day off

- today was my day off. I did nothing, and now it's over. Bleah.

- "Democracy encourages the majority to decide things about which the majority is ignorant." - John Simon

- Insane characters are always the most interesting. Mel Gibson on Conspiracy Theory. The Joker. The Irishman from Braveheart. Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys. Hamlet. The Fool in King Lear. Insanity is entertaining. Insanity is intriguing. Because it is outside the realms of normality, it is strangely compelling. And usually funny, and always more frightening.

- Okay, so I've been reading this Baptist History book by Beller, a Christian and a pastor, and I really am having some problems with it. I don't like his style at all. The information is good... if I could trust it. I know that sounds bad, but Beller doesn't give evidence. He gives conclusions. This book would never fly in academic/secular circles, which is what I'm more or less accustomed to. It has great information, but I have no idea if that information is correct. He constantly addressing his topic in a completely noncritical fashion, and then makes statements rather than arguments.

On the other hand, Beller is (I would assume?) writing to a Christian crowd who is going to accept his ethos, rather than to secular peers of the field, so it's hard to say that his manner is weak. The majority of his audience probably doesn't want to hear conflicting reports about Roger Wiliams.

Maybe I'm just tainted, but for over four years now, I've been hearing that texts need to be read critically. People lie to their diaries. People lie on their taxes, in their letters, in their journals, so you cannot accept anything penned by a man as 100% fact. You read everything cirtically, comparing texts to texts to verified accounts. Again, Beller's book is focused on a different crowd, but I'm having a hard time accepting what I'm reading as truth. In other words, while he is giving me a lot of information, it is not something I'd feel at all confident is utilizing as evidence against a secular historian in a debate on the nation's religious origins.

- I have to go ring shopping soon. A friend at work told me her aunt owns a jewelry shop and that if I tell her (the aunt) that I know her niece, she'll give me a deal. I doubt it's true. Life isn't like TV.

- Why... so... serious?