I know several people who enjoy reading their horoscopes. I am often entertained by the word-smiths who write them, but as a skeptic I realize that they are worthless beyond entertainment value.
Never has that been more evident than over the past few days, when there was an "announcement" that there is a "new zodiac sign".
This has caused an uproar among the many superstitious folks who believe in zodiac as either a primary or secondary religion. (Truly, there are Christians who read their horoscopes daily, but rarely crack open "The Holy Bible" they profess to be so fond of.)
It has brought many opportunities for jokes in the comedy world (folks breaking up because they're no longer compatible according to the "new" zodiac), caused people who THINK they know something about astrology to send requests to the makers of iPhone apps that they "update" their horoscopes with the "new" sign, and has actually upset those who have tattoos of their zodiac sign on their body.
Wow.
If this isn't the media pulling our strings to distract us from what we SHOULD be paying attention to, I don't know what is.
But since there has been such a ruckus over it all, let me clear it up.
The zodiac system that every American newspaper and magazine (and most others in the west) follow is called the TROPICAL ZODIAC. It has NOT changed, and there is NO new sign under that zodiac system. Every tattoo is still valid (if you can call anything related to the zodiac "valid") and every sign remains the same for every person who has become devoted to reading the random (and often regurgitated) horoscope sentences associated with their sign on any given day (which will be re-used for different signs a few weeks later as the "wheel" turns).
The sign that has been written and reported on over the past few days is Ophiuchus (Say it out loud. It sounds a lot like "Oh, fuck us!") and is part of the SIDEREAL zodiac system, and has absolutely nothing to do with any of the horoscopes written under the tropical system which you may have read (and continue to read) in the newspapers, in magazines, online, and in horoscope books.
What is most disturbing to me about all of this, and what really makes a statement about how easily people can be misled, is that the people who are so upset about this and/or so eager to have their iPhone zodiac apps. "updated" are clearly devoted to a superstition that they believe has some scientific basis, yet they don't even understand the pseudo-scientific premise behind the zodiac system they claim is so accurate with daily horoscopes to begin with.
Sound familiar? Every religion, every superstition in existence, is based on something man-made and flawed, yet most people who "study" it fail to understand the origins of even the flawed premise itself.
Many Christians quote "an eye for an eye" when they are angry and seeking revenge, yet ignore the fact that the old testament was rendered obsolete when their Jesus-savior person was crucified and died for their sins. Every person uses bits and pieces taken out of context in their religious book to justify their own misguided beliefs and/or bad behavior, and occasionally they will use bits and pieces to encourage themselves to behave like decent human beings. The fact remains, it's all still based on something a human brain came up with and wrote down.
Why do people believe? Because occasionally, a horoscope will have a really wise statement or bit of advice that would speak to anyone on a personal level, and at times may even hit on details of a person's life when discussing something specific through the sheer law of averages. However, for every one person who finds theirs accurate, millions more are bewildered as to why their horoscope doesn't apply to anything in their lives that day, yet none seem to stop reading them, eager as a drug addict for their next fix of pseudo-magic.
We want someone to tell us the future will be bright, because we're terrified it won't be. We seek guidance and direction, when what we really need is initiative and SELF-directed goals and actions taken toward them.
We continue to allow ourselves to be distracted and manipulated into an emotional frenzy, arguing about irrelevant issues, while the important ones go un-addressed.
So there you have it. A skeptic has to explain to superstitious people why they can go on believing in their superstition unaffected by a "new" discovery they were terrified had shaken the foundations on which they have placed their trust and base daily decisions in their lives.
Yes, your delusional belief system is still based on the same delusions. Those delusions have not changed in this system called the "tropical zodiac system". Only the delusions in the "sidereal zodiac system" have changed.
Carry on.
A.
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