Astrology is Reasonable...If Friends of Kos Do It...
Here's Atrios, explaining why astrology is really not that dumb.
It's a rather half-hearted defense...partially just a charge of hypocrisy against those who would deride astrology while asserting that Dems ought to court Christians more. The point seems to be that astrology is just as "mainstream" as Christianity...
...which is false.
No matter how many people might say that they believe in it, it's not as mainstream as Christianity. Christianity is firmly the orthodoxy in the U.S., and astrology clearly has the status weird. (FWIW, my guess is that astrology is more likely to be true that Christianity...that is, objectively it's less weird....but that's not the question here.)
Christianity is far, far more important to far, far more people than astrology--it's a deep part of many people's lives, not just something they think about for five minutes while reading the Sunday Style section. If a presidential candidate gets up and says "I don't believe in astrology," people will generally count this in his favor, as a sign of good sense. If a presidential candidate gets up and says that he doesn't believe that the core Christian "narrative" (god, I hate that term, but it fits here) is true, he's finished. It's just silly to compare rejecting Christianity to rejecting astrology.
And to reject religion generally...hoo, boy! Surveys show that atheists are approximately the most hated group in the country. If I'm not mistaken, most parents say that they rather see their child turn out gay than to see him or her marry an atheist.
Anyway, there's no way something like this goes up on one of the major lefty blogs under different conditions.
Look, nobody can seriously believe that Kos issues marching orders to the other blogs...but what he and the other big bloggers in that circle do is set the tone for much of the leftosphere, and circle the wagons around each other when anyone has the temerity to challenge them. Are they worse than the rightosphere? Don't think so. But there's a kernel of truth--perhaps just a kernel, perhaps highly attenuated--in Zengerle's charge.
Here's Atrios, explaining why astrology is really not that dumb.
It's a rather half-hearted defense...partially just a charge of hypocrisy against those who would deride astrology while asserting that Dems ought to court Christians more. The point seems to be that astrology is just as "mainstream" as Christianity...
...which is false.
No matter how many people might say that they believe in it, it's not as mainstream as Christianity. Christianity is firmly the orthodoxy in the U.S., and astrology clearly has the status weird. (FWIW, my guess is that astrology is more likely to be true that Christianity...that is, objectively it's less weird....but that's not the question here.)
Christianity is far, far more important to far, far more people than astrology--it's a deep part of many people's lives, not just something they think about for five minutes while reading the Sunday Style section. If a presidential candidate gets up and says "I don't believe in astrology," people will generally count this in his favor, as a sign of good sense. If a presidential candidate gets up and says that he doesn't believe that the core Christian "narrative" (god, I hate that term, but it fits here) is true, he's finished. It's just silly to compare rejecting Christianity to rejecting astrology.
And to reject religion generally...hoo, boy! Surveys show that atheists are approximately the most hated group in the country. If I'm not mistaken, most parents say that they rather see their child turn out gay than to see him or her marry an atheist.
Anyway, there's no way something like this goes up on one of the major lefty blogs under different conditions.
Look, nobody can seriously believe that Kos issues marching orders to the other blogs...but what he and the other big bloggers in that circle do is set the tone for much of the leftosphere, and circle the wagons around each other when anyone has the temerity to challenge them. Are they worse than the rightosphere? Don't think so. But there's a kernel of truth--perhaps just a kernel, perhaps highly attenuated--in Zengerle's charge.
posted by Winston Smith at
7:45 PM
4 Comments:
Just because many people believe it doesn't mean it's reasonable. Astrology - nuts!
Kos---Moon in Jupiter, rising sign in Scorpio. Credibility in the dumper.
Dude's toast.
Hehehehe. The Forces of Darkness laugh. Hahah. Now we shall have our candidate! The next Leader of the "Free World."
Kos was the only obstacle in our way. Nothing can stop us now!!!!!!!!
Normal people do defend their friends even from true charges. Successful politicians, on the other hand, usually cut their losses.
I wouldn't defend a stupid theory just because one of my friends did.
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