• Yet again on Stargazing Live on BBC 2, its presenters, Brian Cox and Dara O’Briain sought to rubbish astrology, a subject about which they are both plainly ignorant.  Every man is entitled to their views, but before they start airing their lack of knowledge, they ought to actually study the background, history and techniques of both Western Tropical Astrology and Vedic astrology. It is a great pity that role models for the young allow their ignorant prejudices to colour their views.  I copy the following exert from The Guardian where MP David Tredinnick notes how the ignorance of “scientists” is allowed to skew actual information.

    At the bottom of the article, I copy my complaint to the BBC.  Deb Houlding on SkyScript has written a learned complaint and response to the BBC. Her website is www.skyscript.co.uk.

    “Ninety per cent of pregnant French women use homeopathy. Astrology is a useful diagnostic tool enabling us to see strengths and weaknesses via the birth chart. “And, yes, I have helped fellow MPs. I do foresee that one day astrology will have a role to play in healthcare.”

     

    Mr Tredinnick, 65, added: “Astrology offers self-understanding to people. People who oppose what I say are usually bullies who have never studied astrology. “Astrology was until modern times part of the tradition of medicine … People such as Professor Brian Cox, who called astrology ‘rubbish’, have simply not studied the subject.

    “The BBC is quite dismissive of astrology and seeks to promote the science perspective and seems always keen to broadcast criticisms of astrology.”

     

    Opposition to astrology is driven by “superstition, ignorance and prejudice”, he said. “It tends to be based on superstition, with scientists reacting emotionally, which is always a great irony. “They are also ignorant, because they never study the subject and just say that it is all to do with what appears in the newspapers, which it is not, and they are deeply prejudiced, and racially prejudiced, which is troubling.” (Press Association Wednesday 25 February 2015 00.15 GMT)

    My complaint to the BBC.  27th March 2015.

    Your presenters continuously seek to misinform the public regarding astrology.  Even ancient astrologers were aware of Precession. Western astrology uses the Tropical zodiac, Indian astrology uses the Sidereal zodiac.  The following is taken from the BBC website “DARA O BRIAIN:This spinning top completes a wobble every couple of seconds. The Earth is a little more cumbersome – it takes about 26,000 years.  The result is that since the signs were fixed, the constellations have drifted by a whole month.”

    You allow your presenters to let their ignorance of this subject (astrology) shine through and unfortunately, a lot of young people are taken in by their showmanship. If your presenters wish to talk about astrology, could you please enrol them on a course run by an accredited astrological school.  It will take them at least 5 years study and hopefully, once they have studied the history of astrology that stretches back over 3,000 years and the associated techniques of western astrology, they will not be quite so quick to denigrate a subject they know nothing about.

  • 1 comment

    Science was always my subject, especially astronomy. I had no belief in astrology, however, in 1976, I met the late world famous Austrian scientist Prof Hans Eysenck who had spent 5 years researching astrology and then supported the subject by publicly announcing how surprised he was to find so much truth in it. Since then I have studied and researched the subject for 44 years and found it to be a valid and amazing subject. I am not an astrologer or fortune teller, however, I now give professional talks entitled 'A Scientific Look at Astrology and the Paranormal' It is a vast and overwhelming subject and all those who assume it to be nonsense simply haven't studied it.