We all want to believe there's a quick fix out there.
To what, specifically? Anything. And it's within that Want and Desire that shysters and con men live and thrive. These people present "solutions" to your problems, hoping you'll shell out your hard-earned money for the painless solution to the pains you're experiencing.
Unfortunately, life isn't that easy, real change is never cheap, and don't trust your astrological signs to guide you.
Reddit user, AndiMalvinex, wanted to know what fake science gets under your skin the most when they asked:
What pseudoscience annoys you the most?
In case you weren't sure what we were talking about in regards to "pseudosciences"...
...Here's A Bunch Of Them!
"Psychics and mediums who prey upon the gullible, the mentally-ill, the desperate and the
vulnerable and claim they can speak to people who are dead. Sh*t should be illegal."
"Also things like hypnosis, parapsychology, body-language 'experts', psychoanalysis, lie-detection, all grifts."
The Stars Have Zero Impact On Your...Well, Anything
"astrology. i'm totally down to learn what my chart is and such, but the second you start to tell me that it influences my personality and that "we aren't compatible" i'm done."
OfficialBandKid
"The best part about astrology is that the basics are so old that the Earth has moved quite a bit since, meaning the astrological dates no longer correspond to the constellations."
toyota_gorilla
And Now We All Play It For Our Babies...
"The Mozart Effect"
"A UC Irvine study claims that diving deep into the world of Mozart can actually make you smarter."
"The study took 36 participants and found that those who listened to Mozart before a task did much better than those who only heard silence. The study concluded that Mozart could actually increase your IQ by eight or nine points."
"However, the results of that study have been widely criticized by the academic and scientific community as a whole."
"Many claim the results were misleading and that researchers didn't examine what role the participants' diets, posture or the time of day they took the tests played in the results."
Back2Bach
Real medicine takes time to work, as the science that's been backed up by hard evidence and proven data, works its way through your body. This, of course, attracts all kinds of seedy individuals who think they can sell a "fix-all-pill" and make it seem like you're better when, really, nothing is happening.
Can't Remove What's Already Being Removed
"Literally anything that claims to "remove toxins" from your body."
BlCa314
"I love it when folks just throw out the word "toxins" and never actually define what, specifically, qualifies as a toxin and how, specifically, their product actually removes or expels it from a person's body."
j_grouchy
"Yes, this annoys me too. The legitimate exceptions are chelation therapy for heavy metal poisoning and activated charcoal for other poisoning. Those require medical attention, though. Not as simple as a smoothie."
BlueComet24
"I Just Think It Raises Some Questions." - People Who Don't Understand Science
"Proofs" to the flat earth theory"
Fi11a
"It started off as humor. Scientists from different disciplines would take turns trolling each other, presenting bullsh*t "proofs" of the flat earth for everyone's entertainment. Geologists, astronomers, people like that. They did it for the lolz, nobody actually believed it."
"Unfortunately, some dummy somehow found their jokes and took them seriously."
"Still, some people in the flat earth "movement" are doing it strictly for fun. They know the score, they're just having a laugh."
OhYeahThrowItAway
Not So Funny When People Have Died
"Homeopathy. I mean, everyone is welcome to a nice placebo now and then (even though I prefer the band, har har) but it makes people refuse life saving medicine. And, even worse: makes people stop giving life saving medicine to their children."
"Looks like COVID didn't give a crap about little sugar balls and pendulums. People are dead now."
raxeira-etterath
Use your critical thinking skills to see through some of these charades, and don't let the pretty man with the nice, white smile lure you in either.
All The World's A Stage When You're Lying
"Lie detectors. Why does anyone anywhere still use them?..."
JhymnMusic
"A lie detector is a prop in a play. The play is being performed by the interrogators; the audience is the person being interrogated. The subject matter of the play is 'we can read your mind; don't bother lying to us.'"
"The prop "works" by making different readings in response to the audience's physiological changes. This helps give the audience the impression that the performers can read their emotions."
"Again: The goal of hooking you up to a lie detector is not to detect lies. It is to convince you not to lie, by giving you the false impression that the performers will be able to tell if you do. It is to make you feel vulnerable and exposed, such that your very thoughts are on display."
"Moreover, it is to give you the false impression that the interrogation is a scientific endeavor, rather than a juridical one. You're supposed to think that you're being evaluated by a scientific instrument. In fact, you are being evaluated by the interrogators; or perhaps by whoever reads the transcript of the interrogation. They are deciding whether they believe you, and what to do with you, based on your answers and your behavior."
fubo
But Hey, "Top Gun: Maverick" Was A Lot Of Fun, Right?
"Scientology. It's tearing my wife's family apart."
"EDIT: Looking over the top comments on this thread, it's amazing what a blend of them Scientology is. Lie detectors? That's two more components than an E-meter has. Psychics taking advantage of gullible people? That's a lot of the backstory of Scientology, along with hypnotism. Essential oils and Herbalife? Scientology is huge into dietary supplements that don't really do anything, "purification" and is sometimes structured like a pyramid scheme. Homeopathy? Scientologists are taught to distrust the medical field and that they "pull in" diseases and illnesses, but can also will them away."
MarshallApplewhiteDo
"That Scientology exists - a cult sponsored by organized crime and legally dressed as a religion - does not surprise me. I’m surprised there aren’t more, with a better backstory. Hubbard was a crackpot, certainly somebody could come up with better mythos."
