When “The Queen’s Gambit” became a top show on Netflix I decided to watch it although as a chess player I had some doubts that I would enjoy it. After a couple of episodes, I felt pretty confused about what people love about Beth Harmon. Apart from the intense look, there was nothing specific about her personality. She was beautiful, smart, and had some flaws that weren’t her fault, poor thing. That’s doesn’t tell you a lot about her essence.
When I shared my confusion someone told me that Beth Harmon is a blank canvas that everyone can fill in with their own attitudes and opinions. She is an empty bucket that many people find attractive exactly because she is empty but with some appealing features already built-in by screenplay writers to make it easier to sympathize with her.
Donald Trump is exactly the same apart from his appealing features came from years of public bragging about his grandiosity. What did an average person know about Trump when he run for Presiden? That Trump was rich, successful, and aspired for great things. Just like Beth Harmon, he had some flaws, but it made his figure more human. His flaws were a part of the empty bucket setup: if you make mistakes it doesn’t mean you can’t achieve great success. People who sympathize with Trump, in reality, sympathize with the empty bucket he represents: smart, rich, with some flaws that don’t prevent you from being successful, but rather make your life more fun. And great, of course!
How did it happen, that people don’t look deeper into the personality of public figures anymore? Why empty buckets are so popular? I think the Age of Aquarius is to blame for that. Astrologers believe that every 2 thousand and something years the humankind falls under influence of one zodiac sign. The Age of Pisces that preceded the Aquarius Age brought the rise of religions, for example.
The most obvious things that were brought by Aquarius to our lives are the rapid development of technology and social media. The amount of new information we deal with every day has increased dramatically. To be able to process it and come up with your own, informed understanding of what’s going on, you need to have the mental capability, desire, and time. How many of those who live a regular life with full-time jobs have all three elements handy? Not many. The vast majority will fall for the loudest empty bucket that promotes basic ideas that are easy to understand and makes you a part of a group which removes the burden of having and protecting your personal attitude and personal responsibility for what you stand for.
The lack of personality and issues with self-identification is the Aquarius Age feature as well. It seems scary and very unproductive at the first glance, but that’s the price for science and technology accelerated development. People don’t need to waste their energy to overcome authority figures to bring stupid ideas to life whether they are actually stupid or just seem to be stupid at the stage. Everyone is welcomed, everyone is included (yes, inclusivity is the “gift” of Aquarius to people), nothing is too stupid to be considered.
So, let’s enjoy the era of empty buckets, it’ll bring us something wonderful! And faster than you think because Aquarius is the fastest Zodiac sign that provides speed far beyond the imagination of the most ambitious sports cars advertisers.