Polling Astrology Friday, Jan 25 2008

Arianna Huffington has launched a new section at the Huffington Post called HuffPollstrology, to push back against the pollsters by treating “them as lightweight diversions on par with horoscopes and political betting lines.” Says Arianna:

To this end, we are introducing a new feature today: HuffPollstrology. It will keep you up to date on the latest poll results, along with the candidates’ latest horoscope predictions, the latest online political betting lines, and the latest weather forecasts for key primary states (and we know how accurate those often turn out to be!). Pollstrology is a great way to see who is hot and who is not — and which candidates’ stars say they might be lucky in voter love today.

So you can feed your poll habit every day, but in the right context — the way people who check their horoscopes every day know (unless they’ve checked their sanity at the door) that they have to take them with a large pinch of salt.

This way, you’ll be well-armed with the fun ways to start a conversation that polling and astrology provide: “I hear Hillary is ahead in California… What’s your sign? I bet you’re a Scorpio.”

The Huffington Post currently hosts two rather superficial astrology features: one a rather typical canned sun-sign treatment, courtesy of iVillage and the other by Michael Lutin (which I commented on here).

2 Responses »

 

Cockroaches for Mikey (Updated) Friday, Jan 18 2008

One of most common justifications offered by sun-sign columnists is that they perform a valuable public service by introducing astrology to the public and representing it in a positive way.

So, how does one jibe this rationalization with the misogynistic and hateful pseudo-astrodiatribe typed by former Vanity Fair sun-sign columnist Michael Lutin in the popular political blog, The Huffington Post. He writes:

17 Responses »

 

Some Serious Astrology Tuesday, Jun 27 2006

Update: more on Lutin’s astrological views here.

Some tidbits from a Q & A with famous astrologer Michael Lutin courtesy of The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY):

Q. I’ve heard this is supposed to be the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, which is a time of peace, acceptance and love. Why does it seem like nothing’s getting better?

People always think things are going to be better. They’re never better; they’re just different. We’re moving from the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius, but it’s neurotic to think things are going to get better.

I have my birth certificate here. Can you do my chart super quick or tell me something I don’t know about myself?

You know everything about yourself. The client always knows more about him or herself than the astrologer ever could.

If I gave you my birth date and time, could you give me a fast read?

I would give you that. I couldn’t do anything real for you.

When did you start getting interested in astrology?

I was a teenager. … I didn’t really believe it. I studied it for years and … eventually, after studying chart after chart after chart and seeing the correlations come and be so accurate, I had to either accept it or stop doing it.

What’s your sign?

I never tell. It’s not good for my practice. I try to be neutral in my practice, and people have prejudices against certain signs, so that’s why. People have all kinds of crazy notions, based upon their childhood, mostly. They’ll say, “Oh, I hate Geminis,” and I’ll say, “Is your mother a Gemini?” “Yeah, how’d you know?”

(ed: very badly kept secret at that. Hint, hint – famous for being cheap, nit picking, and according to Forbes Magazine attributed to the highest number of billionaires.)

11 Responses »