Why are young people so into astrology? They are dead serious about it and call it a science.
“Do you mean astronomy?” I asked naively.
“No, astrology,” they say. “It’s real science, you know.”
And it’s young men, too. When I was their age, it was a very middle-aged lady thing.
It’s a way to make decisions in a low-information environment.
Maybe not a *good* way, but I can’t blame people, when they lack solid religious guidance, prayer, meditation, trusted older people who can give solid advice…
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I used to be into astrology before I became a Catholic, I took it pretty seriously and had a lot of books on the subject. Now I think it’s a silly faddish thing like it was in the 70s, I guess people glom onto woo-woo when everything is so uncertain. New Age junk was big in the 70s because of the craziness of the 60s, my Mom is still into the New Age, astrology junk
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My impression has always been that young women (or at least a certain subset of young women) were into astrology. If young men are now into it as well, that sounds like a new development.
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Western astrology tends to focus on personality and relationship compatibility and less on predicting events.
Interpretation follows the line of archetypes and myths. Which is interesting because those traditional archetypes are pretty gendered.
It’s comforting to hear certain things about yourself. Or your love relationship. It’s reassuring.
Or in prediction that a good period will come and a bad period will be over. Etc.
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At least from my corner of the world, I have been seeing a sharp rise in interest, in political astrology. Can’t speak for the West generally, but this seems to be a recent development.
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Putin consulted with astrologists before his invasion of Ukraine, like he does on everything. They predicted that Kyiv would be taken in 3 days. I wonder what he did to that batch of astrologers and what the new ones are predicting.
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Vibes and surmising, with a helping of confirmation bias.
But also, saying the “stars are favorable” were also part of political and religious propaganda for a long time.
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oof! If you’re one of those dithering people who will waste two hours deciding whether to buy the white car or the tan car… by all means consult whatever dice, lucky penny, or personal oracle will help you escape the indecision and move on with your life.
But holy mackerel, using that to appoint a day to invade a neighboring country…
(wide-eyed grimace goes here)
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It introduces randomness into the decision. The easiest way to prevent your enemy from knowing when you are going to make your move is if you don’t know either.
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Indian culture worships astrology. Jewish culture refers to astrology as avoda zarah. Unlike the barbaric 30 year war which slaughtered Protestants and Catholic populations on the order of WWI, with 1/3 the population size, avoda zarah does not mean “idolatry”. Rather the T’NaCH defines avoda zarah as the 2nd Sinai Commandment not to worship other Gods; meaning do not assimilate or intermarry with Goyim. Goyim never accepted the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. The Xtian bible & Muslim koran both never bring, even once, the Name revealed in the 1st Sinai commandment. The sin of the Golden Calf, not a bird brain/טיפש פשט of a literal golden calf any more than the Creation of the Universe did not literally occur in 6 days! Rather the metaphor ‘Golden Calf’, a definition of avoda zarah, all attempts to translate the Divine Presence Spirit Name/רוח הקודש to word translations Allah Yahweh Jehovah and all such bull shit.
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@Wire Dude I don’t think Meghan Thee is doing that during Hot Girl Summer. Don’t let the crypto tiktok girl in goth lingerie fool you when she talks about astrology and the stock market.
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Astrology is typically coded as “hot girl” behavior so men will go along with it to get laid. 🙂
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If you haven’t read ‘Sex and Culture’ by JD Unwin (1934) you should – it’ll explain completely the collapse in logic and reason and rise in superstition.
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When has humanity in general been governed by logic and reason? We have been and continue to be superstitious and emotional.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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