Happy
belated Chinese New Year guys! I know this post came a little very late
(I planned to post it on the last few days of CNY) but it was the time of the
year when people binged on pineapple tarts, gave/received ang baos and endured
hours of loud CNY songs.. Who had time to blog?! (Ok, apparently a lot of
people still did so it was just me being lazy.)
Another
common thing done during CNY would be to check out the yearly fortune according
to zodiac signs. I never believed in horoscopes because the idea that your
whole life is already planned out based on the date and time you were born is
just a concept too ridiculous to me. Let me count the ways..
1. Too
many different types
There are actually many other different kinds of astrology, but these 2
are the more common ones.. The normal horoscope and the Chinese zodiac
horoscope.. Which one should you follow? What if they clash? For example, I’m a
Libra and also an Ox. What if my Libra horoscope says my lucky colour is red
and my Ox one states that it’s blue? Should I just mix it up and wear purple?
2. The
readings are way too generic.
Here are 2 examples of the Ox horoscope this year.
“Those who are employed will either be helped by a benefactor, receive
compliments from superiors or be promoted.”
Ok, the promotion part is pretty straightforward and probably has the
lowest probability to happen out of the 3.
About being helped by a benefactor..
The definition of benefactor is generally someone who helps someone else so
basically this is saying that out of the 365 days in the entire year, there
will be a day that someone helps you. Great prediction!
And receiving
compliments from superiors.. All I can say is, if your superior doesn’t even
compliment you once in an entire year, you should be thinking twice about your
job and I don’t need to read the stars to tell you that.
Now I’m confused! Is my lucky number
5502 or 3 and 7?
Oh, this one is even more laughable. Not sure if it’s a horoscope
reading or a help board for people with no common sense.
“If you are able to plan your financial wisely, you will be able to see
a satisfactory amount in your account.” Thanks for the advice, I never knew I
would be able to see a satisfactory amount in my account if I could plan my
finances properly! How lucky am I to be born in the year of the Ox?
“Those who are married should avoid getting into extra-marital
relationship which could ruin your family.” Please note that this is only for
people who are born in the year of the Ox. Those who aren’t, lucky you! You can
go ahead to have extra-marital relationships which won’t ruin your family.
“It is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle.” No shit.
3. Only
God knows.
I believe that only God has full control over the future, not some stars
(which he created too). And the most
awesome part is that he gives us free will, so our future is definitely not
written in the stars!
4. Wiki
says it best.
Yes, I know Wikipedia is a page that anyone can contribute to or edit,
but there are references to support what is being published!
"No scientific
studies have shown support for the accuracy of horoscopes, and the
methods used to make interpretations are generally considered pseudo-scientific. In modern
scientific framework no known
interaction exists that could be responsible for the transmission of the
alleged influence between a person and the position of stars in the sky at the
moment of birth. Besides, all
tests done so far, keeping strict methods to include a control group and proper
blinding between experimenters and subjects have shown no effect beyond pure chance. Further,
some psychological tests have shown that it is possible to construct
personality descriptions and foretelling generic enough to satisfy most members
of a large audience simultaneously. This is usually referred to as the Forer or
Barnum effect."
So yes, sometimes I do read horoscopes for fun and to be amused by how
wrong/ridiculous they are, but I’m not gonna be affected or live my life
according to the positioning of stars.
