A review of Chaz Bufe´s "Astrology: Fraud or Superstition?"
This is an old (1987) debunker pamphlet against
astrology, filled with all the usual arguments: precession, the effect of
gravity is negligible, what about Pluto, and what are “vibrations” anyway.
Everyone who believes in astrology has a “magic worldview”, is stupid,
theory-driven rather than fact-oriented, can't think for him/herself, etc.
Robert Ingersoll is quoted, to show the great learning of the author. Michel
Gauquelin supposedly never proved bunkum. And so on.
The only original thing about this small pamphlet is the identity of the author. Chaz Bufe was, wait for it, the leader of a small left-wing group, the Workers' Solidarity Alliance (WSA), loosely affiliated with the International Workers' Association (IWA). Thus, we're dealing with something as exotic as an anarchist or anarcho-syndicalist debunking effort of astrology! However, this is almost impossible to tell from the actual text, unless you read the advertisements at the very end, which mention Bufe's most well-known opus, “Listen, Anarchist!”, a ringing denunciation of most North American anarchists from a perspective similar to that of Murray Bookchin.
It seems Bufe has written a number of skeptical pamphlets. Apart from attacking astrology, he also takes issue with Holy Writ in “The Heretic's Guide to the Bible”. So this is how the WSA fights for anarcho-syndicalism? A typical anarchist approach, of course, straight from the stable of Bakunin (and bourgeois Enlightenment thinking). It would be interesting to see it applied to, say, Sandino, who was a Spiritualist, or the liberation theologians, who were Catholic, or Malcolm X, who was a Muslim…but I think you see my point.
As for astrology, listen, Chaz, those vibrations will getcha, sooner or later, LOL.
The only original thing about this small pamphlet is the identity of the author. Chaz Bufe was, wait for it, the leader of a small left-wing group, the Workers' Solidarity Alliance (WSA), loosely affiliated with the International Workers' Association (IWA). Thus, we're dealing with something as exotic as an anarchist or anarcho-syndicalist debunking effort of astrology! However, this is almost impossible to tell from the actual text, unless you read the advertisements at the very end, which mention Bufe's most well-known opus, “Listen, Anarchist!”, a ringing denunciation of most North American anarchists from a perspective similar to that of Murray Bookchin.
It seems Bufe has written a number of skeptical pamphlets. Apart from attacking astrology, he also takes issue with Holy Writ in “The Heretic's Guide to the Bible”. So this is how the WSA fights for anarcho-syndicalism? A typical anarchist approach, of course, straight from the stable of Bakunin (and bourgeois Enlightenment thinking). It would be interesting to see it applied to, say, Sandino, who was a Spiritualist, or the liberation theologians, who were Catholic, or Malcolm X, who was a Muslim…but I think you see my point.
As for astrology, listen, Chaz, those vibrations will getcha, sooner or later, LOL.
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