India Uncut

Jerry Rao writes in the Indian Express that he believes in astrology. Why does he do so? Well, not because it is true, but because of two other reasons. One, it is comforting to believe in it. And two, belief in it is as effective as pyschotherapy. I argue with none of those points (psychotherapy is as fallacious as astrology), but neither means that astrology has any basis in fact. At one point he writes:

The question that is often asked is whether astrology is compatible with a modern rational sensibility. I find this particularly humorous. After all, if we can live with electoral psephology, post-modern social psychology, the politics of victimhood and the passing fancies of numerous dietitians and health-gurus, why should astrology which provides so much comfort to people and which above all directly links us to the cosmos, be looked down upon?

Well, all the things Rao names there are, in my humble view, incompatible with "a modern rational sensibility". Just because X and Y are pseudo-scientific, and are accepted by some as credible, it does not follow that Z, which is equally pseudo-scientific, deserves credibility.

Sigh. I agree with what Rao writes most of the time, but this particular piece is distressingly bizarre and badly argued. Maybe Saturn is messing with his Rahu or Ketu, or whatever.

Previous posts on astrology: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.