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Young people are flocking to astrology

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Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#921

Post by Smoosh »

makeitdouble wrote: post #96
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.

> is very intelligent but she's really into this stuff. I was working on an astrology widget for a portal site, and read every advice in it every sign for months at lengths. None of the advice were ever highly impacting, nor seemed to have a chance to bring problematic results. At best it felt like a nice way to get some variety into someone's life ("wear something green today to improve your luck") In that light, I…

Yes, at that point it's no longer really astrology and more like rolling a die to decide what to do today.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#922

Post by tsukikage »

xormapmap wrote: post #871
tsukikage wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> respond to a woman’s nonsense flirtatious mysticism by lowering his own standard for discourse Flirting is an informal process for obtaining answers to questions about a potential partner in advance of any significant commitment or risk and without having to deal with matters of any particular importance; questions such as "how well do we communicate?", "do I enjoy spending time with this person?", "how do they per…

> Reacting to these situations with denigration and hostility is very unlikely to leave a good impression Why would I care if I left a good impression on a person using astrology to judge me? I wouldn't expect nor want things to go any further.

If you enjoy being cruel to casual acquaintances who haven't hurt you in any way I don't really know what else to tell you.

Meanwhile, it turns out astrology is pretty good at revealing people who mock and denigrate others for no good reason. Who'd have thought it? Maybe I'll start using that technique.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#923

Post by arisAlexis »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #827
varjag wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel it's more of a personal background issue. Do you really have objection with planets effects on personality but at the same time feel turning water into wine is plausible in the slightest? To a raised atheist all religions are not far removed from belief in Santa Claus. But to someone with religious people in the family cutting them off may come not as natural as of strangers with astrology brain.

water into wine is a fun story but pointless. but plenty of Luke and Matthew underpin Christian ethics, and have been the justification for building schools, charities, hospitals, etc. for centuries. people will hear what they want to hear, e.g. Loaves and Fishes vs. Angry Revaluation Jesus, but at least there is an attempt at altruism there. Astrology has all of the woo woo mythology without attempting any sort of a…

They have also been the justification for crusades, wich burning, science denial, Jew prosecutions and indulgencies.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#924

Post by yieldcrv »

pfannkuchen wrote: post #166
whakim wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don’t think astrology is stereotyping, it’s completely made up, not just an oversimplification or over generalization.

and so you can make up addendums

they start stereotyping a Scorpio and you say “those are the dark traits and we can choose to exist in the light, Scorpio’s light qualities are…”

its the blind leading the blind, but they want a leader. its the same position as in organized religions.

just wait till you hit it, you’re never going to get into these semantical debates again

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#925

Post by erfgh »

vhcr wrote: post #855
erfgh wrote: post #851

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If birds are dinosaurs, aren't some dinosaurs birds? So we can claim that birds existed 200 million years ago.

Your logic is flawed, it is true that birds are dinosaurs, and it is also true that some dinosaurs are birds (literally birds). But it is not true that birds existed 200 millions years ago. The oldest known bird fossils are around 160 million years old.

Why? If birds are dinosaurs then some dinosaurs are birds. So the ancestors of those dinosaurs are also birds and we can go further and further until the first living thing which was also a bird. So its descendants were also birds. So every living thing is a bird.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#926

Post by machina_ex_deus »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #503
varjag wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flag burning is a great example in fact: the outrage simply never reaches the levels it is with holy text burnings. Not to stone-the-tourists, burn-the-embassy levels of outrage: possibly (speculating here) because flag burning does not assault one's identity in a way similar to demonstrating the futility of one's beliefs. If we get to the punishments, things were clearly handed swiftly in the Old Testament. The Bibl…

> And come on, we know holy texts are full of things which are clearly wrong, in exactly the same way astrology is. The temptation to gloss over them as ornamental bits is huge, but to believers they are doctrinal. I can't think of any precise statements that are clear enough to be proved true or false. Usually holy texts have vague enough language that it's very much a case of interpretation. e.g. The Genesis creati…

Your view of the six days of creation is backwards. It is a story that is meant to justify the division into weeks and the concept of Shabbat, a day off once in a week.