Renaissance_Slacker
Can't Be Anxious If I'm Dead
"Essential oils. Stop trying to put that smelling crap on me for my migraines, I just told you the smell is a trigger!"
builder-barbie
"I've told the story here before, but my favorite interaction related to essential oils was when someone suggested I use lavender oil for anxiety. I'm deathly allergic to lavender. They told me I couldn't be allergic to lavender essential oil because it's 'essential.'"
"Guess I can't be anxious if I'm dead!"
PM-ME-UR-CLOUD-PICS
"I feel like a lot of it is based on using the wrong definition of the key word "essential"; it's not "essential" in the sense of "you need this", more in the sense of "it's the essence of <thing>"."
neohylanmay
Keep your money where it belongs and maybe talk to a doctor now and then.
What other "pseudosciences" do you hate the most? Tell us about it in the comments!
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Some swear by these beliefs, deriving deep comfort in the assurance that a massive, cosmic network is constantly pushing and pulling, ebbing and flowing to influence the tendencies of earth, air, and human beings.
Others think the entire thing is bogus. These nonbelievers come stocked with a list of gripes: that people outsource accountability to a pseudo-science, that they feel a total lack of individuality within a system so prescriptive, that it's simply boring and confusing.
With a concept so loaded, internet anonymity can do wonders. In that vein, a recent Reddit thread offered a glimpse into the reasons why some people choose to put weight into the signs.
lientubay asked, "People who believe in zodiac signs, why?"
Plenty of people advocated for a more subtle relationship with the signs and their meanings. For these folks, it wasn't an act of handing over all power and understanding to a single system of thought.
Instead, it was carving out time and space to take stock.
Addressing the Accountability Critique
"Have you ever had a full natal chart done? A lot of people, even people who at a surface level believe in astrology look at their sun sign which is just kind of bs and doesn't really apply to them in the first place."
"It's a lot like any personality test. And rather than looking at it like a self-limiting box, the real purpose is to see your flaws and grow past them rather than relying on them and saying sh** like 'ooh I'm such a cancer, and this excuses x action.' "
Take Some, Leave Some
"I don't traditionally, but I do cite them a lot and get called on to justify why a lot."
"And I dig into my own zodiac sign a lot, because sometimes it's just a nice avenue for self-exploration."
"I went through a bad break-up once for a pretty long relationship and didn't know who I was anymore by the end. So when I went and got my chart read, this guy told me 'Hey, you're a Pisces, so you care a lot about people.' And I do, totally, one of my big things."
"But then he said "And you're a Libra moon, so you like doing housework, maintaining order, etc."
"Which is totally not me."
"So even though I didn't agree with some of the zodiac stuff, the prompt to stop and think about how I felt about things is something I think more of us should take."
An Avenue Toward Intention
"I can't say if I believe in it 100% but for me, following it is not only fun, but it empowers me to become more insightful and aware of how the emotions of myself and others around me are affecting their behaviors."
"Learning about astrology I think has made me a more empathetic person because I do notice smaller details about my friends, and I can support them more effectively. It's the same thing as say the enneagram, Myers Briggs types, or love languages."
"I don't think it's a bad thing to try to understand yourself and your peers better. Adding astrological elements just makes it more fun."
-- sunlit_cairn
"Believe"
" 'Believe' is kinda a weird word to use in relation to zodiacs. It's more like a guide to human behavior and since everyone is all twelve signs, it can be useful in understanding the consequences of 'over virtue' and 'under virtue.' It's more like a tool for self improvement than a belief.
"Also, the mythology, history and constellations are pretty cool to learn about."
Others wondered why astrology gets such a particularly bad rep when there are so many other belief systems that the world seems to accept.
Sure, not everyone believes those other religions or belief systems either, but they don't necessarily get so infuriated by them.
Stars vs. The Big Man
"If people are allowed to believe in a big man in the sky, then people are allowed to believe that heavenly bodies can dictate things too." -- Bivolion13
"People who believe in a big man in the sky, why?" -- GoinByTrundle
"Because we can't reliably think for ourselves." -- Rhonin-
All Things Considered
"As someone who thinks most things like this are BS, it's one of the least harmful things that people follow."
"I'd rather my neighbors be eccentric astrology nuts than an average scientologist."
-- fluffspeed
True or Not, a Nice Thought
"I don't believe but I mean everything is stardust so they're not crazy for looking at the sky for answers." -- Biting-The-Pillow
"My astronomy professor said this last class, and I liked it so much that I made sure to write it down: 'We are byproducts of stars - without stars, there would be no life.' " -- rolypolyarmadillo
Finally, some people analyzed why people would become involved with astrological thinking in the first place. These people didn't necessarily believe in it themselves, but they held space to empathize with the people who do.
Finding Context
"I think is something related to the need of belong to a larger group with some common 'identifiable' characteristic."
"Some people uses sports teams, some other their nationality, and some the zodiac, etc."
-- M14CL
The Circumstances of Belief
"Because, when I was high as fu**, someone did my whole chart and I've never felt more understood....still chasing that buzz" -- bilyeu4life
"Oh man I can relate! My friend gave me a brownie and read my chart to me at a coffee shop - when it started to kick in I felt like everyone was staring at me and I meekly said 'can you please stop reading that out loud?' " -- EarsLikeCreamFlaps
A Grounding Force
"Because I always feel stressed and anxious. I need to be tethered to something." -- LackDecent
"It assigns patterns to the randomness of the universe. It's very grounding for me, too." -- Amphabian
So while this list may not leave you any closer or further from believing whatever it is you believe, we hope it pushed you to leave just a little bit more space for the ones who do.
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