All signs point to fraud

The newspapers have been typically thin over the holiday period, and with most of the journalists on holiday they’ve been resorting to lots of newslite- reviews of the hottest celebrities during the 2000s, predictions for next year. You know, the sort of fluff that is normally in the ‘lifestyle’ section.

One of these ‘articles’ even made it on the front page the other day, with a local astrologer predicting a better year than 2009. Hmmm, with the worst global recession in a generation almost over, that’s not really a bold prediction, is it. But what I found more interesting was their choice of soothsayer.

In this particular piece of portent punditry they cited a Palmerston North astrologer, who I had never heard of (unsurprisingly I suppose). My first thought was that, for a front page article, they would have cited one of New Zealand’s leading oracles, but then I realised that there is no such thing.

You see, in almost every field of human endeavour- science, arts, sports, culture- you can call on an expert to pass judgment on a certain issue. And the experts rise pretty rapidly in the fields, so that when you have need of a front-page expert on, say, what is going to happen with mortgage rates this year, then you know who to call. And that doesn’t just apply to hard sciences, as there are experts (or at least respected critics) in highly subjective fields like movie reviews or cultural commentary.

The fact that there is no such thing as ‘New Zealand’s leading clairvoyant’ can only confirming the massive fraud that is modern day mysticism.

NB- in place of astrology feel free to substitute: numerology/horoscopes/homeopathy/faith healing/palm reading/tarot/feng shui/iridology etc