how many l's in gullible?

2001.06.05
Qoute of the Moment
If I ever decide to give up a normal life, I am going to move to SF and open a combination restaurant and bondage shop. The restaurant will feature nothing but extremely spicy food and be called "Pain is a Flavor"
EB, 'household neanderthal'.
He also decided it would make a good brand of hot sauces and salsas.


Story of the Moment
(The moment being the early 1990s, actually.) When I was in middle school, my regional church had a conference and had comedian evangelist Mike Warnke there. He told the tale of his sordid past as a drug dealer and high priest in the satanic church (here's someone describing the Warnke spiel, jives pretty well with my experience.) The trouble is, this guy's story was almost a total lie. Here's a terrific, somewhat well-known study into his actual past. These guys-- Christians all-- went back, checked his story, chatted with the people who were with him when Warnke was 'involved with the Satanists'. And the drugs. Especially funny and damning is the sidebar: Why The Dates Don't Work. S'funny seeing him try to worm his way out of it too... I think it pretty much trashed his career, and he was pretty well-known.

It's amazing how Christians ate this stuff up. I certainly did. But-- and this is the only excuse I can think of-- I was younger then, and a much less critical thinker. I don't know what the adults' excuse is, but I do believe that 'true believers' are a lot more likely to fall for outlandish tales than skeptics who actively work to set standards of proof and plausibility.