An Ancient Hoax

One thing that has bothered me for all of my years on this planet (not that I have spent any time on other planets) is how people claim to see shapes in the stars. Yes, I am talking about constellations.

How anyone can look up at the night sky and say "oh look, there's a lion" and point at some random stars, as though it is a clear outline of a lion (or whatever) is beyond me. However, people have been doing this for centuries, if not thousands of years. So either we have lost many stars, which made the constellations or stick figures have always been popular.

It surely must have started off as a hoax or ancient gaslighting? "Look up there, it's a lion! You can't see it? How odd, everyone else can..." etc, etc.

The constellations also remind me of those extremely unhelpful guides for learning to draw. They show you three or four stick figure outlines and then they have a final one, which rivals the Mona Lisa.

Maybe I am being too harsh calling this an ancient hoax and perhaps it's much clearer than I am suggesting and maybe I should have done more "connect the dots" puzzles when I was a kid? Well, actually, no. I stand by what I said.

Anyway, here is a quick video I made about it... which is easier to view than looking up at the night sky.

What do you think about the constellations?