It is probably the most widespread social policy that had ever been spread by any religion.

You can look everywhere in the world, including the non judeo Christian parts, and see the work week with a day off implemented.

It is such an intuitive and effective policy that nearly everyone forgot where it came from - but back then, it took a lot of effort to get people on board with it.

So don't judge the merit of the story by whether it's physically how the world was created, but by how the message and the consequences it teaches the reader have changed the world.

Every time you have the weekend to look forward to, remember that without some people believing God created the world in 6 days, you would be working non stop, or without the same day as your family to stop and rest.

It's definitely debatable whether that's how the world was created (I don't think it was that way), but the merits of the message of story are also undeniable. And it is the kind of message you can only get people initially on board with using drastic beliefs.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#927

Post by nmilo »

executesorder66 wrote: post #920
nmilo wrote: post #828

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slavery wasn't abolished by changing people's minds via rational debate. Did you forget we had to literally send people with guns to shoot and kill the people that held that belief. They only changed their beliefs after decades under new laws and culture. The research is out on changing people's beliefs, for most it usually causes them to dig their heels in and hate the other side even more. If you encounter a racist…

> Slavery wasn't abolished by changing people's minds via rational debate. I didn't say it had to be done via rational debate. > They only changed their beliefs after decades under new laws and culture. So they did do it after all. > The research is out on changing people's beliefs, for most it usually causes them to dig their heels in and hate the other side even more. If you encounter a racist person or a Nazi in r…

> Look at you trying to change my beliefs via rational debate. What a hypocrite.

LOL this is only proving my point. You're digging your heels and getting angrier without changing. You're right, I'm wasting my time.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#928

Post by LtWorf »

pyinstallwoes wrote: post #884
bombolo wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like any religion, they push it on you.

I've found political agendas to be much more of an aggressive nature, liberals, conservatives, vegans, they tend to push a lot more than your religious folk. In fact I've found most religious folk to have a sense of reservation and wisdom that understands not everyone will see the same way. I guess there's variance like any other thing.

Try being disabled. They look at you and think "easy target! Vulnerable person! Most likely lonely!"

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#929

Post by booleandilemma »

yadingus wrote: post #897
booleandilemma wrote: post #681

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, the "tolerate astrology or else women won't have sex with you" argument.

I think it's more "tolerate other people's harmless views". After all, science has undeniably caused more harm to the world than the belief in astrology.

Give me a break. Science has also saved far more lives than astrology ever has or ever will.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#930

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

achenet wrote: post #611
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #586

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You know, given the choice between ISIS and antivaxxers, I think I'll take the anitvaxxers. Say Christian nationalism rose to it's post-reconstruction prominence. Where would you put it? > agree that religious/spiritual groups can be good for social ties. Further: Religious humanitarian projects aren't insignificant and it's not like they're competing with non-religious aid. If aiding religions disappeared, nothing…

> Say Christian nationalism rose to it's post-reconstruction prominence. Where would you put it? I had to look up what this meant, so if I'm mis-interpreting it, please correct me. But from what I understand it's just ISIS but swap the Quran for the Bible? Not a huge fan of that idea. Really any fundamentalist religion ramming it's morality down my throat grinds my gears. Still prefer the anti-vaxxers. At least they'…

>> If aiding religions disappeared, nothing would fill the vacuum - because the vacuum is far from filled now.

>that's a strong claim and and I don't think your reasoning adequately supports it.

This puzzles me. My claim is self-evident. The vacuum of human need exists; only a tiny portion is filled.

Anyone who wants to supplant a religious outreach effort can form up now and achieve the good they seek. In other words, if you want to compete and put religions out of the service game, please do.

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