-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.
“It is a wise person who rules the stars, a fool who is ruled by them”~ Darryl Martinie AKA the Cosmic Muffin.
In 1993, Massachusetts Governor, William Weld, declared Darrell Martinie, The Cosmic Muffin, official astrologer for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a fact which is also an answer in the millennium edition of Trivial Pursuit.
You peeps are coming dangerously close to trodding on my religeon….<]:#
“. . .he (Ronald Reagan) was . . . a failure as a president.”
You can slice that pie several different ways, but as long as “The Wall” came down after “The Great Speech” I suspect historians will tread pretty lightly on his foibles.
Elaine M:
“Nancy Reagan’s Astrologer”
Oh my! I forgot about that! Between the astrologer and Reagan’s alleged decline into dementia during his presidency, it makes me wonder how we didn’t end up in worse shape than we did during that time.
AY,
thanks for reminding us of Reagan’s “filthy” past. A former Actors union president who stiffed the air controllers union and many other unions. He was the wolf in sheeps clothing.
AY,
Ronnie WAS a star in Nancy’s eyes, you know!
Astrology is like any other religion … full of myth and madness … those who believe a horoscope is the picture of one’s soul traveling through time and those who believe that one’s soul actually travels to heaven are no different from each other in that they have placed their faith in absurdity.
Scorpios know this ’cause we are really, really smart and very good at running the con.
Elaine,
I hate to correct you….he was only a grade B actor and a failure as a president…..back during the McCarthy years he was a snitch for Hoover and McCarthy…he ruined many a person careers….come to think of it…..he did that in Washington as well….
Buddha & Rafflaw,
I’m not sure which political female is more dangerous–Caribou Barbie or Bug Eyes Bachmann.
Buddha,
Don’t forget that Nancy DID dance with a star–Ronald Reagen.
Buddha,
Well said. Sarah from Wasilla could use anyone’s help!
Elaine/raff,
In re Nancy Reagan:
I will have to stipulate that Nancy’s outcomes of decision making by “rule of the stars” is better than what Palin would use which is decision making by “Dancing With the Stars”.
Elaine,
How did that astrology stuff work out for Nancy and Ron? Wouldn’t the astologer have been able to see in the stars that someone was going to shoot at Ronnie and he could have skipped that whole event!
AY,
Here’s an old Times article for you:
Nancy Reagan’s Astrologer
Monday, May. 16, 1988
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967410,00.html
Excerpt:
When the news broke last week that Nancy Reagan regularly consulted a woman astrologer about the President’s schedule, reporters immediately scrambled to discover the mysterious seer’s identity. Who was this “Friend” from San Francisco who had so much influence in determining when the President of the U.S. would — or would not — hold press conferences, deliver speeches, journey abroad? Not even Donald Regan, whose new book tells of the First Lady’s reliance on the seer, learned the answer during his two years as White House chief of staff.
It could not be the celebrated Jeane Dixon, since the Reagans lost faith in her powers some years back. Was it Joyce Jillson, a starlet turned celebrity astrologer who quickly let everybody know that she had “spent a lot of time at the White House” after 1981 and that her charts had recommended George Bush as Reagan’s 1980 running mate? Neither the President nor the First Lady recalls ever meeting Jillson.
In fact, the First Lady’s oracle is San Francisco Heiress Joan Quigley, author of three books on astrology, including Astrology for Teens (written under the pseudonym Angel Star). Her name surfaced in Friday’s San Francisco Chronicle, which carried a brief item speculating that she might be Mrs. Reagan’s astrologer. Interviewed Saturday aboard a New York-San Francisco flight, Quigley told TIME that she was first introduced to Nancy Reagan by TV Talk Show Host Merv Griffin in the early 1970s, and has provided the Reagans with suggestions about the timing of various political events ever since.
Did not Nancy run the country by the predictions of the stars….
Good one Elaine! Professor Cox should watch his back to make sure some crazed astrologer doesn’t come after him. By the way, is this guy related to the actor, Brian Cox, of Super Trooper fame? Or do I have the name mixed up?
Tony Sidaway,
Astrologers are scientists, doncha know!!! Haven’t you heard about the new scientific field in which researchers study the configuration of the universe? It’s called Intelligent Design of the Heavens in Seven Days…Or Less.
😉
By the way, “Wonders of the Solar System” is an excellent show that I highly recommend.
Oh no! Not “holding there charlatans in contempt”! Why, why who’d have thunk it!
What has upset the astrologers so much is that Cox hasn’t even bothered to make a cogent critique of astrology. If he had, they’d feel quite comfortable and they’d just dismiss it and carry on.
Instead, he’s committed the unforgivable sin of holding there charlatans in contempt. They’re squawking indignantly about this, but they have no rebuttal because they have no defensible scientific basis to point to. Cox is right, it’s a load of bollocks, a pseudoscience scrambling for respectability on the coat tails of a respectable science.