Boy attends mass. Boy obtains eucharist (‘a small bread wafer blessed by a priest’). Boy goes about subjecting the ‘Body of Christ’ to a number of tests involving, well, boiling water, nail guns, swords and even ducks. This is the story of Webster Cook and his YouTube channel (fsmdude).
Duck And You’ll Miss It: Eucharist Desecration #13
Webster Cook, as you might’ve already guessed, is an atheist. Though rather than taking up that long held tradition on YouTube of long, boring, tired monologues – he has a different way of demonstrating his beliefs; through performance art.
The conflict centres around what this wafer is, and what this wafer means. In the same way we have been informed that ‘Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,’ Cook maintains that the wafer is just a wafer. Or, in his words: “a shitty tasteless piece of cardboard bread.” He points to the emotional reaction to his videos as further proof of irrationality.
Christians, however, tend to think of this wafer as The Body of Jesus Christ – either figuratively or literally. Certainly Catholics take this notion very literally. Speaking to WFTV.com, Father Migeul Gonzalez likens the act to kidnapping – for such is the voracity of his literal belief:
“It is hurtful,” said Father Migeul Gonzalez with the Diocese. “Imagine if they kidnapped somebody and you make a plea for that individual to please return that loved one to the family.”
What Would Jesus Do (Without His Body)?
At times Cook seems unintentionally philosophical. In the video description to Eucharist desecration #13: Duck (featured above), he writes:
Ducks like Jesus, a lot!
(If I give them hosts, are they now blessed? Are they Holy Ducks?)
I mean, if this wafer is literally the body of Christ should it matter that the individuals digesting it (in this instance, ducks) do not cognitively understand what it represents? Should they not still feel the effects and reap the benefits?
This case raises a lot of questions regarding freedom of speech and religious persecution, the scope of which is too large for my consideration here. It is worth noting that Cook has returned the Eucharist to the Diocese of Orlando. However it appears this isn’t enough for many people and a petition has been set up encouraging YouTube to remove the channel.
It will be interesting to see how this ends. YouTube have proven time and time again they don’t cave easily to public opinion. My expectation is that the channel will only be removed if it is demonstrated that YouTube’s terms of service have been violated, or that Cook has infringed upon the copyright of a third party without their consent. Perhaps Jesus can file a DMCA notice for unauthorised use of his likeness. I mean his body is all over it…
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When I played that video I LOL’d the very moment I saw the first wafer. He should have announced “body of Christ” so that the Ducks could better understand the sacrament. It actually reminds me of the video footage I have from the time I secretly baptized my own hamster in the Baptismal Font in the Saint Scholastica Monastery. In retrospect, I should have done that will all my hamsters because that particular one was then blessed with a particularly long life!
Wow, the ducks even understood that it was meant to be broken before eating it – “This is my body, broken for you”
Aren’t they meant to say a pray when giving the body of Christ? I’m not a Catholic, but in other Denominations they do.
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