this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2024
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This is part of the goofy witchcraft stuff. The idea that we are connected to the universe and our lives are special, and the rules can be figured out to make them better. Those are all reasonable comforting things to want. It is less determinative than class consciousness. Less useful as well but it's fine you know.
I just find it really disrespectful to make a bunch of assumptions about someone's personality based on when they're born. Okay I'm a fucking Cancer, maybe the actual particulars of my life have caused me to be way different than my star chart says I should be? Maybe you should get to know me first before wiping out calipers to measure my fucking skull. If you like magical shit why not just play a ton of D&D or write a fantasy novel rather then try in inject this shit into your real life?
Call me a stick in the mud but I just find it very insulting to my individuality and agency that so many people insist that my personality was formed by a fucking sky crab. Yeah sure have your fun with it but if I say I'm not into it, accept that, and don't try and blame my distaste for it on the fact it's slightly more popular with women than men (there are astrology dudes fyi and if anything they're more obnoxious).
No, you see there are only 12 types of people and it's totally good and okay and just fun to reduce things to that
Also one of those times of people is inherently impulse, has an "everyone for themselves" mentality and selfish tendencies which are totally neutral harmless assumptions to make about someone based on their birthday.
The biggest parts of our personality are formed by factors outside our control. It is simply more fun to live a fantasy.
There have been studies that show when you are born can have effects on your personality. More how it relates to the school calender and how old you are when you start classes.
It isn't disrespectful. You are welcome to not like it. It is ultimately harmless however.
It feels disrespectful to me, especially when people are really pushy about it, and they often are.
I don't respond this way in public, I just roll my eyes and tell people my sign and let them explain my own personality to me and sit in silent frustration. But this is an anonymous Internet forum so I wanted to vent about it.
People say this but I've encountered numerous people irl who make fairly important life decisions based on zodiac signs, like what candidate to vote for and who to date. And I've heard stories about countries where they take astrology way more seriously, like India, where people can get denied jobs or housing based on birth sign. Makes me wonder if there are astrology nerd landlords in the west quietly doing the same shit.
It certainly can evolve into something harmful. With institutions eroding in the world more people seem to be falling into mystical conspiracies, like anti-vax and alternative medicine. That's why I think there should be some pushback to this stuff, it's fun and games until a bunch of hippy moms cause an infant measles outbreak.
Edit:
Okay not hosing but apparently there are rumors Jennifer Lopez fired backup dancers based on zodiac signs so no this is not always harmless.
That's fair. I guess I am inclined to see this as a symptom of magical thinking instead of a cause. If they are willing to make big life choices with astrology they are not going to use the scientific method you know. If it wasn't astrology it would be any other random thing. Astrology is not a unique cognitohazard I don't think.
We should try and dissuade people from that type of thinking in general, not just astrology specifically. But this constant dismissal of the bad effects of astrology doesn't help with that.
Yes, we should get people onto materialism. However, being sassy about stuff people like is not the dialectic way to do it. My point here is two fold. I used to hate astrology until I did some self crit and realized it was not coming from a real reasoned productive place and I feel I am happier now that I have understood why I felt the way and did and why people feel the way they do. Second, it is a fun game to play with girls so that is cute and fun. Just tell one that whatever thing they said is " such a Capricorn thing" enjoy the chaos
NO I WANT ORDER!
Like I said I don't get into fights about this shit in public I was venting online, that just evolved into me making a more serious argument against astrology apologia.
I'll close with this: I feel like a lot of these defenses of astrology based around its associations with the feminine kinda feed into sexist stereotypes. Like the whole idea that women are chaotic and emotional and fey while men are ordered and logical, that's some Jordan Peterson shit. Maybe the reason so many women are into astrology is the the same reason less women are in STEM? The patriarchy directs them in those directions.
I get that. I just don't agree. Astrology is a very organized system of knowledge
But the knowledge is wrong tho.
Most of the knowledge any random person on the street will have is wrong. In that it is a systematic attempt to understand the world outside liberal terms I am less opposed to it than other similar ideas. Especially as there is no direct path from astrology to antivaxx. It is all personal preference stuff. It is one of the least offensive manifestations of modern magical thinking.
Yes it fucking is disrespectful to make wild assumptions / judgments about my personality based on when my birthday is. It's disrespectful even if you don't tell me about it and you're only judging me for my birthday in private. Knock that shit off.