Astrologists and racists, or this is where the party ends

How are astrologists like racists?  There could be a funny one-liner response to that, I'm sure, but the answer I'm looking for is simple:  They are lazy thinkers.

I'm going to spend a few paragraphs here doing a cursory job of debunking both viewpoints and showing why they are lazy, but I'm not going to go into much detail, as that's not the real point I want to make.

Astrology:  Really?  You honestly think that 1/12th of the human race will have the same general set of experiences based on when they were born?  (This is assuming the "normal" Zodiac, though a similar thing can be said about, for instance, the Chinese Zodiac, and this is ignoring the silliness added in by distinguishing between "Sun signs" and "moon signs.")  Do you realize that these signs were based on people believing some quite inaccurate things about the stars (like virtually anything besides that they are gaseous giants that are light years away)?  Did you know why they control a certain portion of the year (answer: because the sun travels "through" the constellation during that portion)?  Did you know that those dates have shifted?  Did you know anything more about it than you might meet a dark stranger today, and that you should be especially watchful because some other sign is blahdie blah blahing?  I didn't think so.  Astrology doesn't make sense; it didn't when it originated (at least by Roman times), and it makes even less sense now.  Only people who don't think about it, who don't know its history and how it is "supposed" to work, could possibly believe it at all.  And that's why they are lazy thinkers.

Racists:  Really?  You honestly think that someone's melanin count controls their personality?  Racist against black people?  How do you explain the President, Morgan Freeman, or for that matter the vast majority of black people you stand by at freaking Wal-Mart?  More tellingly, the things you supposedly "know" about black people ... Why don't you look at your (I'm guessing white) cousin, or ex, or ... whatever.  Racist against white people?  Think that white people are "the man" and are all secretly racist and hate you because you are black?  Get real.  Think Hispanics are bad?  WHY?  Because they traveled to a country where they thought they could make a better life for themselves, then work themselves to death for less than you would take?  Because they speak their SECOND language only marginally less well than you speak your FIRST language?  The truth is, it's lazy thinking.  It's much easier to push someone down, and to classify them based on the first thing that pops into your mind, than to have to be more nuanced.

So, there's the mini-debunk, and I'm not going to waste my time on trying to prove either wrong anymore.  For whatever reason, there has been a lot of racist stuff thrown near me recently, and ... well ... I'm tired of it.

So, this is where the party ends.  (For those that don't recognize that, please enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQVk6LrJCBM ).  I'm not going to be militant, but I'm going to stop being so nice about it when people say racist things around me anymore.

So, if I'm near you, and you drop an 'N' bomb, I'm going to call you on it.  If you say you are going to go to an organization that is devoted to a certain race, or investigating the problems of a certain race, or is at all race-based ... I'm going to call you on it.  (If you are in an organization that has "White," "Caucasion," "Black," "Hispanic," "Asian," "African-American," etc. in the title, I'm talking to you; find an organization that cares about the underlying issues for everyone, not just the ones that look like you.)

I think most people are partly racist; it's hard not to be (especially here in the South).  But it's time to move on, folks. 

We should all stop being lazy thinkers.  The racist party is over.