• GalaxyBrain [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Is it okay to make fun of witch people or is it like astrology where we have to humor them for whatever reason?

        • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Lol I feel like every vegan is either really into woo or an annoying "rationalist" type person. No middle ground.

          Except me, I'm perfect in every way.

    • RNAi [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      As with any other religion, it's fine to laugh as long as you don't behave like r/atheism power user

      • HarryLime [any]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        I...I really don't want to be bigoted or reactionary or anything, but I feel like if you're trying to fight God with your magic powers, almost died in the fight, and are using healing items to get your HP back up, you've crossed some line beyond just practicing a religion.

        • 01100011101001111100 [she/her]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Theres people that are, like, sliders or something that swear they're fictional characters in an alternate universe. I dont know the line between irony and sincerity on that one.

            • 01100011101001111100 [she/her]
              ·
              3 years ago

              It seems like it evolved out of headmates/people thinking they have the movie version of DID and then people really liking Harry Potter.

        • Nagarjuna [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Have you... met run of the mill protestants? These people talk to god and explain the world in terms of supernatural forces. A majority of Americans believe in ghosts.

          This is not a line past practicing religion, this is just normal religious shit.

          • HarryLime [any]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Not really, American Protestantism is like "God is my friend and he talks to me and tells me he wants me to own an SUV."

      • Slowpoke [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Mocking Islam is punching down and immediately identifies you with the MAGA crowd.

        • RNAi [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          :lady-doge: I don't know shit about any of those words

          • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Essentially that you really don't have to care whether or not there is a god because based on everything, if there is one we understand it about as well as a fish understands quantum computers.

            • RNAi [he/him]
              hexagon
              ·
              edit-2
              3 years ago

              Ah, nice. I like that tale about some "demiurg" or whatever that goes like "something started all this shit but it never really ran the place nor cared for it" or something like that

              • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
                ·
                edit-2
                3 years ago

                Yeah, but indifference instead of uncertainty. It's a hair split. Also it has the near certainty that all existing religions are definitely wrong.

                • Haste_Hall [he/him]
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  3 years ago

                  If you're thinking about it this much, I don't think you are indifferent.

                  • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    You can have well justified indifference. I cared until I figured out I shouldn't and that's how I got there.

                      • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
                        ·
                        3 years ago

                        My grandfather was a Reddit atheist despite being born in 1939. When he was dying he complained and got a nurse change because the one he had insisted on praying for him and talking about it. Dude just didn't suffer bullshit. So that was my baseline from birth. My Reddit atheist phase was learning to respect religion to a degree

      • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        It makes me really uncomfortable because I know I'm going to be pre-judged based on my birth and I'll have a cool filter of confirmation bias with that person from then on. I don't like when people tell me who I am.

        • crime [she/her, any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          My go to for people I don't think I'll interact with much again is "oh yeah I've got autism which sign is that again" but uh can't say I get non-awkward results with that one either lmao

          • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I don't wanna be that guy either. I'm genuinely not comfortable with it. It's phrenology with planets and when people bring it up I pretty much assume they need to put people they meet into convenient little categories instead of actually getting to know someone. Apparently that's typical of a sag tho

        • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          My favorite is when they run up against a type of person who absolutely doesn’t fit the mold and have to do damage control. Like one said my gf was very organized and took charge and she’s one of the meekest, sloppiest (but I love her and accept her) people I’ve ever met.

          And one said i love money based on my sign and I was like “one of my core personality traits is i think money is sus and cringe actually.”

      • Weedian [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Favorite is to lie about my birthday and they tell me all about myself but then I say I lied and give them a different fake birthday so when they say something like, “lying about your birthday is such an x thing to do” I tell them that’s not my birthday either

        • Owl [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          That whole shtick is so Scorpio.

            • Owl [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              You caught me! I just picked Virgo at random, then realized I should look up whatever the most common sign is.

      • Ho_Chi_Chungus [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Parties... parties... oh it feels like more than a lifetime ago... What were those like again? Was there cake?

          • Neckbeard_Prime [they/them,he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            And sometimes the booze was cake-flavored.

            Speaking of which, do you think a bottle of cupcake-flavored vodka can go bad? Let's say after, like, eight or nine years. Asking for a friend.

            • D3FNC [any]
              ·
              3 years ago

              Can't go bad if it was never good

    • NewAccountWhoDis [she/her]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      No I think astrology is much worse.

      For the most part witchcraft is more like an ordinary religion, with only a few people who think they can really truly do magic to such a degree.

      Meanwhile I've barely met anyone into astrology who isn't like some weird ass star racist.

    • Nagarjuna [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I have more respect for witchcraft than astrology. With witchcraft, there's a lot of putting out your intentions, affecting the world, you, the witch, are in control.

      With astrology, it's all written. You can't cast a spell to be less impulsive, you're just like this because you're a scorpio. The stars are in the driver's seat.

      At risk of getting called an idealist, these ways of thinking have real effects on people, and if we're serious about people being self governing, we need to tell stories where people, not stars or gods or states or capital are in control.

    • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]
      ·
      3 years ago

      they're mostly harmless. the ones i know just treat it as a mundane spiritual practice and wouldn't even know where to plug into this kind of spirit warfare snake handler shit.

      • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I still am just uncomfortable fundamentally with it. If someone practiced phrenology causally and for fun it would be considered bad. It's pretty much the same idea but planets.

        • ssjmarx [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Does Astrology have the same racial baggage as Phrenology? If not that's a pretty big difference.

          • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I'm aware of the difference but it's the same mentality and figured people could get that I was speaking metaphorically.

    • hygfi [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      A lot of people in the original "guys, be careful when hexing the Taliban" thread sounded uncannily like Christians discussing their prayer game. It bothers me when people ridicule new religious/spiritual movements while having boundless respect for the people telling us we need to drink God's blood every week to help us work out how to ban abortion, just because they've been around a while. Imo it's fine to respect both or neither, just be consistent.

      Also there was literally one person in that thread arguing, without any hint of irony, that Covid-19 happened because Mercury was in retrograde*, so I don't know if these two groups are as distinct as you suggest.

      *also something about the "start of the age of Aquarius", but apparently different astrologers place that anywhere from like 1900 to 2600, so it's impressively meaningless even by their standards

    • machiavellianRecluse [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      astrology where we have to humor them for whatever reason?

      This is news to me or are you talking about a situation where you find them attractive? (altho something like this would compel me to crack a joke alas)

      • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        There's something of a trend of people getting really upset around discussion over astrology. I've seen everything from accusations that it's misogynist to mock astrology to somehow spreading disease if you mock it. I only have anecdotal examples and have no clue what the wider trends are, since I don't look into it too deeply.

        It's not necessarily in situations involving dating someone either, it's something that's come up in normal day to day situations for me. I worked with a person at a food bank who refused to stand too close to me since I radiated what she called Scorpio energy, despite being a Sagittarius. Was really weird.

        The astrology thing is around to the point I feel uncomfortable even writing this post, since I really don't want to cause a scene or sound like I'm punching down. I'm not trying to do that but please call me out if I am. I simply do not understand how it became so prevalent and serious.

        • machiavellianRecluse [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          The astrology thing is around to the point I feel uncomfortable even writing this post, since I really don’t want to cause a scene or sound like I’m punching down. I’m not trying to do that but please call me out if I am. I simply do not understand how it became so prevalent and serious.

          I suppose people are drawn to mysticism. It could be that science and historical teaching is not good enough that people can use those tools to understand the world around them (very very likely). Also, there might be an inherent yearning to magic or escape and there is some comfort in that I suppose (altho one could be mystic in aesthetic while having your feet on the ground).