"All in all it's just another brick in the wall"

The post's title, from Pink Floyd's rock opera "The Wall" is the only nod to Music Monday this week, it buzzed through my mind as I read an article online about the firing of a journalist.

I don't read any newspaper, don't watch any news or political shows on TV. News for me these days comes solely from the internet. For those who do still trust corporate newspapers to offer "fair and balanced" views, the news that democratic socialist journalist/columnist Harold Meyerson was recently fired from his regular Washington Post column by newspaper's owner Jeff Bezos aka CEO of internet giant Amazon should alert them to what's becoming common in mass media: getting rid of any who don't toe the corporatist line!
My 2013 post Robber-Baronitis mentions Jeff Bezos, by the way.

From Wikipedia

Harold Meyerson (born 1950) is an American journalist and opinion columnist. In 2009 The Atlantic Monthly named him one of "the most influential commentators in the nation" as part of their list "The Atlantic 50."

Life and career
Born in Los Angeles, Meyerson was educated in the Los Angeles public schools and at Columbia University. The son of long time leaders in California of the Socialist Party of America, he was active in the 1970s in the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee.

Meyerson is editor-at-large of The American Prospect and was an opinion columnist for the Washington Post from 2003 until 2015, when he was fired by the latter. He served as executive editor of the L.A. Weekly from 1989 through 2001, and continues to write about California politics in the Los Angeles Times. His articles on politics, labor, the economy, foreign policy, and American culture have also appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The Nation, and New Statesman.......

An avowed democratic socialist—according to Meyerson one of only "two" that he encounters during "daily rounds through the nation's capital," the other being Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — he is a vice-chair of the National Political Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America

Commenter "Sneed Urn" at Huffington Post wrote

His firing is not at all ironic. It is (most likely) in response to Sanders' rise and the growing realization among conservative rank and file that they have been duped. Keeping the balance of power tipped towards big money is the job of corporate owned media. Presenting "opposing" points of view is part of that process, to be able to claim objectivity with the actual intent to frame the range of what counts as progressive and what is "fringe".

Sanders has been able to overcome the "fringe" label. The media now has to help disenfranchise his supporters through other means. Limiting Sanders' exposure and always asserting the presumption that Clinton is the de facto nominee are the primary ways media works for corporate interest and against the people in the democratic race. This should not be a surprise.

Exactly!
(My highlights in both quotes)

This video is around a couple of months old, not much has changed in the meantime. Watch a comedian tell us how it really is.

Peterloo ~ Birth of The Guardian Newspaper

Following yesterday's theme and pondering famous examples of mass protest by ordinary people in days gone by, my thoughts turned to another such event, this from the history of the north of England city of Manchester, county of Lancashire, during the years of the Industrial Revolution: The Peterloo Massacre of 1819.

In early 19th century England only wealthy property owners were allowed to vote. Ordinary people began to feel the same anger as their cousins in the USA had felt in the previous century about taxation without representation. Manchester was one centre where the Industrial Revolution, via the cotton trade, had spawned a a large population, few of whom had the right to vote. Attempts to persuade the government to broaden the right to vote had been continually resisted. The wealthy had much to lose. Memories of the French Revolution, 30 years earlier, still hovered.

On 16 August 1819 Henry Hunt, a well-known campaigner for voting reform was to speak at a meeting in Manchester. In order to avert problems those in power brought in 400 special constables, 1500 infantry 100 cavalry, Hussars and Yeomanry, and Royal horse Artillery with a 6-pounder cannon. Pretty heavy-handed considering the meeting was to be a peaceful gathering of unarmed working-class folk from Manchester and surrounding towns and villages.

A crowd of around 60,000 is reported to have gathered, including some all-female contingents dressed all in white, supporting universal suffrage for males (their own time was to come in the years that followed).

Before the speeches were properly underway, magistrates decided, at the very last minute to ban the meeting, and first sent 60 cavalry in to arrest the speakers, then more and more troops advanced as the first 60 became engulfed in the crush. Cavalry galloped into the crowd wielding sabres. At the same time the infantry, with bayonets fixed, positioned themselves at the main exits and blocked escape routes. Those who did escape were pursued through the streets.
Around 15 people were killed and between 400 and 700 injured - trampled by horses, or cut by the wildly swinging sabres of the militia.

From the chart (above right) showing planetary positions at noon on 16 August 1819 in Manchester it's easy to see a challenging situation existed, formed by square and opposition aspects between Mars (aggression), Mercury (communication), Pluto/Saturn (death/restriction) and Uranus/Neptune (rebellion/dreams).

I has been acknowledged that Peterloo was hugely influential in ordinary people winning the right the vote, as well as leading to the rise of the Chartist Movement from which grew the Trades Unions.



Another result of the Peterloo Massacre was the foundation of a reformist newspaper: The Manchester Guardian (nowadays known simply as The Guardian - or affectionatley "The Grauniad" - a nickname earned and popularised by satirical magazine Private Eye due to a history of typographical errors including the newspaper's own name .






The Manchester Guardian was founded by John Edward Taylor, a young cotton merchant, on 5 May 1821 in the wake of the Peterloo Massacre. Taylor, a reformer and religious nonconformist, aimed to produce a newspaper committed to political change and based upon truthful reporting.
The Guardian celebrated its 190th birthday a few weeks ago. I wonder if its "natal chart" is appropriate for the birth of a reformist newspaper. Let's see:



Chart is set for 6 am on the date of the first issue of the newspaper....it's birth into the world. The Manchester Guardian had Sun and Venus in down-to-earth Taurus, not perhaps the Sun sign expected, but Taurus is a very rooted sign, and its roots have become strong over more than 190 years...the newspaper certainly had had Taurus's staying power and loyalty to purpose. Theose 4 planets in Aries, including the sign's ruler, Mars gave it pioneering drive and the cource of aggression when called for. Moon in Gemini = communication (Gemini) with The People (Moon). With ourter planets Uranus (rebellion) and Neptune (dreams, creativity) exactly and appropriately conjoined in Capricorn (business) in harmonious trine to Sun/Venus in Taurus. Uranus/Neptune was also in out-of-sign opposition to Moon, which represents something of a balancing act between the need to protest or rebel/dream of rebellion and the way to present this to The People in a responsible way.

The chart describes the birth of The Manchester Guardian well.

Astrology & Newspapers

The newspaper column below was from a series by Carl Payne Tobey, a respected American astrologer in the mid-20th century. I used this in one of my early blog posts (28 October 2006) and thought it worth another airing.

One of C.P. Tobey's quotes:

There is so much that has been taught that is not true, and we need its elimination because it has caused severe mental indigestion. As in other educational areas, we have had too much brainwashing in astrology.

Click on the above quote for a bigger version of the illustration.



I wish a current astrologer would offer something akin to this. The usual 12 sign predictions for day, week or month are all very well if in the hands of experts who can provide a mix of astrology, wisdom and even the arts. These are few and far between. A straight Sun sign column soon loses its charm. I suspect more readers, new to astrology but with a passing interest in the subject, would feel inspired to carry on learning if they had the opportunity to regularly read something similar to the columns Carl Payne Tobey used to produce.

I guess that today's newspapers are not willing to invest sufficient space in such an exotic idea. Astrologers are unlikely to be wealthy enough to buy blocks of space for themselves, or to afford to pay for an artist's contributions. Newspapers in general, these days, are having a tough time competing with internet, blogs, My Space, Face Book etc. etc. I fear that simple astrology presentations, such as the one illustrated here, are a thing of the past. It's a cause for regret.