All I Need is a Tall Ship and a Star to Guide Her By
5/15/2006
I read my Daily News Horoscope today.
LIBRA
Salary talks should go exceptionally well and conclude by Wednesday. The stars are on your side, so you might ask for even more than you think you can get. If you are self-employed, a new client or other lucrative form of income is likely to head your way. Generous benefits, like health insurance, vacation and keys to the executive gym, could also be part of the package.
Now that would have been cool.
Larry
posted by Larry B | 7:36 PM
5 Comments:
Larry,
To paraphrase the French writer Louis-Ferdinand Celine: Every time I take a bite out of that sandwich called hope I end up with the same mouthful of shit.
Kinda depressing, I guess, but it's one reason I stopped reading horoscopes years ago (being a rational person is probably another reason... I'm not suggesting you're not rational!!). These things never say stuff like: You could be killed by rabid gerbils on your way to work today, please stay home!! or: Don't call your girlfriend between 5 and 6 today because she's screwing your boss. This would be bad news, but it would be helpful, and we might avoid getting our hopes up needlessly.
Actually I'm not sure what the fuck I'm trying to say here except maybe: it's ok to hope for the future, but don't be fooled by false hopes. Or something like that...
--Kyklops
Very good point by kyklops. The same thing can be said about these people who claim they talk to the dead, (i.e., the biggest of phonies, John Edwards...and of course, the perpetual Wednesday guest of Montel Williams, Sylvia Brown, who also claims she talks to the dead). But this shit "sells," and people actually pay to hear, see, touch, this absolute crap. And just as you say that the horoscopes never say negative things, neither do these people who "talk" to the dead. You never hear one of them say, "Well, so and so really hated you when they died." Or, "No, that person never liked you and took their dislike of you with them to the grave." Everything is always positive, and this is exactly what the people who believe this stuff, WANT to hear. So these people who "talk" to the dead, will always respond with positive comments. Someone will ask, "Can you tell me, John, if my father had any ill-will towards me when he died?" And Edwards will respond,"No, he really loved you, and there was never a question about his love for you." I am just using this as an example.
What these "performers" are doing, (and this is exactly what they are, performers), is providing a type of grief therapy that "allows" the people who believe this crap, "get on" with their lives. So in the guise of them actually talking to the dead, they are phonies, and respond to the believers with what they have "learned" these believers want to hear.
Hey KyKlops
Oh yes, hoping and than getting shitted on is a very real part of life. But I am not going to give up on it. I can get burned 99 times "hoping for the best" but that one hundredth time it might come true. Flip a coin a thousand times and it comes up heads. What are the odds that it comes up heads on the next flip?
If one sacrifices that ever-possible hope, it is the one making the sacrifice that I consider the failure. Even if you die hoping never seeing those hopes fulfilled.
As far as those talking to dead people people who are, as anonymous correctly points out, really entertainers, I whole heartedly agree with the excellent episode of Penn & Teller's "Bullshit" (on Showtime) which deals with that subject.
If you didn't see it, the title of the show says it all.
Thanks for the comments!!!
Penn & Teller's Showtime show, "BULLSHIT", is excellent!!! What a great idea for a show, and I look forward to each new episode. One of the best episodes was the one they did about the concept of Fung Shui, (or whatever the heck it is called...the idea where the furniture in a house should be arranged in a particular order in order to bring the "positive influences" of life into one's life). This was a good one. Three different Fung Shui "experts" were brought into the SAME house, and each one totally had a different way to arrange the furniture. It's amazing how there are people who "fall" for this crap. And Penn & Teller had a hidden tape recorder on, and one of the Fung Shui "experts" could be heard saying, "What an asshole this person is. The furniture still looks like shit the way it is arranged." And what about one of the Fung Shui "experts" who told the woman that she needed to have a "special" water fountain in the house in order to "center" the positive energy of the house? And "coincidentally," this Fung Shui "expert" just happened to have this water fountain out in her van, and was charging $900 for it. So the woman said, "$900? Isn't that quite expensive?" And the Fung Shui "expert" responded,"No, not at all. I "feel" that you need this particular water fountain in your home, and the cost should be of no concern to you due to all of the "positiveness" you will experience once you have this water fountain." As I said, it's totally amazing that people fall for this crap.
But, in life, as we all know, people are always searching for the "positive" stuff, so if a person feels that something is giving them a positive feeling, then this is suppose to be good for them. Whether or not the concept is true. If the person feels "better" for what they are doing, hearing, receiving, etc., then isn't this what the outcome is suppose to be? As long as the person feels "happy," and is not being "harmed" in any way, (although their pocketbooks are being "harmed,"), then I would assume that no bad thing is happening to this person. The outcome is suppose to be the "happiness" of the person who believes in all of this hocus pocus stuff, and this "happiness" is what sells, sells, sells.
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
Post a Comment
<< Home