sinners have been brought in for
the Challenge (If they’re in jail, they are on satellite.) and the winner gets to
confess on national television and receive absolution from the panelist of his
or her choice.
I think Don Draper and the gang at Cooper Sterling would
love it.
