Conversation

Aella
@Aella_Girl
Ppl who are real into astrology/conspiracies/woo beliefs *really* trigger me, but it's not because of the beliefs themselves, it's what it indicates about the person. To me, it implies a profound lack of curiosity in checking to see if their beliefs are true. 1/
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
I don't get this! How could you not be curious about other theories, when you *know* other people in the world deeply believe stuff that is clearly wrong? It *must* feel convincing to them, so "feeling convincing" to you shouldn't be sufficient criteria. 3/
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Anyway, to me woo beliefs indicate the person has a systemic lack of interest in knowing if they're wrong, and doesn't question their models of their own experience. And this is *really bad* for interpersonal relationships. What if they're wrong about *you*? 4/
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Getting to know someone really deeply requires setting aside your own models to step into their models; it requires being really interested in being willing to be wrong about someone, in actively seeking that out. It's a delicate, careful, nuanced process. 5/
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
If someone fails at something so easy as woo, I doubt they'd succeed at something as difficult as understanding another human person. So I get triggered by ppl with real woo beliefs; I see them as not caring about something I deeply value, as incapable of understanding me. 6/6
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Scott Perry
@scottmcprn
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
I sympathize w/ this, but I think many astrology buffs arent even interested in whether its true or not. Horoscopes for them operate as narrative builders not truth claims. Most might not be able to articulate that but I've grilled enuf of them and come away thinking this.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Replying to
@scottmcprn
I'm much more sympathetic to narrative builders; if you don't literally believe astrology actually is predictive about the world, but in fact use it as a system to navigate your own feelings, this seems way more fine
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Nate B 🇺🇦
@NateHB13
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
this is the main reason I've never been able to get fully into religion, I don't mind it at all and appreciate much of the wisdom but if I truly took it literally it would send me down a bottomless rabbit hole of re-aligning how everything else fits that and I'd go insane first
Navin Kabra
@NGKabra
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
In my experience, they have a strong anti-curiosity. If you try to explain the flaws to them, they'll quickly say, "I don't understand all this" while continuing to believe that their beliefs are correct and your explanations are flawed.
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