QotD: Modern Superstitions

A new Harris poll finds that 28 percent of you believe in witches and 40 percent of the public — including 46 percent of women — believe that ghosts are hovering in the so-called "real" world. Over 20 percent of you have claimed to have actually witnessed a poltergeist.

I, too, may believe in miracles (like 73 percent of you) to rationalize the haphazard existence of mankind. I may believe in Beelzebub (61 percent) because human cruelty could never go on without supernatural prodding. And I believe in hell (59 percent) because some people deserve to fry. I get it.

I get it because I was born under the 11th astrological sign in the Zodiac, Aquarius. According to experts, Aquarians are, among many other wonderful things, "tolerant," "opinionated," "far-sighted," "revolutionary" . . . and so on. Our character and personality quirks are predetermined by a study of random stars and planets that happen to be detectable from Earth.

Believe it or not, 20 percent of the American public believes in this gibberish. And, trust me, they will not rest until Dennis Kucinich is president.

In fact, with troubling economic times upon us, conspiracy theories, peculiar beliefs and harebrained philosophies will only flourish.

Gita Johar, a professor at the Columbia Business School, recently explained to Wired magazine that increasingly, once-normal rational adults are turning to psychics for guidance. "You have an illusion then that you can then control the outcome," she explains. "People want the illusion of control."

David Harsanyi, "I don't trust you people", Denver Post, 2008-12-16