More Zodiac Fail

[sekiharatae]

Warning:  This post is brought to you by the word FRUSTRATION, which has been exacerbated by STUPIDITY.  It's entirely likely that there is a severe absence of tact ahead.

 

I'm going to be blunt:  there is no new zodiac.    In fact, the 'new' zodiac being quoted everywhere was invented (for lack of a better word) in 1995 by Walter Berg.  (It's caught on quick, hasn't it?)

Further, since there is no new zodiac, there isn't any rule about who it affects.  Anyone who is claiming it only applies to people born now and in the future is even more full of it than those up in arms about their sign changing.  ETA:  This statement is somewhat true in the sense that the dates given for the 'new' signs are only correct for this year.  That doesn't mean a 13-sign zodiac would not apply to someone born a hundred years ago; it means that to correctly assign a sign you'd have to check a star chart for that year.  Also, variation from one year to the next will be very slight.

Who is it that you think is trying to change your sign?  Who is trying to put a new zodiac in place?  Who is the Great Zodiac Enforcer?

Is it Professor Kunkle?  To quote an article in the Houston Chronicle:

Later in the day Kunkle, an astronomy professor, acknowledged he proposed the reordering and reinterpreting of the zodiac as a class project, nothing more. In fact, he said he has so little interest in horoscopes, he doesn't know his own sign. (emphasis mine)

Kunkle doesn't give a flying leap about his own sign; he sure doesn't care about yours.  

Every astrologist anyone can find to ask adamantly states that nothing is going to change, so it's not them, either.  (And if there was a movement to change the zodiac, surely it would start with the astrologists?)

It's definitely not the government.

So who, exactly, is taking your sign away? 

I think it's you.  You're the one who set such store in it, and you're the one who is having issues with learning it's not, in fact, based on the positions of the stars today, but rather on their positions at the birth of astrology thousands of years ago.

Whereas if you'd bothered to actually learn a little about the zodiac, you'd already know that.  

(Personally, if I was going to base my life decisions on any sort of mysticism, I'd learn something about it, first.  Maybe that's just me.)

In any event:  you are upset because you think your sign needs to change, and the only reason you think your sign needs to change is because you don't know how your sign was ever determined in the first place.    

(This is the part in the program where I use an analogy to drive my point home.)

Let's say you have a leather coat you love and are happy wearing.  You get compliments on it.  It's flattering.  It works for you.  Then one day you learn that naugahyde is not, as you've always thought, made from the skin of a naugabeast, but is in fact a synthetic leather.  All this time -- all those days you were happy and content and flattered -- you've been wearing a plastic coat, not a leather one.   Your perception of your coat and your fashion sense takes a beating, and you're upset. Realistically, however, nothing has changed:  the coat is still a good coat, one that fits and is flattering and looks good on you.  One you get complimented on when you wear it.  You look just as sophisticated in it as you did when you thought it was real leather.  Only your understanding has changed, and if you can't cope with that, it's your own fault for being an ignorant dope.

Get it? 

Nobody is trying to make you change your coat.  They've just told you it's made of plastic, not leather.  A smart person would reply, 'I know' and go about their business.  An idiot would have a fit and complain that they're being forced to buy a new one.

There is no new zodiac. 

Can we stop freaking out about it? Or at least try being a bit rational?  Just a teentsy bit?

ETA:  If there's one thing I hate and am passionate about, it's when people refuse to think.  A lot of the world's ills are the result of people just not using their brains.  People are inconsiderate because they don't pause to think how their actions will affect another.  People jump to conclusions and make bad decisions because they don't think things through.  To me, this zodiac fiasco is a great big massive example of people being stupid -- people not thinking and then blowing things out of proportion on an incredible scale.  That... irks me in a way I don't think I can properly explain.  Maybe it will suffice to say that I'm a mathematician by training, and while ignorance was an option, refusing to use my brain was not.  I can't understand it.  I can't understand how people 'think' without actually seeming to engage in thought.

Comments

[sekiharatae.livejournal.com]

Your postscript is so so true... Most of the time that annoys me as much as the holier-than-though Christians. (I'll read something and think: Gee, was it really necessary to be such a jerk?!) Then every once in awhile I'll be so frustrated that reading another athiest be a snarky bastard makes me feel better... and I go to the FSM site. ^^;

I also like to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. =D I so wish they'd do a bit on the Texas Textbook Massacre.

[ocvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

I don't believe in religion, either. I don't deny that there could be a such thing as god or gods, but I don't personally believe. I don't personally have proof one way or the other, though I do believe the bible is full of crap. What Christians and Catholics call 'miracles,' I call normal things turned grand with a metaphor. And I REALLY get pissed when people try to force me to believe in their religion. I have these two friends, both from childhood, who constantly threw a 'God made it so' into every conversation. Finally, I kicked them off my Facebook flist and stopped talking to them. Mind you, I did tell them--repeatedly--that I didn't believe and that it was my choice to do so. They had their warning, they got their heads boitten off, but they still did it. I don't need people like that in my life. People who can't respect my thoughts or feelings. Fuck them.

Anyway, apologies for the rant. I don't know many others who don't believe. I live in a very Polish community. Did you know most Polish folks are really religious?

Yeah, it's hard being the only agnostic for miles. Luckily, my best friend is an out-of-practice Jehovah's Witness, much like how I am with Christianity. Also, I do know a fair amount about religions, but only because I find them fascinating, much like Norse mythology.

/TiredFailMoment

-Chela