Horoscopes and World Domination
Today I was walking out of my dorm when I noticed that the RA had yet again changed the bulletin boards at the end of the hall. I was a little leery at first, since last year's RA often enjoyed putting up material of a questionable nature. This time, however, one board was on the flu. That's fine and dandy--we're college students, and unless we have an over developed maternal instinct, we don't take care of ourselves or our roommates. (As an aside, I don't think I have this over developed instinct, despite my insistence on certain parties in my suite to take vitamins and medication when they are sick. Perhaps it's because for me it's a defense mechanism). The other board was dedicated to horoscopes. I'm not kidding. Horoscopes.
I used to avoid so much as even glancing at them, especially in the newspaper. It was one of those things that I would regard with terror. It was one of those things that I would eventually glance at, along with the sometimes-questionable Ann Landers column (If you don't think she ever wrote about anything questionable, look into her archives sometime). My response: how laughable, that based on when I was born, I will encounter these vague, vapid events that have been forecast. Who honestly believes this stuff? Some people must, or else it wouldn't be published even in the school paper here. Either that or people need to laugh at the world.
I did some thinking about horoscopes, as I walked to the bus stop. Consider how silly the concept it. There are 6 billion people on earth, and I think there are 12 astrological signs. Given an even distribution of births over the course of the year (hopefully not too many in one sign), that would mean that half a billion people are under each sign. And some crazy people believe that due to astrological phenomena, their actions are governed by the stars and movements of the planets? So, if I was an astrologer, I could tell you next week that all Pisces would do something like come into money, and everyone who's a Sagittarius would make a new friend. Really generic stuff. Interesting...
Let's take this a step further and say that I have no scruples whatsoever and that I'm secretly a conniving megalomaniac (because that's always fun to say). If I could foretell what half a billion people were going to do, I would use that ability to take over the world. I'd probably use some testing, brain washing and maybe start with a simple half billion people. China supposedly has a million man army. I could totally wipe out China. Hmm...I don't have anything against China, though. Nevertheless, imagine the possibilities. Endless.
So, I think that if astrologers are so "brilliant," they're investing their abilities in the wrong place. Why write for a syndicate if you could be dictator or take over the world? It can't be altruism that holds them back--having absolute power eventually corrupts humanity. What fame can a syndicate bring? You write for a newspaper and you get your little picture next to your column. Big deal.
That's the end of my random tangent for the day.
I used to avoid so much as even glancing at them, especially in the newspaper. It was one of those things that I would regard with terror. It was one of those things that I would eventually glance at, along with the sometimes-questionable Ann Landers column (If you don't think she ever wrote about anything questionable, look into her archives sometime). My response: how laughable, that based on when I was born, I will encounter these vague, vapid events that have been forecast. Who honestly believes this stuff? Some people must, or else it wouldn't be published even in the school paper here. Either that or people need to laugh at the world.
I did some thinking about horoscopes, as I walked to the bus stop. Consider how silly the concept it. There are 6 billion people on earth, and I think there are 12 astrological signs. Given an even distribution of births over the course of the year (hopefully not too many in one sign), that would mean that half a billion people are under each sign. And some crazy people believe that due to astrological phenomena, their actions are governed by the stars and movements of the planets? So, if I was an astrologer, I could tell you next week that all Pisces would do something like come into money, and everyone who's a Sagittarius would make a new friend. Really generic stuff. Interesting...
Let's take this a step further and say that I have no scruples whatsoever and that I'm secretly a conniving megalomaniac (because that's always fun to say). If I could foretell what half a billion people were going to do, I would use that ability to take over the world. I'd probably use some testing, brain washing and maybe start with a simple half billion people. China supposedly has a million man army. I could totally wipe out China. Hmm...I don't have anything against China, though. Nevertheless, imagine the possibilities. Endless.
So, I think that if astrologers are so "brilliant," they're investing their abilities in the wrong place. Why write for a syndicate if you could be dictator or take over the world? It can't be altruism that holds them back--having absolute power eventually corrupts humanity. What fame can a syndicate bring? You write for a newspaper and you get your little picture next to your column. Big deal.
That's the end of my random tangent for the day.