Freethinking for Dummies

The Bigotry Of Astrology

I was born on May 20th. That makes me a Taurus. My wife was born on February 14th and that makes her an Aquarius.

I decided to look up the compatibility between a Taurus and Aquarius and here is what I found:

“Taurus individuals love consistency and are usually quite conventional. Aquarius however has a taste for new experiences and untraditional ways. Both individuals are also stubborn and neither will be willing to compromise. Taurus will most likely be unable to understand Aquarius’ unpredictable feelings and will get annoyed by that. The two will not go well together, unless they are ready for some extreme adjustment.”

Well my wife and I are quite different, we do and always have gotten along well, as well as any two people can. The descriptions of Taurus and Aquarius are completely opposite to how we both are. My wife, the Aquarius, is very conventional while I, the Taurus, is the one who is very untraditional and loves new experiences. Neither of use are stubborn and we are both masters at compromising. And if anyone has unpredictable feelings, its me.

I went to a half dozen or so astrology compatibility web sites and all gave the same basic reading for us. Also, a visit to a similar number of astrology sites describing the traits of those born under Taurus and Aquarius showed the same basic traits, half of which were completely opposite for each of us and the other half which could apply to anyone.

But this isn’t about the accuracy of astrology, which is about as accurate as a three year old pitching at Yankee Stadium. This is about the idea of being rejected for friendship or love due merely to the astrological sign one was born under.

I can recall quite a few times where I was told by someone who believed in astrology that myself and them, or they and someone else, would never work well together because our two signs were against it.

This is just one more example of magical thinking (read religion, spirituality, or whatever) throwing up walls between people and dividing them for no rational reason whatsoever. Its just more bigotry that has no more basis that the color of one’s skin, nationality or religious (or lack thereof) belief.

We are all human. We all share 99.99% of the same DNA, which is the only real thing we have been able to conclusively prove as having a specific effect on who we are. So, we are all 99.99% the same, it is only our environment and our upbringing that makes us different, and most of those differences are what makes us attracted to each other.

To put up artificial barriers to our understand of, and interaction with, each other does nothing but divide us and increase the strife and suffering that already exist in our world.

Even something as seemingly harmless as astrology can divide us and make use forget that we are all much, much more alike than we are different.

September 2, 2010 Posted by James Walker | Uncategorized | astrology, freethinking, human, humanism, humanist, moral, morality, morals, pseudoscience, rational, rational thinking, religion, skeptic, Skeptical, skepticism, skeptics, thinking | 1 Comment