4 ms·

You can flag me all you like but this article is dumb.

by skilled 8y ago

pcurve 8y ago
With an illustration to go with it
foobar1962 8y ago
You must be a Leo. (You got a upvote from me.)
SllX 8y ago
You know, I decided not to take your word for it, and I have come to the conclusion that you are right but not for the reason I initially thought. The article actually does a pretty good job of explaining the field of Astrological snake oil software and the motivations behind it. VC’s are putting money in it because they seem to be able to plausibly get a fat ROI. BUT: The New York Times also manages to twist contemporary American politics into the article, somehow, and link the increased popularity of this snake oil to the current sitting President’s election. That is to say, the New York Times can’t even write about an investment trend or fad or whatever into a very popular brand of snake oil (which you can now get a $20 monthly consultation subscription for!) without blaming it on the President. So this article is dumb, but as a data point on the scale with which to measure the present day quality of this particular newspaper, it is actually fascinating and insightful.
- nappy 8y ago
  You're vastly overstating how much the author is "twisting" the 2016 election into this article. It's pretty straightforward from the app creator's mouth... >>President Trump’s election inspired Ms. Guler to leave her work in fashion media and create Co-Star. “I was like, ‘We gotta figure out something more meaningful than what we are doing,” she said. The role social media played in the election — and how “it is changing how we operate as humans in the world” was a part of her concern, Ms. Guler said.
  - SllX 8y ago
    You missed some: >> But that explanation ignores what many in the astro-verse consider the major turning point for Big Zodiac: The election of Donald Trump. It changed everything, according to Aliza Kelly, the astrologer-in-residence at Sanctuary. (She writes its horoscopes and conducts some of its readings.) Watching The New York Times’s forecast needle tip from Hillary Clinton to Mr. Trump raised people’s doubts about certain scientifically proven systems, Ms. Kelly said. “People became so much more receptive to the idea of there being different ways of seeing the world,” she said. They turned to astrology “in order to create some sense of structure and hope and stability in their lives.” So for “many”, we have one snake oil salesman claiming that Trump’s election changed everything, and one snake oil salesman who decided to follow her dream and sell snake oil, obviously inspired by America’s choice of Presidents. I did not vastly overstate anything and stand by what I said: of all the research, interviews and commentary they had available to them, Erin Griffith of the New York Times and/or her editors made a decision to include this as part of their article. They did, from what I see here, twist the 2016 election into the narrative of the story they were trying to tell when their story probably could have stood up better without the two paragraphs you and I quoted. You could say it is only two paragraphs, and you would be right. However, if you write it into your article and publish it on the website or in the print of the largest newspaper in America, you are choosing to tell that story. Subjectively, maybe it was worth telling? I don’t think it was, but you or anyone here is free to disagree.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- mikorym 8y ago
  My friend (expat) living in the US condenses this phenomenon to "people in the US are sissies". Note that the English language does not always have the punching power of nice alternative languages with ample swear words. If you are not worrying about the first few layers of Maslo's pyramid, then this sort of perpetual politicking becomes a real risk.
Gatsky 8y ago
It's satire.

You can flag me all you like but this article is dumb.

pcurve 8y ago

With an illustration to go with it

foobar1962 8y ago

You must be a Leo. (You got a upvote from me.)

SllX 8y ago

You know, I decided not to take your word for it, and I have come to the conclusion that you are right but not for the reason I initially thought. The article actually does a pretty good job of explaining the field of Astrological snake oil software and the motivations behind it. VC’s are putting money in it because they seem to be able to plausibly get a fat ROI. BUT: The New York Times also manages to twist contemporary American politics into the article, somehow, and link the increased popularity of this snake oil to the current sitting President’s election. That is to say, the New York Times can’t even write about an investment trend or fad or whatever into a very popular brand of snake oil (which you can now get a $20 monthly consultation subscription for!) without blaming it on the President. So this article is dumb, but as a data point on the scale with which to measure the present day quality of this particular newspaper, it is actually fascinating and insightful.

nappy 8y ago
You're vastly overstating how much the author is "twisting" the 2016 election into this article. It's pretty straightforward from the app creator's mouth... >>President Trump’s election inspired Ms. Guler to leave her work in fashion media and create Co-Star. “I was like, ‘We gotta figure out something more meaningful than what we are doing,” she said. The role social media played in the election — and how “it is changing how we operate as humans in the world” was a part of her concern, Ms. Guler said.
- SllX 8y ago
  You missed some: >> But that explanation ignores what many in the astro-verse consider the major turning point for Big Zodiac: The election of Donald Trump. It changed everything, according to Aliza Kelly, the astrologer-in-residence at Sanctuary. (She writes its horoscopes and conducts some of its readings.) Watching The New York Times’s forecast needle tip from Hillary Clinton to Mr. Trump raised people’s doubts about certain scientifically proven systems, Ms. Kelly said. “People became so much more receptive to the idea of there being different ways of seeing the world,” she said. They turned to astrology “in order to create some sense of structure and hope and stability in their lives.” So for “many”, we have one snake oil salesman claiming that Trump’s election changed everything, and one snake oil salesman who decided to follow her dream and sell snake oil, obviously inspired by America’s choice of Presidents. I did not vastly overstate anything and stand by what I said: of all the research, interviews and commentary they had available to them, Erin Griffith of the New York Times and/or her editors made a decision to include this as part of their article. They did, from what I see here, twist the 2016 election into the narrative of the story they were trying to tell when their story probably could have stood up better without the two paragraphs you and I quoted. You could say it is only two paragraphs, and you would be right. However, if you write it into your article and publish it on the website or in the print of the largest newspaper in America, you are choosing to tell that story. Subjectively, maybe it was worth telling? I don’t think it was, but you or anyone here is free to disagree.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
mikorym 8y ago
My friend (expat) living in the US condenses this phenomenon to "people in the US are sissies". Note that the English language does not always have the punching power of nice alternative languages with ample swear words. If you are not worrying about the first few layers of Maslo's pyramid, then this sort of perpetual politicking becomes a real risk.

Gatsky 8y ago

It's satire.