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The one I thought of was actually "What do you think about astrology?"
The answer I am looking for is neither that they believe or don't believe it, I want to hear something between. Something like
"It's fun! I love seeing the connections between people born with similar birthdays and stuff, and honestly it does seem accurate sometimes. But also I don't live by it! What about you?"
This open, honest way of communicating is what's important. Didn't knock the idea down or support it 100%, just approached with an open mind.
Having an open mind is great and all, but once you’ve gathered enough information to take a position you’re not obligated to coddle those who remain willfully ignorant. I’ve personally never found astrology “fun,” it’s stupid woo that encourages people to adopt other stupid woo. At a time when anti-intellectualism is being institutionalized into government policy (in the US at least,) I don’t see how anyone in good faith can actively encourage that.
I don't take astrology that seriously, it's more of a conversation starter or a tool for introspection. Sometimes I see things about my birthdate that help me notice new things about myself, and sometimes it just seems made up.
Connecting astrology to anti-intellectualism is a pretty big reach in my opinion. I don't think the ideas of astrology, religion, magic, etc should be applied to policy that impacts anybody else.
But, magical thinking can creep into policy, often with disastrous results.
A more solid footing can be achieved by consulting science educators, for perspective about our place in the universe.
I see your point - but there's always going to be questions science can't answer because science is based only on what we can observe and measure.
A big one is "where did everything come from"
So I don't see a way of avoiding magical or spiritual thinking - it's likely more important to separate that from fact when making decisions that effect more than just you :)
Sometimes knocking an idea down is justified, especially in the case of astrology.
Why? I don't see how astrology hurts anybody (unless people take it to extremes, like not dating someone because of their signs or something like that.)
My answer would be something along the lines of: I think astrology is vague enough to apply pretty generally, but the interesting thing about it is seeing people's reactions. It's a social placebo, and we can see how different people read into the same thing. "A new experience awaits you, Aries" and we see one person anticipating a raise a work, and thus behaving more confidently and getting it, while another is expecting divorce papers, and their behavior is helping them to reach that goal, too.
Pretty fair view on astrology! I have some friends/family members who have very close birthdays and it's actually remarkable how similar they are in certain ways. I feel like I typically see the similarities in the way they handle things like relationships, power dynamics, confidence, and they sort of thing.
For example I know many Geminis, and one pattern I've noticed is that they are all passive aggressive types. Like they won't tell you about a problem until it's too late, and then they will boil over and you'll end up in a fight about something that could have been resolved so much easier.
Could that be confirmation bias on my part? Definitely. But still it's a fun tool for introspection if you don't take it too far :) I also like to think of the history behind it and how humans developed it in such a human way just from observations.