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Young people are flocking to astrology

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Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#931

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'…

> But from what I understand it's just ISIS but swap the Quran for the Bible? Not a huge fan of that idea.

Christian nationalism grew and pervaded America in the decades during and after reconstruction. The Klan was probably the most visible facet of that and but it was everywhere, organized and not.

I do a fair amount of genealogy and in my perception, there are many parallels between now and the early 20th century.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#932

Post by reportgunner »

wilg wrote: post #908
yadingus wrote: post #902

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the fact that you find other people's beliefs frustrating says more about yourself and how you deal with the world than about the value of those beliefs. Emotional intelligence is real, and being easily frustrated (specially when that frustration comes from being so sure that you're right and someone else is wrong) is a sign of low emotional intelligence.

I think it is okay to try to be correct – or at least not demonstrably wrong – about the nature of the universe. Some people think its inappropriate to question other peoples' "beliefs", I do not. The beliefs in question are harmful, so yes, I get frustrated when people talk in circles and don't take responsibility for the things they say. Notably, you have avoided talking about the "value of those beliefs" in favor…

I think you should focus your energy somewhere else.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#933

Post by commonlisp94 »

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #912
commonlisp94 wrote: post #907

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that's what an atheist is Generally atheists claim to be skeptical of all religion and mysticism regardless of whether it claims a "creator god". If you want to be pedantic and say someone who believes in ghosts, but not God is still be an atheist, well ok. My point is that almost all people hold unexamined beliefs as non-material and unscientific as any religion. Hence they are not inherently more rational. > be e…

> Generally atheists claim to be skeptical of all religion and mysticism regardless of whether it claims a "creator god". Is it true, though, that that's what atheism means? As an atheist myself, I'm not sure it is. Certainly doesn't seem true - seems like someone who is atheist is simply more likely to also be areligious and aspiritual, possibly as a result of rationality. But if you want to be pedantic, you can try…

> humanism (essentially, "be excellent to each other")

That's definitely not what humanism means.

No I don't think this conversation will lead anywhere. Goodbye.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#934

Post by pyinstallwoes »

defrost wrote: post #910
pyinstallwoes wrote: post #883

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the kind that fills up the entire universe with filaments. Literally the universal Indra's net: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkeland_current

Birkeland currents flow following magnetic field lines. The Earth's magnetosphere is shaped by solar winds, rounded on the sunside extending 6-10 x Earth radius with a longer tail opposite the sun that extends up to 1,000 x Earth radius. The Earth's radius is very small compared to the 1 AU Earth distance from Sun and smaller again compared to the distances between planets. So, rather than "filling the entire univers…

Plasma. It's everywhere.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#936

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

commonlisp94 wrote: post #933
ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #912

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Generally atheists claim to be skeptical of all religion and mysticism regardless of whether it claims a "creator god". Is it true, though, that that's what atheism means? As an atheist myself, I'm not sure it is. Certainly doesn't seem true - seems like someone who is atheist is simply more likely to also be areligious and aspiritual, possibly as a result of rationality. But if you want to be pedantic, you can try…

> humanism (essentially, "be excellent to each other") That's definitely not what humanism means. No I don't think this conversation will lead anywhere. Goodbye.

...says the person who doesn't realize atheism is a-theism, or that theism refers to a god, not just any belief or concept you want

it seems you have no point that isn't based on pedantry, arguing semantics, trying to redefine theism, or falsely and failingly conflating a non-magical concept with a magical belief

I would have liked for you to respond to the subject of my posts instead, but since you couldn't: bye, friend!

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#937

Post by Borrible »

Ah, the stars are right again in Lovecraftian Country.

I have always seen Lovecraftian myth as the reaction of the powerless individual to the inscrutable and impersonal social powers of modernity to which he is at the mercy. In particular, such devouring monstrosities as fascism and communism.

The funny thing about astrology is of course the stars are quite down to earth as Adorno did put it in his essays on the irrational in culture:

https://www.telospress.com/adorno-on-astrology/

"the constant appeal of the column to find fault with oneself rather than with given conditions" is evidence of "the implicit but ubiquitous rule that one has to adjust oneself continuously to commands of the stars at a given time."

"The idea that the stars, if only one reads them correctly, offer some advice mitigates the very same fear of the inexorability of social processes the stargazer himself creates."

Nothing new here, the stars were always right. And astrology is ridiculous self-adjustment to anonymous powers in an incomprehensible world, where nobody is in control and whose true face one does not want to recognize.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#938

Post by Brendinooo »

evandale wrote: post #831
Brendinooo wrote: post #813

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is checking your horoscope considered believing in astrology? I don't think this is something that I can answer, but at the very least it says that you're neutral enough toward it to allow it to speak into your life.

That's why I think of it as more of reading a motivational quote that will inspire me to do something that day. I try not to take it too seriously, but my conflict with astrology is that I don't want to believe it, but I can't shake the fact that the moon affects the tides on Earth from my brain. That makes me question if the moon can affect humans. The whole personality prediction and things like that I'm not a beli…

There's a lot more evidence for God than astrology.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#939

Post by rsynnott »

maxlamb wrote: post #772
rsynnott wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Straight men, of course, prefer MBTI. Personality divination magic is somewhat gender-coded. (I'm gay and haven't noticed astrology being particularly popular with gay men, though it may be regional.)

MBTI is an attempt at classification of people's personalities at a high level from a series of questions. That just seems fundamentally different than "I will predict your future based on what day you are born".

> MBTI is an attempt at classification of people's personalities at a high level from a series of questions.

Not one which works, however.

They both purport to tell you what sort of person you are, with an explanation for how they do this which might be vaguely convincing to some non-experts, but are, statistically, meaningless.

> At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, MBTI testing became highly popular among young South Koreans who were using it in an attempt to find compatible dating partners

Astrology is also not, as it turns out, the only woo used in dating.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#940

Post by yjk »

erfgh wrote: post #851
vhcr wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm reading it too literally, but I think the question is just badly formulated. Of course the position of the stars and planets influence people's lives, that's called the seasons. I think the same when they ask people if they think dinosaurs co-existed with humans, of course the answer is yes, as birds are dinosaurs.

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

If humans are vertebrates, then some vertebrates are human. It is wholly possible (and indeed true) that a specific subset of vertebrates (those that existed 200 million years ago) and another subset (humans) are disjoint.
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