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Notes -
I agree, I think the majority of people will profess beliefs when asked, but these don’t really exist in a meaningful way outside of the verbal expression. I came to this conclusion particularly observing young womens attitudes towards astrology. An enormous number seem to say they believe it, but is it just a joke? I don’t think it’s a joke, but it’s not really serious either. It seems somewhere in between, mostly an act because it is more fun to act like astrology is real and since nobody is demanding they show costly commitments to it (making large monetary investments based on horoscopes for example) there’s no real pressure to sort out what they really believe. A lot of guys are the same way, even guys on the Motte when talking about satanic elites or whatever.
I think if you put a gun to their head and say you have the oracle truth in an envelope you get very different answers from most people.
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