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Young people are flocking to astrology

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#81

Post by mise_en_place »

figital wrote: post #63

There are epigenetic markers which can identify the season or perhaps even month you were born. If you might think there is a link between personality and birth order and that perhaps metaphor is useful in storytelling or group dynamics … then one could loosely link these concepts together and consider it more than something like a party trick.

Indians often do this with marriages, by checking the astrological compatibility. All of it honestly seemed like bs to me, if anything it’s job security for so-called soothsayers and astrologers, who have been grifting generations of families

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#82

Post by klabb3 »

maxbond wrote: post #53
ChatGTP wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment is strange...

Yeah, this is a "very intelligent woman in a PhD program" who has a hobby that she shares with her friends, that's no reason to suspect she and her friends can't discuss "important things." My understanding as an outsider is that astrology, tarot, etc function as a shared vocabulary and mythology to communicate about mental health and life's troubles. I think for most people the occult elements are largely aesthetic.…

> Throughout history people have used occult aesthetics to create a heightened experience.

Yes and even among hackers. Porting doom to a microwave oven for instance.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#84

Post by tebut »

LargeTomato wrote: post #37

My girlfriend is in the middle of her PhD program and is very intelligent but she's really into this stuff. She makes comments about it in public and I cringe. But the worst part is that half my female friends and all my gay friends love astrology. It's very weird.

Not everyone “believes in it”.

This comes off a puerile take, akin to puritan paranoia over DND and comic books.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#85

Post by Pamar »

RodgerTheGreat wrote: post #70

Mental health therapy carries significant social stigma and is not affordable to many people who need or want it. Having regular conversations with an astrologer is a cheaper, more accessible, and more socially acceptable alternative, even if it isn't as effective (or at all effective). The same principle applies to most forms of "alternative medicine"; people cope with what they have.

I agree in general. I think that if for some reason you do not want to see a therapist some kind of "alternative" (like Family Constellations or Jodorowsky's Tarots/Psychomagic may offer some solace.

The main problem is that (in my limited experience) they also conveniently offer solace but not much impulse to actually try to change things.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#86

Post by breuleux »

29athrowaway wrote: post #55
photochemsyn wrote: post #39

[flagged]

Or The Guardian, CNN, Fox News, and every highly profitable news outlet. They all follow the same playbook left by William Randolph Hearst: sensationalism, jumping to conclusions on behalf of the reader, etc.

Or nearly every small outlet, YouTuber, podcast and independent blog. They, too, are trying to be profitable, after all.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#87

Post by whakim »

nprateem wrote: post #66

I had an argument with a girl the other day who was adamant she wanted to know my star sign. I said "you tell me" and after 10 guesses I finally told her. She then went on to tell me what I must like etc - most of which was complete bollocks obviously. I told her her beliefs were akin to racism. Just because of when I was born she thought it was acceptable not to bother to treat me as an individual but as automatical…

While I agree that astrology is complete nonsense, you're not likely to win many people over when you treat stereotyping (which you've described here) and racism as equivalent.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#88

Post by the-great-assyr »

krapp wrote: post #20
Tainnor wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would certain planet not represent certain traits? That's really the best defense you can give? "It's not unconceivable, so it has to be true"?

Millions of people over thousands of years can't be wrong! Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be afk for a while because I recently caught a miasma and need to bleed the demons out from my bilious humors.

[dead]

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#89

Post by Lamad123 »

keiferski wrote: post #56

One of my favorite philosophy books is A Secular Age by Charles Taylor. It has a lot of interesting ideas, but a key one is that the “subtraction thesis” of secularity is wrong. By this, he means the narrative that secular society today simply “subtracted” religious beliefs and behaviors of yesteryear. Instead, these things have just morphed into different forms, with astrology being a prime example. It can be unders…

Conspiracy theories and pseudoscience in all its forms might also be aspects of this fake industrialized religiosity!!

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#90

Post by uwagar »

the reason this is happening is science and rational thinking has really let them down in their lifetime, especially during the pandemic. they (and people in general) dont know what is real anymore, what to believe any more when everyone seems to be making up things as they go along, especially the so-called experts. why not review everything they have access to but told by the experts not to pay attention? ie they want to do their own research now.
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