Is there a future for newspaper astrologers in the era of fake news?
Astrology’s claims that the position of the sun, moon and planets at our birth informs our character and future are without evidence, and yet horoscopes continue to be published in national newspapers.
More often than not they appear without any disclaimer. It’s the only section of a newspaper knowingly printed without facts supporting the claims made on the page.As the war on disinformation has stepped up during the coronavirus pandemic, with “fake news” now potentially risking lives, professional journalism’s basis in evidence is its key weapon in the fight against the tech giants. Horoscopes would seem to undermine this.But for many horoscopes are seen as part of the fun of the popular press, fulfilling the brief that newspapers should both inform and entertain.NASA described astrology in a recent blog post as “something else”. “It’s not science. No one has shown that astrology can be used to predict the future or describe what people are like based only on their birth date.”“Still,” it went on, “like reading fantasy stories, many people enjoy reading their ‘astrological forecast’ or ‘horoscope’ in the newspaper every day.”Press Gazette polled readers from Monday to Wednesday this week asking them: “Should news publications carry horoscopes/astrology?”Of the 428 respondents, the majority (50%) said “yes, I don’t believe in them but they’re harmless” while nearly as many (45%) said “no, they’re ‘fake news’”. A further 5% said “yes, I believe in them”.For those wondering, your Zodiac sign is the constellation the sun appeared to be in, relative to the Earth, when you were born. It was the Babylonians who first divided the stars along the ecliptic – the path the sun appears to take in the sky as Earth orbits around it – into 12 sections.
Victor Olliver, astrologer for the The Lady magazine and spokesperson for the Association of Professional Astrologers International, said: “Astrology is not a science. Therefore it cannot be a pseudo-science.“It’s more useful to think of it as a symbolic system rooted in ancient ideas and practices. Many, many people relate to astrology through their star sign – but there’s a lot more to astrology than just star signs....
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We should be careful when considering whether to toss aside "symbolic systems rooted in ancient ideas and practices."
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They have standards you know:
And offer a place of refuge:
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