-Submitted by David Durmm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Professor Brian Cox, a particle physicist at the University of Manchester and host of Wonders of the Solar System on the Science Channel, has brought the wrath of the Astrological Association of Great Britain upon himself. Professor Cox, on BBC2’s “Stargazing Live” show, said that “astrology is nonsense” and the Association wants the BBC to commit to “making a fair and balanced representation of astrology in the future.”
There’s a lot of money at stake.
It’s estimated that hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on astrology every year in the United States alone. If people start listening to Professor Cox, there will be less stupidity for the astrologers con-artists to prey upon.
Astrology is a fraud that racks in hundreds of millions of dollars. The fraudsters must maintain the illusion of the con. Those that point out that the emperor has no clothes must be dealt with swiftly and harshly. The facts must be kept out of the media. I have little sympathy for those who believe in astrology, but I have no sympathy for those who exploit them.
The stupid and their money are soon parted.
H/T: Pharyngula, Bad Astronomy.
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Sagan’s thinking did sometimes appear to border on the mystical or spiritual. In his only novel, Contact, he deliberately depicts the travellers as being in the same position as those who have experienced a religious vision, unable to prove the reality of their experience, and even accused of outright fraud. In his final book, Pale Blue Dot, he seeks to inspire humanity in its steps towards its future as a tiny and frail part of a huge indifferent universe.