Jair the Gileadite judged Israel twenty-two years. He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Et cetera.

I think that most of us recognize that while people are far more complex than whatever list of likes, dislikes, or Compare-Me percentages one can accumulate on one’s Facebook profile, that the things one identifies himself by really do matter. In some ways, High Fidelity‘s Rob Gordon is not far wrong when he says “What really matters is what you like, not what you are like.” The things we like and the the things we do define us as much as the things we believe—sometimes more so. And not define us in the negative connotation of define.

If I’m a huge fan of Colin Meloy but don’t like the Decemberists, that says something about me. If I loved Zelda I but didn’t care for Zelda III, that also says something about me. If my favourite television show is All in the Family, that says something about me. And the things these tastes convey are not just shallow harmless pieces of trivia. Our tastes our better windows into our souls than our eyes are.

If we are what we eat, then we certainly are what we consume.

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