Apr 10, 2023 4 min read

I’ve never been one to quote scripture; I hear too many politicians using Bible verses out of context to appeal to certain blocs of voters. But today I’m going to quote a verse I think particularly cogent in relation to a news story that broke Wednesday.

Tanner Cook, 21, was shot in the abdomen at a Virginia mall on April 2 by a man who didn’t see the humor in the “prank” Cook and friends were capturing on cellphone video. Police said Cook was playing the phrase “I think you smell!” on his phone using Google Translate when he approached 31-year-old Alan Colie, who was picking up food from DoorDash. Colie reportedly told Cook to stop several times, tried to walk away and swatted the phone away from his face. Yet Cook persisted and was only 6 inches away when Colie shot him. In Virginia, anyone 18 or older may carry a gun without a permit. Colie has been charged with aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm to commit a felony and discharging a firearm in a building. Cook may face charges of harassment. That’s the story.

Now here’s the Bible verse, from the Book of Hosea in the Old Testament: “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” You need be neither a biblical scholar nor a farmer to take its meaning.

Cook recovered sufficiently to speak to an NBC television affiliate after undergoing surgery, saying, “I was playing a prank and a simple practical joke, and this guy didn’t take it very well.” Cook’s farther told a reporter, “I support my son making a life for himself and trying to make a living. … He doesn’t want to hurt anybody. … Is he being outlandish sometimes to get attention and views and build an audience? Sure. Guilty as charged there.”

There is so much wrong with this story that I hardly know where to begin.

But let’s start with the fact that Cook was “trying to make a living” through his YouTube channel, “Classified Goons.” The channel holds videos of Cook acting like a jackass in public. YouTube pays creators a varying amount based on the number of views their content receives. As of this writing, the channel has slightly more than 45,000 subscribers. That’s about 3,000 more than before the shooting became news. More subscribers translates to more views. The videos include Cook pretending to vomit on Uber drivers, wearing a “Security” shirt while accusing customers of shoplifting in department stores and, as the title of one video describes, “Aggressively Sniffing in People’s Ears Prank!”

Only in America, right? Hardly.

At nearly the same time Cook was playing his prank, police in Japan arrested two men for posting a pranking video to social media. In it, one man uses chopsticks to shovel pickled ginger into his mouth from a communal bowl at a sushi bar. The poster said he thought the video was funny and wanted people to see it. Both men are in their mid-30s.

Used to be there was no internet, no YouTube, no social media. You couldn’t become an overnight global sensation and earn money by attracting millions of viewers to watch you act like a jackass. Used to be we understood that humor is relative. As comedian Mel Brooks describes it, “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”

Used to be that we understood that actions almost always carry consequences. Now the father of a 21-year-old shot after harassing a man defends his son. The 21-year-old says that being shot will not stop him from pranking. Used to be you couldn’t earn money by harassing people. Used to be that you didn’t have to assume that every Tom, Dick and Harriett might be carrying a gun.

But we have sown the wind.