When something bad happened to you, have you ever thought it was because of a curse?

Hell, no!

Again: If you think this idea is ridiculous, then you’re not the person I’m asking.

No, because I’m not superstitious.

“Again: If you think this idea is ridiculous, then you’re not the person I’m asking.”

So, basically, you only want “yes” answers. Not really much of a question then, is it?

I’ve been cursed by karma.

I did it to myself.

@Darth_Algar, well, you’re right, I should have worded it differently; because this is what I’m after:

What happened, and what made you think a curse caused it? . . . What I’m interested in here is whether some people believe their troubles are actually brought on by someone else’s ill will.

I don’t believe this myself. I think it’s irrational and insupportable. But I’m not intending to trash somebody else’s beliefs. Instead I’m really curious about why some people believe such things. So I’m asking.

No, because the idea of a curse assumes that there is something external (god, satan, or whatever) that has the power to control your life.

YOU are the only person who has that power.

No
And I think generally it is bullshit when people blame their problems on somebody else

No, just a wrong decision.

Curse, no.
Lizard alien conspiracy, yes.

Isn’t it odd that belief in the power of prayer is accepted but belief in curses isn’t? When I was in my late teens the idea came to me that the flies that were bothering me one day when I was fishing had a malevolent intent towards me because of something I had done. This odd idea lasted only for an hour or so but was similar, I suppose, to what it must feel like to be cursed.

For what it’s worth I put no stock in prayer ether.

Belief in curses has played a significant role in various histories, including that of the U.S. For this belief, 20 people were executed in 17th-century Massachusetts. Curses figure in some fair amount of fiction: the little kid molding the clay figure and performing sympathetic magic, for example. Products are still bought and sold that are meant to effect curses or bring so-called bad luck.

Do people who believe in this stuff ever think such a thing has been directed toward them? I wonder.

Some of the things this question is not about:
Not do I believe in it. I don’t.
Not does there have to be a superhuman agency. To effect an actual curse, maybe, but not to believe in it (as witness all of religion).
Not what else is there that can explain bad incidents and experiences.

Never mind. If I did believe in it, I wouldn’t expose myself by answering this question now. Thanks anyway if there is anyone who answered sincerely and in the spirit of inquiry.

I don’t believe anyone has cursed me, but I do believe it’s possible that a few people have “felt” cursed by me, as karma has always treated me better than my enemies. :)

I don’t believe in curses.
But I do believe in bad juju.

Which I suppose is like curses’ less scary cousin.

Many people are susceptible to curses (many more than would think to call it that, or understand what’s going on with them, or admit it), so asserting how non-existent curses are and shaming and ridiculing them seems er… like a skeptic’s version of “tough love”?

It also seems to me that just because a skeptic can think of a superstitious mistake, doesn’t mean the entire category of human behavior doesn’t exist and have major impacts. For example a person’s conscience responding to angry/hurt reactions of others is a kind of curse, as is family trauma, guilt, and all sorts of other effects that a materialist or skeptic might prefer to categorize as psychology.

I think people have tried to curse me.

I have also had people tell me about curses in the sense of patterns of attitude passed down through generation, which were effective to relate to in that way. If I had a skeptical block of “oh the word curse? I must go into rejection of nonsense mode now!” I would not have been able to receive the valuable input from that attention.

@Zaku
That is like saying that Astrology is real, because people are influenced by their local quack.

Interesting aside for we grammar lovers-

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/05/curses-foiled-again.html

for us grammar lovers

@Jeruba haha, at least one here….

@ragingloli No it’s not. And well-done astrology used appropriately by intelligent people is not what skeptics think it must be. Skeptics burn straw men in effigy but their closed-mindedness prevents them from learning how the things they mock and dismiss can be valuable to people who don’t have to make it about “debunking the fake”.

@Jeruba Not sure why you get the lurve, when I made the joke. Tough crowd.

I never said it was ridiculous.

I’ve certainly not been cursed; I’ve been blessed. But a close friend of mine appears as if she has been cursed. But who would have done it and why? Her mother abandoned her and left her with her sadistic aunt who locked her in a closet, she married some loser to get out of Mexico and he got fired from every job but she had a daughter by him-a daughter who has dumped her completely after moving across the country for college and broke her heart. Then she married a man who promised her the world. He became a security officer for a national retail store, stole jewelry for her and got fired. Then he assaulted her daughter and died. Then she married a fairly nice guy with a great job and now , thirty years later he’s dying from glioblastoma grade IV brain cancer. So now she’s 77, very depressed, has had 4 strokes and one major seizure and her husband’s family is after her inheritance and her mind. This seems to be a curse, right? Or is it just rotten luck? Inability to choose good men?

@Aster Ancestral curses (even in forms skeptics would understand if you didn’t call it a curse) of various types are very common, and show themselves in such relationship patterns.

I pissed off a witch in university and just before. Might explain why I am trapped in a time loop.

Well, apparently I pissed SOMEBODY off.

How’s that?