wherein Liz is baffled by astrology
Jun. 6th, 2005 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingRandom question:
Apparently JKR has revealed Draco Malfoy's birthday -- June 5th. On my friendslist, people are now trying to do astrological birth charts for him and analyze his personality that way.
Seriously, WTF is up with all this astrology stuff? I keep seeing people do this for HP characters, and go on and on and on about all the things star signs say about their personalities and likely futures.
...You do know that astrology is a bunch of rubbish, right? And the star signs aren't even accurate to the sky anymore, since they were invented back in ancient Sumeria and the stars have, y'know, moved since then.
And you know that these are fictional characters, and I rather doubt that JKR has been basing her own characterizations off of astrological charts? (I grant you, Harry being a Leo is kind of nice, but I think the Leo=lion=Gryffindor is about as deep as the symbolism gets.)
I really, truly, and utterly Do Not Get why people are so into astrology. Yes, I know that I'm an Aquarius, and the typical Aquarius traits match a fair amount of my personality... but so do about 7 other signs, to roughly equal amounts. It's set up to do that, so that no matter when you're born, you can find something that seems applicable.
Why do people persist in believing that the random placements of giant balls of superheated plasma, hundreds of light-years away, will have any mystical effect on our lives?
(Random related question: imagine a person is born on a different planet, one far enough away that none of the stars form our familiar constellations. Would you invent a new astrological system, or would you continue using the same old Earth-based one? Either way, how would you justify its significance?)
Apparently JKR has revealed Draco Malfoy's birthday -- June 5th. On my friendslist, people are now trying to do astrological birth charts for him and analyze his personality that way.
Seriously, WTF is up with all this astrology stuff? I keep seeing people do this for HP characters, and go on and on and on about all the things star signs say about their personalities and likely futures.
...You do know that astrology is a bunch of rubbish, right? And the star signs aren't even accurate to the sky anymore, since they were invented back in ancient Sumeria and the stars have, y'know, moved since then.
And you know that these are fictional characters, and I rather doubt that JKR has been basing her own characterizations off of astrological charts? (I grant you, Harry being a Leo is kind of nice, but I think the Leo=lion=Gryffindor is about as deep as the symbolism gets.)
I really, truly, and utterly Do Not Get why people are so into astrology. Yes, I know that I'm an Aquarius, and the typical Aquarius traits match a fair amount of my personality... but so do about 7 other signs, to roughly equal amounts. It's set up to do that, so that no matter when you're born, you can find something that seems applicable.
Why do people persist in believing that the random placements of giant balls of superheated plasma, hundreds of light-years away, will have any mystical effect on our lives?
(Random related question: imagine a person is born on a different planet, one far enough away that none of the stars form our familiar constellations. Would you invent a new astrological system, or would you continue using the same old Earth-based one? Either way, how would you justify its significance?)
