Dialogue on Astrology
Dialogue on Astrology
By Punkerslut
It has been the noble profession of philosophers, social
critics, and general thinkers to explain an idea using a story
or a tale. By using characters, or dialogue, a writer can
explain their thoughts, dreams, or ideals. On the contrary,
though, many have used fictional stories as a method of
propaganda, to spread lies to the general public, that the
ruling class is considered more trustworthy. Few would be able
to wholly understand all the suffering and pain caused by the
governments of the world. And only few would be able to believe
it. The greatest cause of failure to achieve justice and peace
in our world today, is that the common people are convinced of
the lies of the media, the police, the government, and the big
corporations. However, I am digressing from the purpose of this
article... Here, I will attempt to draw some arguments out that
I have against the idea of astrology. I hope it is as enjoyable
as it is enlightening...
Argon: It is because of the distress that our class of men,
known as astrologers, has been receiving, that I call this
meeting. The faith has been called into question by the men of
this modern world. We must now decide how we shall survive.
Texca: But there is another important matter of inquiry.
Argon: Yes?
Texca: Can Astrology truly be used as an accurate method for
predicting the future or discovering the past?
Argon: I will say what I once told my apprentice... If you can
convince people that you are predicting the future or
discovering their past, then you are doing it. The physical
universe is cold and inanimate. What is true objectively is
non-existant. If you can tell someone what you discover, through
cards or books, and they respond positively, then your powers
must be true. That is the only way that I can see it.
Larkaz: As far as the recent skepticism of doubters, it must be
met virulently. We have made a thousand predictions.
Fortunately, the media has taken it to publicize the thirty or
so that have come true. It brings a sort of reliability to our
profession.
Argon: When we give personal readings, we must tell them
something that they can connect with.
Texca: Horrid vagueness is perhaps the best tactic at our
disposal.
Opal: Well, what is it, more specfically, that we can tell
people, so they are convinced that we know the truth?
Argon: We must ask ourselves: what are the things that commonly
go on in the lives of people?
Larkaz: Conflict.
Texca: Money.
Opal: Love.
Argon: In what way can we give a prediction in any of these
areas, so they are believed?
Opal: We can say that something will happen today, or in the
coming week, or weeks, involving something in regard to
conflict, money, or love.
Larkaz: For conflict, we can say that the person will have a
betrayal of some sort, or that they will be given the
opportunity to break one of their commitments. It is impossible
for two friends to coexist without one of them saying or acting
negatively towards the other, even if it is in the least. And
being given the opportunity to break a commitments could be
anything. If you are committed to a lover, it is not hard to
find others whom interest you, and if you are committed to a
friend, it may be tempting to profit from their loss. By seeing
these opportunities, which had existed all along, they are
seeing the truth of our statements.
Texca: As far as money goes, we can say a multitude of things.
Either an opportunity for person or business investment looms
ahead, or at this present time, money may be more tight than
usual, or more abundant than usual. At the first sign of an
expensive cost, they will see the truth of the statement that
money is tight, and at the first sign of incoming wealth, even
if it is a common, routine employment check, they will see the
truth of the statement that money is abundant. As far as
business investments go, they can see anything as a business
investment, whether they are simply buying some product in a
store, or they are loaning money to a friend, things which are
hardly uncommon, they are seeing the validity of supernatural
prediction.
Opal: For love, we can say that an old romance may come back in
to their lives, or they will be meet someone new who will have a
lasting impact on their lives. Both of these things are common.
For instance, how many old romances do each of us have?
Countless. And even just a chance meeting with one, or a phone
call, or even someone mentioning them, or just even the thought
of one, will be enough for a person to think, "Yes, I had an old
romance come back into my life briefly." When it comes to
meeting someone new who will have a lasting impact on their
lives, that is perhaps the most vague of them all, but most
enticing. If someone can give them a light for their cigarette,
and they forever remember that incident, they may very well
confide in themselves, "Yes, it is true that this person had a
lasting impact on my life."
Argon: As I said, vagueness is our tactic, but coupled with
interpretation, we become unstoppable. "A commitment," or "a
business opportunity," or "meeting someone new," -- these are
all horribly vague words, but we must tell people to interpret
them in their own regard. A friend of mine predicted that a
woman would become pregnant in two months. When she explained
that she had a hystorectomy and could not bear children, he
covered his mistake by saying, "You will have an addition to
your life, either a pet or a friend will become part of your
household. Interpret it as you have to."
Texca: How is that vague, though? I mean, if you say, "You will
have a business opportunity in two weeks," how is that vague?
Argon: Well, compare it with something specific. If we were
giving out helpful readings, we would say something like, "You
know that guy John? He's going to come to you Tuesday, at six
o'clock, and he's going to ask to borrow two hundred dollars. If
you let him borrow this money, don't expect to see it again for
three weeks. He's going to spend it on a drug binge, but he'll
get you back once he cleans up." See, if we said something like
that, maybe we could be accurately described as real predicters.
But go on and try to say something like that to someone, and
they'll say you're crazy, because nothing you say has anything
to do with their lives. Or maybe they'll be so stupid, they'll
think, "Oh, by John, he meant Bert, and by drug binge, he meant
television set, and by two hundred dollars, he meant fifty
dollars, and by three weeks, he meant one weekend." Remember,
vagueness and interpretation.
Larkaz: We can spread our ability to predict through various
facets. Astrology. We can have newspapers publish our
predictions for people, based on the time of the month they were
born. We can always throw in some psuedo-science, by saying some
astrological bodies or whatever have gravity on you more during
those times -- despite the fact that they have the same pull on
everyone else, too. There's also Tarot Card readings. Based on a
card, we can make some vague prediction and suggest the listener
to use interpretation when hearing it.
Opal: But it doesn't seem like we're offering much help by this
method at all.
Argon: What do you mean? We're telling them the truth. Once they
hear it, they look for. They look for things that happen
everyday, every hour, and they're going to see it. Once they
have prove that our prediction is true, they'll come back -- and
so will their money.
Opal: For all the value we actually give, we may as well say,
"This is life. Things happen. Sometimes you'll have conflict
problems, looming money disputes, or possible love affairs.
These happen every day, sometimes every hour. Good luck." After
all, that is what we really are saying.
Texca: We're not saying that. We don't say, "You'll have
conflict problems." We say, "In a week and a half, you'll have
to choose the loyalty of an old friend or a new lover. Choose
wisely." We don't say, "You'll have money disputes." We say,
"Someone you barely know will come to you for money. Choose
wisely." We don't say, "You'll have possible love affairs." We
say, "Next month, you'll light up a romance with a beautiful,
attractive lover. Be careful. If you are not assertive, they may
try to take advantage of you."
Opal: So, we are basically rephrasing the plain, dull truth, to
make it look attractive, so we can fill our pockets?
Texca: We are telling people what they need to hear.
Argon: If we didn't tell someone that a business investment was
coming up, they might miss out on a great opportunity.
Opal: How can we help? We don't actually know if it is a good
deal. We don't know if they will get ripped off. And hell,
saying "choose wisely" won't help them a damn bit.
Argon: But we do know one truth. We know that this is life, and
things happen.
Opal: If that's all we know, then we know no more than the
person we are predicting the future to.
Texca: That seems like an accurate approximation.
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